What PC Does a Kid Really Need?

ALKHOBAR, 4 September 2007 — Back in July a friend of mine rang up and she was all in a tizzy. “Molouk,” she said, “The kids are going back to school next month and I don’t know what to do. They all need computers and every computer is going to cost us about SR6,000. How can we afford three PCs at that price? Do you have any suggestions?”

At first I thought this mother had been sniffing too much spray starch. But within a few weeks, a dozen other parents had asked me pretty much the same question. So in the spirit of helping everyone keep the family budget from busting, let’s have a frank discussion about computers, kids and school work.

It’s a fact that kids love computers. Just ask your son or daughter, and your prodigy will tell you that he or she, absolutely, positively, must have a laptop running an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz processor with 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 100GB Hard Drive and a NVidia GeForce Go 7900 GTX. In fact, a machine with those specifications is the minimum that any self-respecting teenager would try to coerce out of an unsuspecting parent. And if you as a parent don’t have a clue what those specifications mean, don’t sweat it. Spend your time and your brain power brushing up on advanced math and science so you can help your kid with schoolwork and ignore the complexities of computer hardware.

There are a lot of naive parents caught up in the back to school whirlwind. These parents are overly impressed with the wondrous sounding technical language that’s rolling so fluently off the tongues of their tech crazed teenagers. Those kids drag mom or dad into an electronics shop and the salesman there, who makes a fat commission off every computer sold, sees a human sheep to be fleeced. With a serious look on his face, that salesman will sagely advise the parent that the future is technology so it’s important to invest in a state-of-the-art computer which will be the gateway to the digital world. “Even though it’s expensive,” the salesman will say, gesturing to the machine, “Don’t you want to give your child every opportunity?”

The correct response at this point, is to just say, “No,” and leave the store.

Over the last month I have asked dozens of IT professionals to discuss the issue of IT hardware and school work. Every one of them agreed that even the cheapest, most basic machine on the market can handle the requirements of school work through high school. I’ll be more specific, all those computers, whether desktop or laptop, priced under SR2,000 are just fine for schoolwork. In fact, if you have an older computer at home, give that machine to your child for school work and buy yourself a new computer.

Actually, if anyone should get an upgraded PC, it should be mom. In the home, moms are the new techies, editing photographs and videos, plus running bookkeeping, e-mail and word processing software, surfing the Net and employing Voice Over IP to keep in touch with relatives around the world. Using all that together can put a strain on a computer, so a machine with a faster processor and more RAM is nice for mom to have. Mothers also tend to respect their possessions more. A mother isn’t going to leave her computer by the side of the football field while she plays an impromptu match after school. Mom’s computer is probably not going to be infected with a virus from peer to peer downloads. There’s also an excellent chance she won’t be pouring soda into the machine or “accidentally” dropping it down a staircase. Remember that unless you buy special insurance coverage for a computer, theft or accidental damage isn’t covered by the vendor’s warranty. So turn over the old computer to the kids for school work and get a new machine for mom.

Kids use specific programs for school work and none of these requires huge processing power. Every student needs a word processing program and an Internet browser. Older students may find presentation or basic graphics software useful. Math isn’t taught with a computer. Advanced math requires a graphing calculator — not a PC. As for the computer’s operating system, it’s not important that a computer runs on Windows Vista for school use. Windows XP works just fine. If you are planning to load Vista into an older computer, go with a light version such as Vista Basic, which will consume less of the computer’s resources. Do not allow your children to load software or download file onto the computer used for school work without your permission to maximize the computer’s performance and minimize the catastrophes that come from malicious code.

Not every child needs his or her own computer. Unless there is a requirement from the school, it is often better to purchase a desktop computer than a notebook. Set up the desktop at a central point in the home, where usage can be monitored. Individual accounts can be created on the machine for each child, loaded with their preferences and any special program control settings. Powerful desktops tend to cost less than similarly equipped laptops and if any part of the desktop stops functioning, just that piece is replaced or even upgraded.

So, since you haven’t spent a lot of money on an expensive computer, now you can put up some cash for a few technology items that are really important. If your teenager takes a laptop to school, be sure to invest in locks — both physical and biometric. Next, if you aren’t running up to date security software including a anti-virus program and a firewall, either buy some or download free versions from the Internet and set them to update automatically.

Speaking of the Internet, due to a lack of libraries in the Kingdom, every student needs to use the Internet to expand upon the knowledge they gain at school. Get a home Internet connection — the fastest you can afford. Discuss Internet usage policies and restrictions with your family, and set your computer’s browser and firewall to help enforce those policies.

If you have a computer, old or new, you must have some means of backing up your machine — at least the data it’s holding if not the entire set up. There is a 100 percent guarantee that comes with all computers — they will crash. Just imagine how horrible it would be if the machine went down and all your child’s school work disappeared! I recommend Paragon’s Drive Backup (www.drive-backup.com/home/personal/) coupled with an External Hard Drive. Download Paragon’s software and follow the simple instructions to create a backup of the entire system and then schedule incremental backups to keep all your files up to date. Operating a computer without backup is a form of gambling — and eventually you’re certain to lose.

Before signing off for today, there’s one other group of PC users to be discussed — university students. For the freshman year of university, a PC purchase is standard. Some institutions specify certain machine configurations or cut deals with specific vendors. Students who are able to make their own selection, should seriously consider a Tablet PC so they can record class notes electronically. The notes can be stored digitally, so they don’t get lost and are available anywhere, and at review time they can be shared, modified or printed. In classes from biology to psychology such a feature is a real bonus and it’s worth the higher cost of a Tablet PC, since the machine can be used intensively for years. Of course it’s more important than ever to backup such computers and insure them in case of theft.

Last but not least, please think of the computer as a tool, not a teacher. Parents are the first and forever should be the most important educators in their children’s lives — something that a PC never can be.