{"id":16517,"date":"2015-08-20T14:14:59","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T07:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/?p=16517"},"modified":"2015-08-22T02:38:16","modified_gmt":"2015-08-21T19:38:16","slug":"an-economical-tablet-for-back-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/an-economical-tablet-for-back-to-school\/","title":{"rendered":"An Economical Tablet for Back To School + Giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HP<\/a><\/p>\n

Is your child asking for a tablet to take to school?  If not, s\/he may be asking soon.  My daughter began asking in 5th grade.  In fact, the school sent home an electronic device contract for my daughter and I to sign that stated that if she brought an electronic device to school, it would only be used for reading and that the school is not responsible if it is lost or stolen.<\/p>\n

The note supported my what daughter had been telling me, that many of her friends were bringing tablets to school.  I have seen many cracked screen devices in my time.,.and the thought of sending my child with a tablet to school made my shudder.<\/p>\n

With my daughter’s persistence, I finally relented in sixth grade.  With the new array of low-cost tablets available on the market these days, I feel that an economical tablet is a great way to teach tech responsibility (before a cellphone) to children while minimizing my risk should the tablet become broken or stolen.<\/p>\n

Such reasonably priced tablets include the Dell Venue Pro 8<\/a>, the HP Stream 7<\/a>, HP Stream 8<\/a>, and the Asus MeMo 7 & 8 Pads.  All are priced below $250.<\/p>\n

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An Economical Tablet Option<\/span><\/h2>\n

\"HP<\/a><\/p>\n

I recently tested out the HP Stream 8.  It’s a decent tablet.  Now granted, it’s not a Lenovo Yoga tablet<\/a>, Samsung Note 8<\/a>, or iPad Mini<\/a> (all of which cost much more), but for the money, it’s a great starter tablet for kids.<\/p>\n

There are two clear benefits that make the HP Stream 8 stand out above other similarly priced tablets in this category:<\/p>\n

1.  Office 365 comes included for one year – great for students<\/p>\n

2.  200 MB of no-contract, FREE data\/month comes with it for the  lifetime of the tablet<\/p>\n

These are pretty substantial benefits.  I love that elementary students can work on their Microsoft documents (Word, Powerpoint, Excel) at home or school.  And the fact that the tablet allows for some Internet connection independent of WiFi is great too.<\/p>\n

According to About Tech MobileOffice<\/a>, a 200 MB plan covers…<\/p>\n

1,000 text emails, 50 emails with photo attachments, 150 emails with other attachments, 60 social media posts with photos uploaded, and 500 Web pages viewed. Streaming media and downloads of apps or songs would increase the usage over 200 MB.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This gives kids lots of flexibility, yet limits them to 200 MB.  Once they use it, there is no more data available, they just need to wait until the next month to get more.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the HP Stream 8 is very responsive and fast.  The INtel Atom Z3735 processor is quite zippy.  I downloaded 4 games at once and it only took a couple of minutes for them all to be downloaded.  Web pages pull up quickly.<\/p>\n

\"HP<\/a>

Microsoft’s Solitaire Suite – TriPeaks is my latest fascination.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Features of the HP Stream 7 and HP Stream 8:<\/strong><\/p>\n