My 86 yo mother has decided to move from a desktop to a laptop. I don't own a laptop and the last several desktop I had I assembled myself so I don't know what the best quality brands are. I won't do Apple because I'm not familiar enough with it and when problems arise, I will be the one to fix them. Email, Skype, accessing the Internet and playing simple games and doing jigsaw puzzles are probably the most intensive activities she uses the computer for. She will rarely take it out of her apartment, so I imagine battery life is not an issue. She does not want a touch screen. Any advice on brand? On features to look for?
i just got a new hp laptop with windows 8 and it is really nice..easy to use..windows eight really isnt that much different then windows 7..
I'd have to challenge the logic of switching from desktop to laptop in the first place. If your mother isn't going to make significant use of the sole selling point of a laptop, you'd just be throwing money away.
HP & Dell are 2 brands I had in mind. Good point. Windows 7 or 8? I think she wants to sit on the couch and play. Sitting on a chair for any length of time is becoming uncomfortable. And at 86, she no longer needs to be logical.
Why not just get a decent used one? You can get Dell corporate grade Latitudes used for less then the consumer grade Inspirons. Another option if she has a newer TV is to just hook the computer up to her TV set and use a wireless keyboard and mouse.
Look to see if it has either the VGA 15 pin connector, DVI or HDMI. As long as it has one of those you should be able to either connect her current computer right up to it, or at most add a video card with the right connection ($50-100) and then it should work fine. Heck, throw in an All-In-Wonder card (or TV input card) and she can then watch TV on the computer... on the TV *laugh*
Old people need big screens. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312712 Lenovos are good, I have 7 Lenovo Laptops on my network at the office. My parent's both have one as well. I also have a lenovo desktop. That is a decent price, too.
Judging by the information you posted on what the intended use is, I'd say any low cost, yet full sized laptop should do. I recently went computer shopping with my mother, and went with a Toshiba Satellite, same model as my own, but the far lesser sub-model, as she doesn't need the higher graphics and RAM requirements I need. She's quite please. I've had various laptops and honestly most are similar enough it won't matter. If you know Windows, HP, Dell, Toshiba, or even Gateway will provide you many models and alternatives. I'd suggest a large screen with lower performance, as it doesn't seem necessary to have the top end components for her intended uses...
