Idiot Proof Laptop for MIL?

missbiggles1

Get her a Chromebook - simple, fast and well under £200.

ukjoel

I know she says she doesnt want a tablet BUT

I would get her a tablet.

What she is asking for has got to be more intuitive with tablet than a laptop and less chance for things to go wrong.


I would go either for a cheap secondhand 10 inch samsung note or an 8 inch Hudl 2 BUT get her a blue tooth keyboard and she will think its a laptop with a removable screen.

I was like her and very anti tablet until recently. I love my tech and looked at a few tablets but thought Apple was far too much money and things like the nexus were too small at 7 inches for my fingers.

It was only after picking up the kids hudl2 one night that I started to reconsider as 8 inch and 10 inch seem a lot more user friendly. Chuck a keyboard onto them and they are quite impressive pieces of kit when you consider they can be had for next to nothing with clubcard boost.

henm2

There are still some refurbished Windows 7 laptops available for under £90 from this souce.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370916356683?clk_rvr_id=100000529711577&rmvSB=true

I bought mine in January, upgraded it for £20 with some more memory and it is an excellent machine. The batteries on these things can vary but mine lasts over 2 hours from a full charge.

Shaka_Zulu

I was hunting around last night and picked up a Lenovi Flex 10 for sub £78 on Amazon warehouse Deals (smells slightly like a misprice to me) others are on at £169!

Thanks all for your help.

Re Chromebook:- I was pushing that but she wants to be able to print.

Esqui

You can print from a Chromebook, but it requires particular printers and is quite tricky to set up. Once it's done though, it's fine

Kernel_Sanders

ukjoel wrote: »

I know she says she doesnt want a tablet BUT
I would get her a tablet.

People spurn tablets for a reason. Maybe she wants a decent sized screen, not a smaller one further reduced by a keyboard obscuring it. Maybe she wants that screen to stand up on its own at an optical angle. Maybe she wants to plug in full sized USB accessories. Maybe she wants to type fast Yet you would deny her all of these!

ukjoel wrote: »

I would go either for a cheap secondhand 10 inch samsung note or an 8 inch Hudl 2 BUT get her a blue tooth keyboard and she will think its a laptop with a removable screen.....
I started to reconsider as 8 inch and 10 inch seem a lot more user friendly. Chuck a keyboard onto them and they are quite impressive pieces of kit

But not quite as user-friendly or impressive as a 10.1" netbook.

LadyDee

She knows what she wants, as did I when I moved from an old, slow desktop. I wanted something faster, more portable and, most importantly, a nice big screen.

I have a tablet for (mainly) playing games - my laptop is for emails, browsing the internet, online shopping etc.

I need reminding sometimes of something I've already had explained to me, it's not so much lack of ability it's more a question of lack of confidence and unfamilarity with the language and all the acronyms that are part of the everyday language nowadays.

I suspect your MIL is of a similar generation as I, so remember that most of us we were not educated and employed in the age of the computer, so play nice, help her out and remember when you get to your MIL's age you'll probably need a bit of assistance from your kids as technology might then be beyond even your capabilities and experience.