Which laptop for 6 year old?

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Posting here - we've decided to invest in an laptop for our six year old son who has both Down Syndrome and Autism because
1) he loves computers
2) it will make communication a load easier
3) it will help him at school (the school is fairly poorly resourced).
I'm a techno-fool and so use a Macbook. Anyone got any advice or experience for me before I flip a coin to decide between the cheapest and the most expensive!? Son can be unknowingly rough with things.
Thanks for reading this and any replies.

maybe an iPad could do the job?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG7uvzXRq5c[/youtube]

You can get a decent iMac or iBook that will run most modern software, for about $50-$100 on craigslist or eBay. I highly recommend it.

For a 6 year old, you might want to look into netbooks instead of laptops. They are like the smaller, less powerful, and cheaper cousin to laptops. They are far more portable, and they usually last a lot longer on battery life. They are kind of like a cross between an Iphone, and a laptop. Or as others have suggested, an Ipad with the right software would work too.

The keyboard is a better size for their hands, too. Both our kids have netbooks.

I have seen some really toughly made laptops designed just for little ones, but I have no idea how well they work. I would definitely look at that option, however. It is amazing to me how fragile laptops and netbooks are, and the problem is often in areas most of us don't think to protect, like cords and connections. The kid's cords didn't even last 6 months, and the wiring from base to screen on my daughter's is showing problems after 9 months.

Hmmm, that last paragraph does makes the ipad look better, doesn't it?

Remember, also, that young hands generally aren't developmentally ready to keyboard, even when you get a kid sized keyboard.

Whatever you get, be prepared to replace it annually. Hopefully you won't have to, just be prepared.

A good option for school, btw, is the alphasmart. Purely a wordprocessing tool, but it has a great battery life and is a lot tougher with less to break on it.

thanks all for the pointers. Sadly we live in the UK where a second hand macbook seems to be around £400, and if he's going to get through one a year (thanks for that DW) and loves to watch DVDs on it I guess an ipad is looking like a better bet. Very helpful, thanks all x

i found a laptop that is specialy made for kids

http://www.peeweepc.com/store/pc/viewPr ... category=2


here is another one made by another company

http://www.notebooklist.net/inves-junio ... eally.html

id post the link but for somereason wrongplanet is not allowing me to post links

edit oh wow for some reason just typing the website worked to make a link wow

Thanks Ravenclaw - the first one in particular looks fantastic. had bought an i-pad before I saw this. Ho. Maybe I'll have to have the i-pad and get him one of these. Thanks so much everyone. And Happy Christmas x