Customer Reviews

Barbie B-Book Learning Laptop 5.0

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

We bought the Barbie B-Book for our daughter's birthday in June. By late August it started malfunctioning and by late September the keyboard stopped responding - with the exCeption of about 5 keys that when pressed made "2" be entered. We contacted Oregon Scientific to see if there was a resolution to this problem. They had a resolution alright - they suggested we go buy a new one because repairs would be costly and the unit was no longer under warranty. Shame on us for not acting sooner when it started malfunctioning, but a bigger shame on them for making a lousy product. I do not suggest buying this product.

My oldest daughter got the older version of this product for her 5th birthday. She could only play a couple of the games at the time, but she loved it. For three years now it has been her all-time favorite car toy. It has been dropped, banged, kicked, stepped on, fought over, and everything else two kids could do to it in 3 years, and still works great! Drawbacks: Pixter & Leapster caught on that kids might actually want to play their toys past 5pm in the car & put LCD lighting in, but this company hasn't caught on yet. Also, no headphones jack--some of the games make incredibly annoying noises! One more thing--the ages are not appropriately labeled. Closer to first grade and up.

My daughter received this as a gift & we all found it extremely difficult to use. I was not able to play most of the activities on the screens without first getting the handbook out & doing step by step which was still not very easy to figure out. It was not at all easy for a child to enjoy. There were very few activities my 6 year old daughter was able to understand & play. It is too advanced & difficult to use for the ages listed. The screen on the monitor was low graphics & poor lighting quality as well. This is a very expensive mistake that provided no benefit or fun to my daughter.

Unless this product has undergone some major renovations, I would think twice about buying it. Here's what I think of last year's model...

We got two Barbie B-Books for our daughters for Christmas last year and they have been quite disappointing. After thirty minutes of failed attempts on Christmas morning, our girls put them away and have hardly played with them since. The toy is rated in the 5-8 age range, but both my daughters (ages 5 and 7) have had trouble with them. I didn't expect the world for $50, but it certainly should have been better than this!

The display screen is tiny and the dark gray text on light gray background is very hard to see, you have to get the angle exactly right. The graphics are choppy and look like they came from a program designed in the early 80's - all blocky and angular. The sound system is low grade and fuzzy, making it extremely difficult to understand Barbie's instructions. It's impossible to tell the difference when she says "X" and "S" or "V" and "T".

Since the screens are so small, the text scrolls across rather than being displayed all at once. Even my seven-year-old (who is a great reader) had trouble keeping up with the scrolling text, and as for my Kindergartner, forget about it!

The games are poorly explained and are too difficult for this age range. Even the basic spelling games are ridiculous because the level of difficulty jumps all over the place. In level one, I was asked to spell car, map, tar, and then suddenly cruise and caravan! Nonsense programming like this has caused my daughters much frustration and worse, has made them doubt their own intelligence. We don't even turn the B-Books on anymore. My girls have been able to get a little use out of them when they play office, pretending they're laptop computers.

In all, these were an expensive disappointment and not worth the money.

My daughter has an earlier version that the one shown so it is possible they have addressed some of these issues:

1) most games have a 1 minute time out which is really frustrating for my kids

2) "Oh that's not so good" - If I hear Barbie say that one more time I may just throw this thing out the nearest window. My daughter will get a score in a game she feels really good about and barbie says, "Oh that's not so good, but you'll be better with a bit more practice" This has broken my daughter down into tears more than once.

3) There are no parental controls. I wanted to turn off or lengthen the timer. I expected those sorts of features from Oregon Scientific.

Right now the most fun thing my kids do with it is play the Flower Fun game (like hangman) and type in "ICUP"

If you are looking at a newer version of this I would strongly recommend playing with a demo for a few minutes to check it out.

This is a cute item for girls 5 years and up. There are many activities to do, but I think it is lacking a little in the imagination department. Very cut and dry so to speak, but my daughter has been playing with it for the last half hour, so she must like it. Too expensive for what you get, though.

My 6-year old daughter AND her friend got one of these for Christmas. THEY LOVE IT!!! It has tons of learning games and 5 levels on each game. I can't tell you how much this has helped her reading and writing skills. Once you complete a level, you get a "prize picture". I've been looking all over for the expansion cards because she noticed that they have a slot for them. I have had no luck. I would HIGHLY recommend this product.

My five year-old daugther wanted this Barbie computer Christmas after receiving the younger Barbie computer for her 3rd birthday. She did not get it because it seemed expsensive but bought it herself with her Christmas money. She loved it from the start. She likes the games and the Spanish on it, too. She loved the mouse at first but then realized that it doesn't travel as well as the ones without a mouse (needs a solid surface versus using it in the car, airplane, drs office). The screen could be larger of course. She finds some games a challenge to figure out the rules and how-tos but overall loves her computer. She is very pleased with her purchase and I think she will be playing it for a couple years. The games are good for the ages 5-8 range.

I check every year for an updated version of this, hoping they will add an earphone jack. In my opinion, they just don't care. I bought this for my daughter to use. But the lack of earphone jack, a standard feature, in all but the most prehistoric electronic equipment, is a huge disappointment.

I got this for my daughter who is 5 1/2 and she loves it. I think it maybe a little advanced for her but she has been doing the simple math and just loves the idea of using a computer that is only hers. I think she will grow into it. I have two other daughters too who are younger and have handled the laptop and it seems to be holding up just great.