Best portable laptops with solid battery life to buy for kids
Notebooks are tools for getting work done and managing the complicated lives we live, but sometimes kids need a portable computer too. You don’t have to hand over your pricey top-of-the-line laptop for the little ones to use and get all sticky. There are plenty of great laptop choices out there for kids of all ages to use as their very own. Let’s take a look at the best laptops to buy for kids right now.
Asus Transformer Book T100TA
A bit of a step up from the Chromebook is the Asus Transformer Book T100TA. This is a laptop with a detachable Windows 8.1 tablet. It’s a bit on the small side at just 10.1-inches (1366 x 768), but that’s a fine size if you’re going to use it in tablet mode often. The entire device weighs just 2.4 pounds, and the tablet section is 1.2 pounds when undocked. It’s a little heavier than high-end tablets like the iPad Air, but it’s running full Windows 8.1. 
The Transformer Book T100TA is ideal for a kid who’s getting a little older and might need some more powerful desktop software, but doesn’t need a high-end machine yet. The T100TA runs on an Intel Atom Baytrail-T Z3740 clocked to 1.86GHz. It’s fine for basic computing, but you won’t be playing any serious games on it. It also has 2GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, which should be more than enough for most kids. One downside to be aware of is that the keyboard on Asus’ docks aren’t usually as good as you’d find on other laptops in this size range. Otherwise, the $399 Transformer Book T100TA is a good value.
HP Chromebook 11
A lot of kids might be perfectly suited for a Chromebook, which will be cheaper and lighter than many comparable “full” laptops. Business software like Microsoft office might not be necessary for a kid’s laptop, and many school districts are increasingly moving to Google Apps, which is perfectly supported in Chrome OS. The HP Chromebook 11 is only 2.6 pounds and 0.69 inches thick, making it easy for kids of all ages to haul around. HP Chromebook 11 runs on a Samsung Exynos 5250 ARM chip instead of an Intel CPU. This gives it solid HP 2230s battery life relative to the size — about 6 hours on a charge. It can also be topped off with a standard microUSB plug. Chrome OS is very reliant on a WiFi connection, so it’s not great for long stretches without connectivity. The upshot of Chrome OS is that it’s much less susceptible to malware, which most young’uns won’t have the experience to avoid. This laptop is only $279.
Acer C720 Chromebook
If price is a concern, the Acer C720 offers a similar experience when compared to the HP Chromebook, but for as little as $199. Like the HP option, this device has an 11.6-inch screen with a resolution of 1366 x 768. Rather than an ARM chip, the Acer Chromebook has a dual-core Intel Celeron 2955U CPU. 
The C720 is light in the grand scheme of things, but toward the top of the scale for Chromebooks at 2.8 pounds. It’s still rather portable and the battery lasts for an astounding 8.5 hours. The 16GB of SSD space might be pushing it for some more advanced users, but Chrome OS is mostly in the cloud. Just like the HP Chromebook, this device comes with the added benefit that the user can’t mess it up too badly. There’s no malware for Chrome OS right now, and exploits are rare. It’s not very useful without an internet connection, but Chrome OS is excellent for any kid who uses Google Apps for Education.
Lenovo IdeaPad S400
This is one of the more mainstream laptops on this list. The Lenovo IdeaPad S400 doesn’t break apart into a tablet module and it’s running plain old Windows 8.1. However, it has competent specs, a solid keyboard, and a 14-inch touchscreen LCD. 
This is a mid-size laptop that weighs 4.6 pounds and is 0.9-inches thick. You’ll get about 5.5 hours out of a charge and it uses a slower 5400RPM hard drive rather than an SSD. However, you do get 500GB of space, which is ideal for an older kid who has a lot of media to store locally. Like the rest of the laptops on this list, you’re looking at a 1366 x 768 resolution for the screen, which will be fine for all but the most discerning little ones. Inside is a third-generation Intel Core i3 and 4GB of RAM. Lenovo IdeaPad S400 is about $450 online, but some older versions of the same device can be had a little cheaper if you don’t mind slower hardware.
HP Pavilion 11 2-in-1
Finally, we have a more premium take on the detachable tablet hybrid. The HP Pavilion 11 2-in-1 has an 11.6-inch touchscreen LCD (1366 x 768) that can be removed from the keyboard portion and used as a Windows 8.1 tablet. The keyboard dock and tablet together weigh in at 3.3 pounds, and the tablet by itself is 1.73 pounds. When docked and closed it’s 0.88-inches thick. 
The HP Pavilion 11 runs on Intel’s Bay Trail-M Pentium N3520. This is a power-efficient quad-core chip clocked at 2.17GHz. Notebook Battery life is a little on the low side at 5.5 hours, though. This 2-in-1 also comes with 4GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD. The HP Pavilion 11 2-in-1 costs $500, which is the last stop off before you jump up into pricier Ultrabook territory. Still, the Pavilion 11 2-in-1 is a solid machine for the price.
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[…] Notebooks are tools for getting work done and managing the complicated lives we live, but sometimes kids need a portable computer too. You don’t have to hand over your pricey top-of-the-line laptop for the little ones to use and get all sticky. There are plenty of great laptop choices out there for kids of all … […]