PeeWee PC to Introduce Kids as Young as 2-3 to Computers

When did you get your first computer? If you are reading this there is no way that it was as early as the two little girls to the right. San Jose, CA based PeeWee PC is aiming to change that with their new line of Windows based laptops for children ranging from the pre-kindergarten age group, through upper elementary school aged kids.

The laptops come in two versions, a pivot laptop for $599 and a standard configured power laptop for $499. Both are billed as spill and drop-resistant, and have a carry handle, a 10-inch display, a 6-cell/5-hr Li-ion battery, 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU,
1GB of RAM, two USB 2.0 ports, a 60GB HDD, 1.3 megapixel camera,
Ethernet, WiFi, Windows XP Home and a proprietary security software suite. They also come with age-specific software and games, as well as age-appropriate desktop themes. The long and short of it is that these are pretty beefy machines, and they should be for a price that could fetch a nice Netbook.

In reading about these though I have to wonder when is it really appropriate to introduce children to the realities and at a certain level, the responsibilities of fully functional computers? I mean we are not talking leapfrog play machines here. A few testimonials on the PeeWee PC site note that some parents are, and are being advised to introduce their kids to computers as early as the age of two, as in the number after one. I know that most parents are interested in giving their kids as big a head start in life as possible, but as I look past the shelf full of books to my left and the sunny afternoon springtime day winding down out the window behind it, I can’t help but wonder whether a little more time being free of the mechanical paradigm built into technology might not be a good thing for kids. I’m no parent though, and if I were I’d probably be too busy rolling around on the floor with my kids to give much thought to questions like this, but as I see those two little girls above sitting at their play kitchen table, in their play kitchen marveling at their all too real computer, I have to wonder.

Anyway, that’s just my 2-cents. Those interested in the PeeWee PC can check out the full specs for their two laptops as well as desktop models and other items as well here.

–Tom Milnes