what is the best laptop for a kid?

It would be pretty hard to find a good laptop for $250. What does he want it for? If he wants a laptop just to have a laptop, then wait until he's older, and you have more money to spend. If you insist on getting one now, you could try ebay or maybe some other website. I would suggest trying to find an ibook or powerbook if you can. It doesn't really matter that he's a kid, it matters what he's going to use it for, but as a kid myself, I know that apple laptops are really popular amongst us kids nowadays. It isn't the newest apple laptop, but it'll have to do for your budget. Just make sure that you get the best specs you can find (most RAM, biggest hard drive, newest model etc)

I have not seen any good laptops for $250. The best computer you can get for that price is a netbook, but they start from $300. The cheapest netbook you can find is the Acer Aspire One, where the cheapest prices of this netbook are around $240 for a low-end version at Best Buy. The ok versions that come with windows XP are around $300.

$250 for a laptop is nearly impossible, get him an old desktop

I would suggest an Acer Aspire one AOD150 10.1" display. its kinda small, but still good. it costs $350-380 US. There is also Acer Aspire one A110 8.9 inch display. it is $280.99 US

depends what he wants it for...your best bet is to go to best buy or something and talk with the people there.