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May 23, 2008
Dear CNET members,
Happy Friday everyone! Just a friendly reminder to new subscribers to this newsletter: We have an archive of our past Community newsletters, which cover many technical and hot topics. So check it out, because I see a lot of questions e-mailed to me that have been covered by our community members. Also, if you are in dire need of help with technical issues, you can always find help in the CNET forums, where many wonderful members and moderators are always willing to give you great advice. So give the forums a try and post your questions there. Now let's get started addressing Bob's question. Bob is seeking some recommendations. He needs some laptop recommendations for his sons, Christopher and Willam.
As always, there was no shortage of great suggestions this week. While it is sometimes difficult to provide a solution that fits all, I hope that the answers from all our members help Bob make a decision without going in blindly. We received a great deal of responses, some ranging from parenting advice (which I think is fine, but I'll leave the parenting to the parents) to some great suggestions on specific models that may just work--both members ralphclark and sircanegiem recommended Lenovo Thinkpad T-series and a few others recommended ASUS Eee PC. While each week I do my best to round up a list of a few great recommendations, this week I found myself finding so much great advice that I will let you folks go through them to see for yourselves. My advice for any fragile and costly electronic equipment at this scale is to get some sort of no fault warranty in case of damage. Children are unpredictable and it's better to be covered. So to start this topic off I give you member waytron's contribution, which goes through a list of recommendations and a broad overview of how and what affects the price of a laptop. So folks, dig on in and if you have more to add to this discussion, be my guest. Thanks everyone and have a great weekend!
(Note: As with every community help and how-to newsletter each week, occasionally the topics that are presented don't always apply to everyone. As a perfect example, this week's question from Bob. But what I love is that, no matter what the question may be--people like you are always willing to help out and give their advice and recommendations. Even if the topics don't apply to you or me, there is always still a great deal of shared knowledge that is helpful in one shape or another. I learn new things from all of you each week and I hope you do too! So thank you all for sharing your time and knowledge for the better of the community. You folks rock!)
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Member Question of the Week
I am the father of two sons, ages 9 and 11, in search of
advice in regards to the "right sizing" of laptops for them.
I have tried getting advice from the forums, but the feedback
I have received has been questions on why I want to purchase
laptops, mostly from nonparents. Sure, it might sound like a
large investment for their age, but mobility is the driver
behind the decision as we travel a lot.
Given their age, you would think that the requirements would
be easy to spec, the primary applications being Internet
research, e-mail, light doc processing, and of course gaming
both online (Runescape) and off. I'm looking for something
that can survive the treatment from their age, have enough
horsepower for gaming, and yet still be "reasonable"
price-wise. (Maybe I am being delusional.) Any advice you
could offer would defiantly be appreciated. Thanks!
--Submitted by:
Bob (Christopher and Willam's Dad)
 Just some member contributions to get you started, but please read through the all answers!
Thinkpad T-series is kid-proof; get a hi-spec used model
--Submitted by: ralphclark
I'd get something sturdy with a strong battery
--Submitted by:by sircanegiem
Laptops for children
--Submitted by: waytron
Read all member contributions
Thanks to all who participated!
 Previous week's Q&A
Three times--once each with three different flash drives, and
on six different PCs--I've had the experience of finding that
the computer won't recognize the drive, and the data on the
drive has become inaccessible. I see this is a common
problem. Other users ask for advice on the Web, and nobody
seems able to offer any solid information on this occurrence.
In none of my incidents has the flash drive been dropped,
heated, frozen, dropped into a liquid, or run through a
strong magnetic field. One day they work; next day they
don't. Anybody know why or what could be causing this issue?
And whether my data is permanently lost in such cases? Three
times, three different flash drives can't be a coincidence!
Please help! Thank you.
Thanks to all who contributed!
Community Buzz
 Each week we take a look at topics discussed in the forums.
Have fun and enjoy!
More from the forums
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Check out next week's question:
Hi, I recently bought a new laptop with Windows Vista and I would like to improve the speed of it. Some one mentioned to me that using Windows ReadyBoost using a USB flash drive to boost performance. But left with many questions unanswered in hopes that you can help me. What exactly is ReadyBoost and what does it do exactly to help boost performance? Does it really work that well? I know it requires a USB flash drive or card, but does it make a difference what kind of drive I should use or does it require something that is fast? How much memory should I consider for the flash drive? I've gone through the Internet and read a few articles that mentioned that ReadyBoost does initially help performance in the beginning, but over time the performance gains starts to deteriorate. Is this true? If that's the case, is it even worth getting into? Any help and explanations will be helpful. Thank you in advance.
--Submitted by:
Garrett G.
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