Elderly relative has asked me to buy a new laptop - help!

EveryWhere

spadoosh wrote: »

Just in case you missed it, theyre both recon laptops. The op doesnt want a recon laptop.

No, I didn't miss the word specification in my post.

The OP asked about specifications. So i gave examples of specification for which to look.
Notice that the first DELL machine does not even have a price attached.
You might also have noticed there are actually three laptops described in that particular post. so your "both" is another example of your being obtuse.

You too would not have missed it if you weren't engaged in some spiteful and childish game.

You are doing no good here,

EveryWhere

stanleyman wrote: »

Thanks again to everyone for their help, and apologies for causing an argument!

EveryWhere - I don't live near my relative, so upgrading his current laptop (if he even agreed to that) isn't really an option since I'd need to take it away, and he needs it for his charity work. I don't have his model number to hand, I didn't take a note of it.

Your comments have been helpful, I can tell you know your stuff, but this is an elderly man who is very set in his ways. No point in him learning from his mistakes when he's in his 80s, just let him get on with it his way. I'm used to it, he's not going to change.

I've had a look and you're right that the sub-£400 laptops on Argos seem to have very poor specs. I've seen one on Amazon which has good reviews (apart from a couple who mention the graphics, but that won't be an issue in this case), what are your thoughts on it? Unfortunately the forum doesn't allow me to post links but it's Lenovo V145 [81MT0015UK] (searching for the 81MT0015UK bit on Amazon brings it up as the first result, for £312.99)

I mentioned that I might be able to change his mind about buying online if there's a big price difference, and there definitely is when going for a slightly better one.

None of this is a problem for me and there is no argument between the people who are actually helping.
We are all agreed on getting him the best bang for his buck and the least hassle going forward. We show what is available and he and yourself can decide. You can use the links or you can take note of the specification.
I take no offence at all.

Back to the laptop discussion.

Traditionally, the storage medium and the CPU processing unit have been the bottlenecks in lower priced hardware. The advent of low priced solid state drives has changed all of that and allowed many people to bring their old units up to spec. To the point wherein they did not even need to replace their machines.

So in truth he doesn't really need a high spec machine. But he still needs a certain quality of component.
Whilst he doesn't need a top spec CPU, he does need a solid state drive at the absolute minimum. Without it, the device will soon begin to slow down.
SATA 3 as a start point, but preferably PCIe. Screen quality. If buying a new laptop, aim for an IPS screen. Usually at 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution.
RAM; 4 GB is fine in conjunction with a solid state drive for the simple usage described. 8 GB if you can get it.
So when someone is recommending a laptop with a poor CPU, coupled with an old and slow electro-magnetic storage medium and a poor screen, you know they don't have your best interests at heart.



As to the Toshiba laptop, you don't need to take it away to upgrade it. You can take everything you need with you and have literally completed the job within an hour.
SSD £17. Create the Windows 10 media on a USB drive before you leave.home
Windows 10 licence from eBay for £2.
2 x 2 GB of RAM £7
External caddy for old HDD £4
Create the Windows 10 media on a USB drive before you leave.

Remove HDD and fit RAM via maintenance hatch(5 mins) Replace with SSD(5 mins) Clean install Windows 10 to laptop( 20 mins) Place old HDD in external caddy(5 mins) Install whatever programs he wants.

Not saying that you have to do it. Just stating that you can plan all beforehand and do it on the spot within an hour.
At least it will be useful as a back-up even if he get s a new laptop. Otherwise it will remain useless.

EveryWhere

peterbaker wrote: »

I don't mean to hijack the thread but I do have a very similar problem with the exception that I do have the access and ability to upgrade an existing machine. So I have a related question for Everywhere:

I am frequently called to an elderly neighbour to unstick their very slow 10 year old e-Machines G640-P324G50Mn Model No. MS2294 and I can see from an original label was originally loaded with W7 but it is now on W10 from automatic upgrades. It has 4GB RAM.

It has never been abused and has only ever been lightly used for browser based GMail, internet banking, and a little MSWord and occasional printing.

I do have a spare (unused 5 year old Samsung I think) SSD knocking around somewhere. The message I have taken loud and clear from your advice on this thread because you have several times suggested it, is that installing an SSD can make a big difference to an old slow machine. I suppose I must have heard it before as a friend's son is a computing genius now and even when he was more just a gamer, recommended that his mother use an SSD for her boot drive and OS in her underdesk installation. However I have never used one.

Is the above enough info for you to say yes it be worth me hunting out that SSD* for my elderly neighbour, or is that particular old slow machine a hopeless dead duck of a likely candidate host for an SSD?

*found it - it is an MZ-7PC128 (128GB) 830 Series ...

Don't know that particular model, but I would guess a CPU such as the AMD Athlon II P320 at the very worst. Which would be fine in conjunction with 4GB of RAM and an SSD.

It is not dissimilar from what I am currently running. So I can confirm that such a configuration is good for general usage.
Mine is up and ready for action in seconds after powering on.
I will echo the concern for a seven year old drive. But if that is all that is available.
https://www.mymemory.co.uk/memory/data-storage/ssd-drives.html?dir=asc&order=price
If it doesn't already have 4 GB of RAM on-board; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XUM-4GB-2x2GB-DDR3-PC3-10600-1333MHz-204-Pin-1-5V-Laptop-SODIMM-Memory-RAM/223484418898

Perfect example of a device worth saving, if it is still mechanically sound.

EveryWhere

peterbaker wrote: »

I don't mean to hijack the thread but I do have a very similar problem with the exception that I do have the access and ability to upgrade an existing machine. So I have a related question for Everywhere:

I am frequently called to an elderly neighbour to unstick their very slow 10 year old e-Machines G640-P324G50Mn Model No. MS2294 and I can see from an original label was originally loaded with W7 but it is now on W10 from automatic upgrades. It has 4GB RAM.

It has never been abused and has only ever been lightly used for browser based GMail, internet banking, and a little MSWord and occasional printing.

I do have a spare (unused 5 year old Samsung I think) SSD knocking around somewhere. The message I have taken loud and clear from your advice on this thread because you have several times suggested it, is that installing an SSD can make a big difference to an old slow machine. I suppose I must have heard it before as a friend's son is a computing genius now and even when he was more just a gamer, recommended that his mother use an SSD for her boot drive and OS in her underdesk installation. However I have never used one.

Is the above enough info for you to say yes it be worth me hunting out that SSD* for my elderly neighbour, or is that particular old slow machine a hopeless dead duck of a likely candidate host for an SSD?

*found it - it is an MZ-7PC128 (128GB) 830 Series ...

Of course you should just clean install Windows 10 to the SSD. It will activate automatically. Don't attempt to clone all the bloat to the SSD.
You might want to opt him out of the more obvious stuff; https://fdossena.com/?p=w10debotnet/index_1903.frag

You don't need to go that far on your neighbour's laptop.