Page Text: Best Touchscreen Chromebook for Kids: Google Pixelbook
Best Touchscreen Chromebook for Kids
For a touchscreen Chromebook that will give your child a chance to explore their artistic side, take a good look at the Google Pixelbook.
$299.99
Buy on Amazon
Full disclosure, upfront: the Google Pixelbook is best for your older and more responsible kids. It’s is a bit more sensitive to touch, making it a also a bit more delicate than other Chromebooks. However, for what it is, it needs to be both. The absolute best function added when you have a touchscreen is the artistic aspect and the Google Pixelbook makes sure that function is absolutely maximized. For an artistic computer, the included pressure sensitive, nearly no-lag pen will let your child draw and save as easily as if it were a sketchpad.
Marketed as the “high performing Chromebook,” the Pixelbook has all the best features of a Chromebook and then some. Your child will still have a computer that comes standard with the Chrome operating system and all the standard apps that comes with it: Google drive, Gmail, YouTube, and access to all the creative apps available on GooglePlay. It even has a Google Assistant that will give your child three different ways to access a ‘Help’ chat. (Circle with stylus, say “Ok, Google,” or push the Google Assistant button.)
Nearly 300 customer reviews have earned this high-end Chromebook a respectable overall rating of 3.9 stars on Amazon. And, though you can always expect a Chromebook to be less expensive than its laptop counterparts, artistic programs and supplies are always costly. You can expect to pay less than $1000 for this Chromebook, but not too much less. Compare it to the competition, though, and it’s still a big savings.
Google Pixelbook Key Features:
2400 x 1600 screen resolution
10 hours
Back-lit keyboard
Who Should Buy a Chromebook for Kids
For a kid who has reached the age where you think she can handle the responsibility of her own electronics, a Chromebook is an excellent place to start. A tablet could be a first step, and very often is, but the fact of the matter is that you can purchase a Chromebook that functions as a tablet for your little one and will grow with her to help her in school when she needs that, as well. While you can’t guarantee the technology will last a decade, if your little one is in that pre-teen stage, this is definitely the device that will see her into her first essay assignments. For your little ones who you don’t explicitly trust with a more delicate electronic (you wouldn’t just hand this over to your three year old, of course), it’s inexpensive enough to buy primarily for your child even if all they use it for is to watch videos on road trips, with you being the only one to ever touch it. After all, to put it into perspective, Chromebooks can cost about as much as the old portable DVDs players we used to bring in a car for long travel days and the Chromebook batteries last a whole lot longer.
You won’t need to “update” your Chromebook, so consider the huge benefit that this can mean in the long run. (And bear in mind the fact that technology will surpass it, eventually.) Without constant updates, you won’t need to worry about the installation of updates lagging down the computer or your child accidentally updating something you didn’t want to be updated. In fact, the Chrome OS uses such a secure and reliable browser, no additional antivirus is even necessary. You can’t download additional programs outside the browser, so accidentally downloading a virus is much less commonplace. Even if your kid does happen upon a malicious extension, it is by and large going to be eliminated before you ever encounter it. Chromebooks will check themselves during each start up, and won’t miss when something’s added. (And you should consider limiting the ability to download any extensions on your kid’s Google account to minimize this possibility even further.)
If you want to get your child a computer and not add worry about how much time they use it playing games, then a Chromebook may be able to help you with this. Because they’ll need to log into their Google account to log into the computer, you’ll have access to monitor their use if you so choose. If you’d rather trust them with their own computer, this is still a better option for the gaming addicts who can’t seem to pull themselves away from their phone’s games or their gaming console to get their work done. With a traditional laptop, so many games could be downloaded and added to the laptop to create distractions that purchasing your child one just for his use may result in worse grades than ever. With a Chromebook, he won’t be able to download as many games and that means fewer distractions from what he needs to get done. We don’t want to oversell that particular likelihood as fact though; there are still plenty of smaller games he can download and play from his browser, but if you see it becoming a problem, then you can turn on stricter parental controls in his account settings.
Best Overall Chromebook for Kids
For the best Chromebook for your little one, look no further than the Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 Convertible Laptop.
$233.00
Buy on Amazon
Important Features to Consider
A Chromebook for kids should do several things well. Here’s what to consider when selecting a Chromebook for your child:
Touchscreen. While this is a more sensitive product with a bit more that could go wrong, a touchscreen also opens up a lot of options for your child. If she is an artistic child, then the ability to draw directly on the screen is one that will certainly appeal to her and if she’s trying to hone that skill, that’s a big win. Even if your child is not artistic by nature, there are still a lot of apps and games that will be improved by the use of a touchscreen. Even working on homework will be easier if she can just touch the place she’d like the cursor before typing again. You may find her work becomes so much easier for her that she finished in record time.
Convertible. Flip to Tablet. 2-in-1. These are all synonyms that you’ll see for this type of Chromebook that make your child’s use all the more versatile. Converting a Chromebook to a tablet will make the laptop the most versatile for a child. A tablet for games, or road trips to make it more portable and a laptop for homework or taking notes at school. The Chromebook has so much versatility on its own that adding in the feature that takes away another screen may just keep your child a bit less over saturated on screen time. And if there’s a feature that will help your child take one device from childhood to teen and beyond, this is the one.
Tent. For your child that is going to use his Chromebook to log into your streaming service and watch his shows and movies, then having one that will fold over to a roughly 225-degree angle to make it stand as a tent may come in quite handy. For a younger child whom will be supervised as he uses his Chromebook time, this an especially beneficial trait because this will allow you to set it up for him and then take a step back. It pairs nicely with a touchscreen, but it isn’t necessary. Just as it is not necessary that a 2-in-1 Chromebook have this function (though it is very likely); Perhaps if the Chromebook is too thin, or the hinge is weak, you may not be able to do it. The biggest deterrent for “Tent” feature is that the display has to be capable of “flipping” as well; meaning up becomes down when it’s tented “upside down.”
Backlit keyboard. If you expect your child to take this Chromebook with him for classes, then he will definitely see the benefits of a backlit keyboard. While the feature is unnecessary for well lit rooms or in a tablet mode (if you have a convertible), it’s absolutely critical to see the keys while taking notes off a PowerPoint presentation in a darkened room. They may not be in all his classes, it’s still best to prepare for when they do; and the chances of using it for games in his own darkened room while he should be sleeping make it a bit more beneficial, too.
Battery life. The Chromebook won’t do anyone any good if it doesn’t hold a charge long enough for your child to take it to the class he needs to audit, or it doesn’t make it to the end of the learning app he needs for school. And there’s nothing more frustrating (and scary!) than your computer dying without you being 100% sure your work was saved. In order to avoid this fear for your child, you can just ensure the battery life of your kid’s Chromebook is long-lasting enough to get him through the day. You can expect a Chromebook, which is less of a resource hog than most of its laptop counterparts, to last for at least 6-8 hours of continuous use. That means he’ll be able to unplug the Chromebook and take it with him for his entire school day (and power save for parts of the day he doesn’t use it). When he gets home, he can plug it in and continue any work he has to complete.
Refurbished or renewed. You want to be very careful when you’re buying a computer refurbished. These days, you’ll find Amazon’s listings refer to these electronics as “renewed” and though they may still be the same as refurbished, you probably won’t see that term listed anywhere – so keep it in mind. We’d recommend browsing the customer reviews and finding a well rated product with plenty of reviews before you make your purchase. While you may luck out, you don’t want to risk relying on “luck” over “statistical odds.” If the reviews are predominately positive with hundreds of customers and a rating over 4.0 stars, there’s a good chance it’s a safe buy. But anything lower than that will be a risk you want to think carefully about before taking.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Chromebook and how does it work?
A Chromebook is a specific type of laptop, generally less expensive but a bit more limited on options, as well. Since you wont be paying for Microsoft’s licensing or the Apple logo, the cost can be a bit lower. There isn’t a noticeable difference when you look at the machines powered off, save the likelihood of the Chromebook tends to be a bit smaller, traditionally. You can’t count on that, though, because there are wide screen Chromebooks and small laptops. The Chromebook is Google’s dedicated laptop. It operates on the same operating system as Google phones (Chrome OS), so if you have one, you’ll be familiar with the interface (though your kid is less likely to have one, so that may amount to nothing but a coincident).
No Chromebook will let you download non-Chrome apps or programs that are in any kind of “competition” with Google; so your child will only use apps launched from a tab in Chrome browser. Because Microsoft and Google are competitors, you’ll probably never see Microsoft Office installed onto a Chromebook. (Though you can find alternatives like online versions from Microsoft to mitigate this inconvenience.) You also won’t be able to download several common PC games or install Photoshop, for example. But for a kid who won’t need these for many, many years (if ever) this can be the best solution to any need your child could have for an electronic device.
How do I childproof my Chromebook?
If by “childproof” you mean from drops, bumps, and spills, there are a few additional purchases to make your kid’s Chromebook a bit more durable. For spills, a keyboard protector can really help prevent your child from ruining it. You’ll still have to act fast in the event of a spill because the cover won’t be water proof, just an extra line of protection. For drops, kicks, bumps and the like, you can pick up a case that may make it a bit more durable. Some will be a shatterproof poly carbonate, to protect corners and will just snap into place, with no extra work afterwards. Other types of cases will act as a sleeve or a protective case for it when not in use. All of these will make the Chromebook more hearty, but they will not make it indestructible, so you will still have to make sure your child treats it responsibly.
If you’re talking about what your kid is using the Chromebook for, however, there are two primary ways to childproof your kid’s Chromebook. In the settings, you can make his account one that is a “Supervised User,” giving you access to his history. From there, you can also control the sites he’s allowed to visit on his browser. You’ll either select that he can go to all sites except the ones you enter and specifically block (ideal for kids with specific sites they frequent they ought not), or you can block all sites except the few you grant permission. This latter option is ideal for younger children who just need access to a few sites like learning sites with kid games. In fact, with the proper settings, you can ensure your child only uses the apps and programs you approve and none that you don’t.
Are Chromebooks good for students?
Chromebooks are absolutely good for students. They’ll be able to open his documents quickly both on and offline and when it syncs to his cloud, the notes taken will be accessible from any computer. Any site visited on Chrome browser can be visited on the Chromebook and (nearly) every app you can download with Google Play is available for your child’s Chromebook as well. Google Docs will allow your child to share his group project with his partners and any notes taken on it can be shared among other students, so that your kid won’t miss the critical lessons given while out sick.
The one drawback we feel obligated to mention is if the student encounter’s a teacher who specifically asks for assignment submitted via email in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. Though that will probably only ever happen with older children and we’d like to think the teacher would be understanding if your child explained the situation. You can open a Word document with Google Docs, but the other way around is a bit tricky and the same can be said of any Office program (Excel or Powerpoint, for example). It will only get easier the more popularity Chromebooks are used, though.
Can I create a Google account for my child?
When Google created family accounts, they really thought of everything and that all translates so beautifully to their Chromebook. Creating a Google account for your child is not only possible but absolutely mandatory for their own Chromebook. How much you monitor their account is entirely up to you, so feel free to control as much or as little as you want in your child’s Google account settings. While logged into a “child’s” account, typically, the user can’t download apps or extensions in Chrome, browse incognito, or access sexually explicit or violent sites. You can check out Google support for detailed instructions on how to create his account and set any parental controls in which you’re interested.
Other Chromebook for Kids We Reviewed
Best Overall Chromebook for Kids
For the best Chromebook for your little one, look no further than the Lenovo Chromebook C330 2-in-1 Convertible Laptop.
$233.00
Buy on Amazon
We looked at 35 other Chromebooks for kids. Even though they didn’t make our 5 best Chromebooks for kids list, they’re the best of the rest and each is still a great option for your child. The information you’ll need to compare each one is included with the listing.