Asus readies kid-friendly netbook, Eee PC 1001PQ

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Asus has posted a product page for its Eee PC 1001PQ, a colorful new netbook aimed at pre-adolescents or the young-at-heart -- and they're not kidding. The machine is made in two different designs, one is purple with flames while the other is yellow with racing stripes, both of which apparently come with stickers to customize the shell.

Despite its playful exterior, the core specs resemble that of any other netbook. Under the 10.1-inch hood you'll find an Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, 160GB or 250GB of storage, a 0.3-mega pixel webcam, a multi-touch trackpad, Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless, optional Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, VGA-out, two USB 2.0 ports, and an MMC/SD reader.

The 1001PQ weighs 1.1kg/2.42lbs with a three-cell battery and 1.27kg/2.79lbs with six cells, which offer between five and nine hours of usage. It ships with an "Inspirus Desktop" interface that Asus says will keep tikes entertained for "hours on end," a well as a kid-friendly browser and parental controls. We haven't spotted any details on pricing or availability.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/39814-asus-readies-kid-friendly-netbook-eee-pc-1001pq.html

 

[GonchuB]

You mean 1.3Mpixel cam don't you?

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

No, here's the product page. http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=HxGCqZ2jkDcl8VzP

 

[dividebyzero]

Asus sure love their car themed laptops. Wonder if they're paying Ford royalties for the stripe/colour combo, or maybe that should be Chrysler

 

[Guest]

I can go to a local speed shop and slap some stickers on a laptop and then upsell it to kids for a lot more money.

 

[mattfrompa]

My old V3 Razr had a .3Mpixel camera...it was...not good lol

 

[yukka]

I like that design but I dont want a crappy lowbie version of windows 7 starter on it covered in crap. Suppose I can just reimage it with something decent.

 

[Leeky]

Any idea on prices... Would be ideal for our 7yr old.

 

[Guest]

yes, would love to see "kid friendly" prices

 

[Zilpha]

Yea I have a feeling this will be in that same 400-500 dollar range netbooks have creeped back up into.

I have a nephew who is hitting 8 pretty soon and he's started to get interested in computers. Well, games mostly. But I'd love to get him one of these so he has something to play during the week when he can't come to my house.

 

[Leeky]

Yea I have a feeling this will be in that same 400-500 dollar range netbooks have creeped back up into.

I have a nephew who is hitting 8 pretty soon and he's started to get interested in computers. Well, games mostly. But I'd love to get him one of these so he has something to play during the week when he can't come to my house.

Its the same for our 7yr old girl (8 in Oct), she's been using one of our older HP laptops (with Ubuntu Linux) for about a year now to play Java games on kids websites. (cbeebies etc) Its kinda ironic as she's now showing me how to do things with Linux, not the other way around. LOL.

We had decided to get her a PC for christmas (or rather me build her one), but I still have my doubts about allowing her to play alone on her computer in her bedroom. Besides which, a netbook would be much more practical as she could put movies on it and use it in the car on journey's, or when we're away for example.

Maybe a netbook is the way to go instead. Decent netbooks are pretty expensive though, and I have half a computer in components already sat here from other computer upgrades in the house. I only need a case, mobo and CPU the rest I have.

 

[Zilpha]

Maybe, especially if she is already familiar with Linux. Ten to one this acer is going to come with a stripped windows version, and you will probably end up loading Linux yourself anyway.

I'd definitely suggest going the laptop\netbook route for her so that she is portable. Desktops these days are really only for hard core gamers or developers that require tons of power and etc. Unless she's started writing her own rendering engine, she should be ok with a netbook

That way also you could keep her near you when she wants to use her computer and it wouldn't be this big obnoxious box in the living room or wherever (since I def. agree 8 years old is too young to be alone on an internet capable pc).

 

[Leeky]

Maybe, especially if she is already familiar with Linux. Ten to one this acer is going to come with a stripped windows version, and you will probably end up loading Linux yourself anyway.

I'd definitely suggest going the laptop\netbook route for her so that she is portable. Desktops these days are really only for hard core gamers or developers that require tons of power and etc. Unless she's started writing her own rendering engine, she should be ok with a netbook

That way also you could keep her near you when she wants to use her computer and it wouldn't be this big obnoxious box in the living room or wherever (since I def. agree 8 years old is too young to be alone on an internet capable pc).

She's absolutely fine with it. She went straight from Windows XP to Ubuntu without even flinching. It was rather shocking really, as the next time I check her laptop to do some updates, she'd already done them, and had customised her entire desktop - menu's and all! LOL.

I think Linux is the way to go with her, she loves it, and refuses to use Windows now anyway - The trick is clearly to 'convert' them young! haha.

I agree totally - It worries me a lot more than it does my partner. I think mainly because I'm fully aware of just whats online, and how easy it is to find it. My partner is much more unaware unfortunately.

She really only uses it for java games and speaking to family etc. I think a netbook is the best idea, just need to find one now.

Any ideas on a decent 10" netbook (I'll be keeping her Ubuntu or she'd kill me!) thats competitive on price? I was just looking at Dell's. Christ, at the cheap prices!

Have a look: http://www1.euro.dell.com/uk/en/hom...2/pd.aspx?refid=inspiron-1012&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1