Need to Get Grubby Little Hands Off Your Laptop? Vtech to the Rescue!

Toddlers like to imitate what they see others do, so when our daughter sees my husband or me using our laptops, she immediately comes over to "play," too. We humor her, but when it happens every time we sit down, one starts to search for a solution. Vtech has offered us a great alternative to leaving our laptops off at home: Vtech's Tote 'n Go Laptop Plus.

Note: the photo above shows perfume, but if you click on the "Compare Prices" button above, you can see the correct photo of the laptop.

About the Laptop
This 2.5 pound plastic laptop (measuring 3.8 x 11 x 14.1 inches) has a yellow plastic screen that flips up from its orange base. Note that the actual LCD screen itself is not 11" wide, but only 2-3 inches (I don't have a measuring tape here at our vacation condo).

The orange base has a full keyboard (in alphabetical order, not QWERTY) featuring blue number buttons (1-10), yellow letter buttons (which show both uppercase and lowercase letters), 3 green menu buttons (Activities, Repeat, and Answer), and red on/off and “Challenge Yourself” buttons (this assigns a random activity to challenge your child).

There is also a corded silver/blue mouse on a built-in orange mousepad that can attach to the right side of the laptop. The mouse has one button to click and can "slide" in four directions on the mousepad. If your child is left-handed, then you can swing it over to the left but there are no holes to attach it to that side of the laptop. The corded mouse attaches to the back of the laptop and cannot be detached, so be careful your child doesn’t grab it to swing the laptop around (as I fear it can’t be reattached if it breaks off). The laptop has a handy carrying handle on the back to use when the screen is flipped down, hence the name “Tote ‘N Go.”

The screen is not back-lit, so this can't be used without sufficient lighting. I have to say that the screen, with its very large pixels, reminds me of the 1985 IBM PC my dad used at home. A little monkey appears to ask questions and will dance when your child successfully answers a question.

There is a menu on a sticker surrounding the tiny LCD display screen that covers all the games available. Of the 30 different games, some involve letters, others focus on numbers, and the rest are music and games (including clicking the mouse or scrolling in one of 4 directions). For instance, your child might be asked to find the uppercase letter of the lowercase letter shown on the screen, pick out the letter in that comes in between 2 letters, pick the number shown on the screen, compose music by pressing the number keys, or slide the mouse in different directions to guide the monkey through a maze.

My husband purchased this for $19.99, which is quite a deal given the great options available.

Our Experience
My daughter is only 22 months old, so well below the 3-6 year old age recommendation. Thus, she really hasn’t had a chance to explore these games much. My husband purchased this after reading several on-line reviews about how toddlers loved playing with this very durable laptop.

I played a few games myself just to see what was offered, but mostly found I had to guide her with playing some of the simple letter and number identification games. Thus far, when playing alone, she most enjoys turning the laptop on and off, adjusting the volume (the red push button will chirp each time the volume goes up or down a level), and randomly pressing keys. I realize it’s quite early to review this product, as it makes most sense to do it when she is 3 or 4 and has fully used all the options. However, given our frustration with her typing on our laptops, I have to say this is an excellent solution for other families facing similar issues.

I have 4 suggestions I’d love to see Vtech implement:

1) A "mute" button (so my dreams don’t feature this music!),

2) An AC adapter to save on batteries, though I understand the Tote 'n Go concept requires batteries,

3) A more attractive screen (smaller pixels, color, and a larger display would all greatly increase the price though, so perhaps this trade-off is worth it), and

4) Less garish colors or some other choices for those of us who aren’t big fans of primary colors.

Final Thoughts
As I said earlier, this toy is still too far advanced for my daughter to properly take advantage of it. However, it has more than satisfied our need to distract her from using our laptop “toys.” Thus, I highly recommend it for those facing similar challenges. I am also optimistic that she will grow to love this toy and that it may be one of those toys with significant longevity given the range of games available.