Laptop recommendations for a non-techie

babelfish

My brother, who is in his 50's and not very good with gadgets and computers, needs a new laptop. He wants to use it for banking, facebook and also putting a few files on for his business (probably word and excel).


Im quite good with computers myself but I haven't bought one for a few years and so a bit out of the loop!


The thing is, he's used to Windows 7 and I think he might find Windows 10 a bit tricky. I know he could get used to it but shouldn't he just stick with Win 7? Im on win 7 myself but my daughter has a laptop with Win 10 and I find it annoying if I ever use her laptop! However, I believe that Win 7 isn't supported any more - is this right?


Thanks!

Frozen_up_north

The free program "Classic Shell" creates a desktop/start button that resembles Win 7 on a Win 10 machine. All our computers have it installed, highly recommended. http://classicshell.net

Win 7 is nearing the end of extended support. Mainstream support has already ended:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet

Regarding which laptop, I am more than happy with my 4th owned from new laptop, it's a low cost Asus from Argos. The model I have is no longer available (X55A), but it's better than my OHs works provided Lenovo and a friend's recently purchased Acer (lousy touch pad on the Acer and nothing special about the Lenovo for the high cost).

Others will point out it is cheap plastic and you should buy a "business grade" machine. My old Toshiba and Fujitsu-Siemens were "business grade" machines but let me down (Tosh had case hinge failure, F/S had CD drive, backlight and hard drive issues). The Asus has been 100%.

Teapot55

I have been using my other half's desktop for a few months now.* It has Windows 10 & I was dreading having to use it, but it hasn't been too bad at all.

(*since my beautiful old Dell laptop with Windows XP got too old for general use)

It probably helps that I was able to use Firefox, as I find that a lot more user friendly.

debitcardmayhem

It may help if you specify a budget

Chappers27

One word. Mac.

[Deleted User]

Chappers27 wrote: »

One word. Mac.

One word... expensive

I_have_spoken

>also putting a few files on for his business<

Tax deductible as business expense then? I'd be looking at the Lenovo ThinkPad E470 - http://www3.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/thinkpad/edge-series/E470/p/22TP2TEE470

esuhl

Chappers27 wrote: »

One word. Mac.

Deleted_User wrote: »

One word... expensive

Not just expensive, but potentially problematic if "everyone else" has a Windows PC.

It's easier to get support (from friends/family) for Windows machines because "everyone" uses them.

onomatopoeia99

My mother, who is close to 80 and definitely "non-techie", coped with the upgrade to Windows 10 with very few problems on her laptop. There is hope for your brother, OP

babelfish

Thanks everyone. I think the budget will be under about £350.

babelfish

I_have_spoken wrote: »

>also putting a few files on for his business<

Tax deductible as business expense then? I'd be looking at the Lenovo ThinkPad E470 - http://www3.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/thinkpad/edge-series/E470/p/22TP2TEE470

I forgot about the tax deductible bit! I'll have a look at the Windows 10 machines and take my findings round for him to look at. I'll have to have a practice on my daughter's laptop so I can show him what to do!