I have one, it's very handy, lots of cool things you can do with it. HOWEVER, I think it's more of a laptop augmentation than full replacement. If he wants to

I have one, it's very handy, lots of cool things you can do with it. HOWEVER, I think it's more of a laptop augmentation than full replacement. If he wants to really hack around with it and load any additional software he'll soon find himself out of storage. The screen is a tad small and lo-res, and the keyboard is cramped (but maybe not so much for a 13 year old). I'd look around for desktop in the same price range and/or at craigslist and ebay "gently worn" offerings for the money of an EEE for this application.