
Ask HN: What programming laptop should I get for my kid? - altoz
I&#x27;m trying to buy a laptop for my 11-year-old who&#x27;s expressed a lot of interest in programming. What recommendations do you have? What features should I be on the lookout for?
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brudgers
[random internet parenting advice]

To me, the important features of a laptop for an 11 year old (whether they are
interested in programming or not) are:

1\. That you won't be angry if it gets broken or lost.

2\. It plays games.

The most important part of your child's laptop is that it is your child's and
not yours. Between now and the time your child reaches your age, they will
have periods of more interest in programming, periods of less interest in
programming, and probably periods of no interest in programming.

I'd put it this way, my (bit older) child has had seven computers. Two were my
old laptops. One was school issued. One was a cheap refurbished Dell. Another
was a used Dell tower. One was one of my RPi's. Only the seventh and most
recent was new -- my child needed something compact for Advanced Debate at the
High School because competing is a academic requirement...

Good luck.

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sddfd
Just make sure it runs linux, because it makes installing toolchains for any
programming language much easier.

A MacBook is also a possibility, but it is a matter of taste.

Unfortunately, I still find it hard to develop on Windows, because bash has
become the de facto standard (for better or worse). Development, however has
gotten much better lately with WSL.

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lovelearning
I don't have any particular model to recommend. What I have is a suggestion to
not buy a powerful configuration but instead buy an average or even
underpowered one. I learnt a lot about OS, programming, optimization and
hardware internals trying to run programs on underpowered hardware. Not to
mention the sense of achievement whenever I succeeded.

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stealthcat
Buy him a desktop with a big screen. Put it near kitchen or dining table.

