Cheap Basic Laptop for olds

[theplayingmantis]

Can someone recommend me a cheap simple laptop for my aging parents, use exclusively accessing outlook mail and very occasional browsing, and frequent shouting at.

cursory google suggests looking at around 120-150 for argos lenovo and hp cloudbook/chromebooks, but no experience of these so would they be simply for a semi computer literate pensioner?

thanks

[FlossyThePig]

Simple question:

What do your ageing parents have at the moment?

I'm a 71 year old who retired after 45+ years in DP/IT.

[the-norseman]

There is less to go wrong with a ChromeOS device, but they can be "different" to use depending on what they are used to already.

[theplayingmantis]

FlossyThePig said:

Simple question:

What do your ageing parents have at the moment?

I'm a 71 year old who retired after 45+ years in DP/IT.

an ancient acer with hateful windows 8

[Hoofy]

Are they happy with a laptop with Windows or do they struggle like some older people to use tech that isn't user-friendly? If so and you want cheap, then an Android tablet might be the way to go.

[ninepoint2]

Decent refurbished Dell from Ebay running windows 11 can be had for under £200

[theplayingmantis]

there ok with the laptop and tablet not an option.

a more user friendly version of windows than 8, one where 'start' is in the bottom left, is pretty much all thats needed, i think chromebook has this though (appreciate its not windows but follows similar logic/layout??) and a cloudbook is windows light?

looking at new from a store not ebay/amazon.

[egomeister]

Give you are likely to be tech support for this - is remote access easily achieved with a chromebook? Quick Assist in Windows has been a very useful tool to help my Mum with issues when needed

[grumbledoak]

An iPad is much simpler if they don't have apps or Office documents to stay compatible with.

[ninepoint2]

theplayingmantis said:

looking at new from a store not ebay/amazon.

Any reason why, you will struggle to get a decent new Windows machine within budget otherwise

[theplayingmantis]

It's use will be incredibly limited so no need for a one that can do more than it needs to.

[theplayingmantis]

grumbledoak said:

An iPad is much simpler if they don't have apps or Office documents to stay compatible with.

Touch screen is not an option. Needs to be laptop

[richhead]

Have a look at lenovo ideapad range, i use one daily, under £200 new, and i use it for brousing/email etc with no problems, and is windows based, and battery life is amazing as they dont have hd or ssd.
Ive had mine about 3 years or so, its never let me down.

[duckson]

Lenovo Thinkpads on ebay, I've had a Thinkpad for the last 5 years and it's still fast and runs W10 very well.

[Somebody]

duckson said:

Lenovo Thinkpads on ebay, I've had a Thinkpad for the last 5 years and it's still fast and runs W10 very well.

Good shout. Business grade, much more robust than consumer grade offerings. I'm still using a X61 as my everyday laptop.

[xeny]

theplayingmantis said:

an ancient acer with hateful windows 8

You know there is a free upgrade to 10, albeit that goes end of life at the end of October?

[shirt]

theplayingmantis said:

grumbledoak said:

An iPad is much simpler if they don't have apps or Office documents to stay compatible with.

Touch screen is not an option. Needs to be laptop

You can get keyboards for iPad.

I just bought my 78yr old parents an iPad, and booked a session for my dad to learn how to use it. Deleted all the apps other than ones they need, removed any access security, set it for extra large icons and set up the password manager.

More than your budget obviously but needed imo.

Mum had a notebook with a different password for every website. She is pc savvy but has Parkinson’s.

Dad thinks someone will call him to give him a 2fa password. He uses google maps purely to print out directions.

I was initially going to replace their old Samsung with a newer tab but it struck me that a lot of their bickering was around not being able to get information they needed for nhs appointments and the like. Too many devices and accounts. This should simplify things for the foreseeable future, remove some stress etc