Highly Fun and Educational
My son, who's 3 got this as a birthday presentfor his third birthday, and is one of his favorite toys. He takes (& asks for it) wherever we go. Not to mention it is a great learning tool for all sort of things. From phonics to making up your own musical song. Also the 'interactive' monkey is very cute. This one is bit better than the Fisher-Price Fun 2 Learn laptop. The screen on this is better and very clear (not green). I was thinking of actually buying this for him as one of his birthday presents, and decided that with some of his birthday $ I would then buy it. I didn't have to now. Not to mention it is very durable, my son has drop a few times and it still works like brand new.VTech Tote 'N Go Laptop Plus

Eh. Not super impressed...
Got this for my 2 year old son when I got my own laptop, in hopes it would occupy him with his own and off of mine! It does that. Briefly. He's an active kid and doesn't sit and play with this kind of thing very long, okay, but this doesn't occupy him very long. I'll get my laptop out and he'll run off and get this, sit down, put it on his lap, mess around with the buttons and the mouse for a while, and then he's off to something else (or MY laptop) after about 5-10 minutes max. He's certainly as bright as some of the other reviewers' 2 year olds, but he most certainly didn't pick up the alphabet in some days/weeks and start playing with this thing "correctly." This is NOT a stupid or slow kid, and things like figuring out how to choose exactly which activity he wants and playing it correctly every time are absolutely beyond him. I suspect that anyone with a 2ish year old that did that is absolutely the exception, not the rule.

If you're looking for this for your 2(ish) year old to keep them occupied, you might want to look for something else. If you have a really calm toddler, you can probably use this WITH them to help teach the alphabet etc - it seems to be a good learning tool. But don't expect most kids that age to sit there and figure it out alone and learn that way. Not gonna happen. They're too young. If you want something that they can bang away on pretending to be typing like Mommy on her laptop and pretending to be using a mouse like Mommy does, it's great. (That's why I got it for mine.) But even then, it's limited in its ability to "entertain" them - at least at this age.

I have 2 big complaints with this product. The first is what other reviewers have mentioned: The sound level defaults to medium (should default to low!!), but worse than that, when the sound level button is pressed, the really, REALLY annoying monkey on the screen starts screeching (my husband says it sounds like a super loud annoying cricket) and does not STOP until a different key is pressed. Even if the cover is closed. Wanna guess what button my little boy likes to press the most? And then walk away. Arrgh!

Second, I realize he's slightly below the minimum age for this, but still. The battery compartment on the back has NO screws holding it closed. It simply snaps shut. He delights in turning it over, opening it, and yanking out the batteries - faster than I can leap up and get him to stop. This is simply DANGEROUS. Unless the toy is for 5+, they ought to be securing those compartments shut. I don't get it.

All in all, I think it's a good learning tool, and with a fairly calm kid or a slightly older kid, I think they'd learn a good deal from this and have fun doing it. But if you're reading this because you're thinking of buying this for a 2 year old or thereabouts, and hoping they're going to learn all this stuff all by themselves just by playing the game, I don't think it's likely. And if you have an active ("busy") toddler, don't expect this is going to hold their attention for all that long.

Nephew's Birthday present
I'm not sure why anyone is giving this toy low ratings. It is a very good value and I agree with many of the other posters, you can buy a more realistic looking kids' laptop but this one is the way to go. It's durable, it has alot of function and frankly I think little kids prefer the bright colors. When my nephew goes to his Grandma's house, this is usually the first thing he runs to and he is one of those diecast car loving boys!

He's not quite old enough to get the full educational value out of it (read this as this toy still has room to grow with his development), but he does like to play with it and discover new functions, and even when he gets bored he just brings it to someone to put it in music mode and sits around composing songs.

At $30 or $40 this toy would be a nice deal, at Amazon's $19.99 it's a can't miss.

Learns at his own pace
My three-year old son plays with this more and more each week. He is becoming accustomed to the games, and can choose them according to his wishes to do shapes, numbers, or letters. I am excited that he can use this for several more years as some of the games are more advanced (spelling words), and for that reason alone this game is well worth its purchase.

educational toys
I bought this as a preasent for my friend's 3 year old son and she told me that he likes playing with it and it is a good teaching tool.