No one question, just Help please!!!

nanatopsy

I would like to buy my adult son, who has little experience with pcs a basic laptop.
I am not an expert myself, and know the basics for what I need, surfing the web, reading forums:),buying online, booking flights, e mails, documents and spreadsheets.
He really just wants to use facebook, the internet and possibly Skype to speak to me.
I have never had a tablet, an iphone or the like don't even like my OH's cheapie 'scroll' LG phone, so my quandry is. Is my son better with a laptop, netbook or one of these tablets? If so, as I dont want to be paying the earth until he has a better understanding, what would be best suited for him. He is not working would mostly use this in the house with WIFI so couldnt be tied to a phone contract or something that he had to top up constantly.
Really am truly sorry for being so ignorant and would be most grateful for any advice.:)

closed

laptop has more uses.

flashg67

IMO, I'd say a laptop is still more useful for everyday use, bigger screen, better to type on etc.

As a new user, and for what you suggest it's for, any 'standard' laptop will do the job. Lots of places to buy and it might be better to take him with you to see what he likes the look of, try the keyboards etc.

You don't mention what budget you have? There's plenty of refurbished stuff out there, but if you're buying online, I have used www.ebuyer.com for many years with no problems. I'd suggest you could get something suitable for as little as £250 for a new machine. Make sure it has a CD/DVD drive if he'll be watching films/music, as some of the smaller latest models don't have them. All laptops will have the ability to connect to wifi at home. If Skype is important, a built in webcam would be preferable too.

Some will disagree, but I'd stick to one with Windows on it, simply because you'll never be far away from someone who can offer help, and software is easy to find.

nanatopsy

Closed and Flashg67, Thanks very much. I think you're right and at least I might be able to help him with a laptop as I know nought about tablets:(

Thanks for the recommendation, will check out ebuyer as well as I buy quite a bit on the internet. My last 2 netbooks were from Ebay.

Thanks again for your help.

lesalanos

If that is all that he wants to use it for then a tablet is easier to carry around. Something like a nexus 7 will do this easily enough. The good thing for me with tablets is that you can just sit around with them and hold them in your hands.

If he will then want to do spreadsheets / documents then a laptop will be better for this.

Laptops also have a bigger screen so it is easier to see some web pages but it all depends on his needs. Take him to a shop to see each option.