Laptop for a 90 year old.
Discussion
Hi all,
Ok, so, my mother is not 90 yet, but having read the Laptop For a 9 Year Old thread, the title seemed appropriate.
Does anyone know of any Black Friday deals, ideas, things to avoid, things to go for that would be ace(r?)!
Requested specs -
White keyboard (Or pale colour, helps see the letters)
The touchpad has separate buttons for the two mouse buttons. (not totally necessary as most of the time external mouse in use, but nice to have)
SD card slot for photo transfer from point and shoot camera.
Windows 10. (Def not Apple, sorry Apple people!)
Decent size screen, I think minimum 14 inch.
Budget at about the £300 ish mark, could stretch it a bit more, would go much cheaper if the right one comes in much cheaper.
Mostly used for spending kids inheritance on Amazon, occasional photo transfer, slow typing in gmail, playing bridge.
I am reluctant to go for anything less than about 16gb RAM, but should I ignore this due to an SSD being a touch faster than her old normal hard drive? - People are talking about avoiding 2 GB, go for a 4 GB?
If all the options come in with a "small" SSD, I could either up that to a decent sized one for photo storage, or set up an external hard drive.
Ideas hugely appreciated!
Ok, so, my mother is not 90 yet, but having read the Laptop For a 9 Year Old thread, the title seemed appropriate.
Does anyone know of any Black Friday deals, ideas, things to avoid, things to go for that would be ace(r?)!
Requested specs -
White keyboard (Or pale colour, helps see the letters)
The touchpad has separate buttons for the two mouse buttons. (not totally necessary as most of the time external mouse in use, but nice to have)
SD card slot for photo transfer from point and shoot camera.
Windows 10. (Def not Apple, sorry Apple people!)
Decent size screen, I think minimum 14 inch.
Budget at about the £300 ish mark, could stretch it a bit more, would go much cheaper if the right one comes in much cheaper.
Mostly used for spending kids inheritance on Amazon, occasional photo transfer, slow typing in gmail, playing bridge.
I am reluctant to go for anything less than about 16gb RAM, but should I ignore this due to an SSD being a touch faster than her old normal hard drive? - People are talking about avoiding 2 GB, go for a 4 GB?
If all the options come in with a "small" SSD, I could either up that to a decent sized one for photo storage, or set up an external hard drive.
Ideas hugely appreciated!
For elderly people, who I suspect are not “power users” (eg, not video editing, curating picture albumset !), I would highly recommend a Chromebook. Done it with elderly relative and also a less elderly but technologically-challenged relative with good success (& almost no support from me needed!!)
Not sure of current deals though....
Not sure of current deals though....
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KD63BQ5/ref=gw_uk_d...
Wait for black Friday it will be sub £100 which is pocket money.
You can also setup smart bulbs, smart plugs etc for her on alexa.
Wait for black Friday it will be sub £100 which is pocket money.
You can also setup smart bulbs, smart plugs etc for her on alexa.
boxst said:
Based on my 91 year old father I would recommend a tablet of some description. Either the Amazon one mentioned above which is great of an older iPad depending on how entrenched in Apple you are as it is great for sending photos etc. with iMessage.
This. My 80 year old father really really really struggled with a laptop. In the end he just gave up. Got him an iPad instead and he now actually uses it.Had a similar situation with my mum some years ago. Ended up getting a tablet over a laptop as she'd never used a computer before and tablets seemed easier to use and more portable.
Although I bought a device that would connect an SD card to the tablet (for photo transfer) there was no easy way for (her) to follow the required process. However since owning the tablet, she now takes all photos and video with the tablet so no need for the separate camera.
Other than that, a tablet is ideal for a very basic user like elderly mothers. I've since bought her a Bluetooth printer so she can print photos straight from the tablet with relative ease.
Although I bought a device that would connect an SD card to the tablet (for photo transfer) there was no easy way for (her) to follow the required process. However since owning the tablet, she now takes all photos and video with the tablet so no need for the separate camera.
Other than that, a tablet is ideal for a very basic user like elderly mothers. I've since bought her a Bluetooth printer so she can print photos straight from the tablet with relative ease.
My mum (82) has been using tablets for a few years now. Originally a Nexus, recently switched to an iPad Mini. She had no problems switching from Android to Apple, even got the wifi working herself.
She has tried a laptop in the past, and also has an iMac which is better for internet banking etc. (bigger screen, easier to read), but being able to hold a relatively small tablet in one hand while tapping and scrolling with the other is much easier for her when sitting on the sofa in front of the TV.
She has tried a laptop in the past, and also has an iMac which is better for internet banking etc. (bigger screen, easier to read), but being able to hold a relatively small tablet in one hand while tapping and scrolling with the other is much easier for her when sitting on the sofa in front of the TV.
Thank you Nikeiow, will dig into chrome books more. I've possibly been overly sceptical due to the old ones with nearly no storage.
Good call Foliage, unfortunately she has a kindle fire, but does not get on with it, so it stays firmly in the book reading only zone. Also she has a good dose of the shakes, so anything touchscreen is out.
Sorry Boxt, she is an avid anti apple person, and I would be dragged in to fix it and that would not end well! Also with the shakes thing.
Opposite for me ThorB, my dad really likes his standard laptop, but would only fire up his ipad if you insisted, so once a year, and only if you found the charging cable etc for him! (though he did phone "microsoft" when they sent him a pop up message saying he was infected)
Good call about one unit xx99xx, unfortunately it has to be a good "anti-shake" camera, but she uses it lots, and manages to plug in the sd card, so I'm hoping to keep that going!
Thank you for the note about ease of moving from android to apple Clockwork, unfortunately with the shakes everything handheld is out of the question.
I agree with tablets on the whole being easier Crofty1984, but she has tried!
Hey, Grumbledoak, worth a shot, you never know! I am ignoramus to start with, so as you say I am dreaming, but worth a shot! Yeah, maybe a pipe dream, real it in to 8 gig with a 256 ssd (or eMMC?)
Good call Foliage, unfortunately she has a kindle fire, but does not get on with it, so it stays firmly in the book reading only zone. Also she has a good dose of the shakes, so anything touchscreen is out.
Sorry Boxt, she is an avid anti apple person, and I would be dragged in to fix it and that would not end well! Also with the shakes thing.
Opposite for me ThorB, my dad really likes his standard laptop, but would only fire up his ipad if you insisted, so once a year, and only if you found the charging cable etc for him! (though he did phone "microsoft" when they sent him a pop up message saying he was infected)
Good call about one unit xx99xx, unfortunately it has to be a good "anti-shake" camera, but she uses it lots, and manages to plug in the sd card, so I'm hoping to keep that going!
Thank you for the note about ease of moving from android to apple Clockwork, unfortunately with the shakes everything handheld is out of the question.
I agree with tablets on the whole being easier Crofty1984, but she has tried!
Hey, Grumbledoak, worth a shot, you never know! I am ignoramus to start with, so as you say I am dreaming, but worth a shot! Yeah, maybe a pipe dream, real it in to 8 gig with a 256 ssd (or eMMC?)
As I said on the other thread (9 year old laptop) I have an ASUS 202 that I use pretty much all the time now. Brilliantly simple as it's designed for school kids and will suit all your mother needs for a laptop.
Good clear screen and a standard keyboard although the white lettering is not backlit but is no problem with an overhead or side light.
PC World have them in their store (or did when I bought earlier this year) so if you have one nearby go and try it to decide whether this will be suitable.
HTH
Good clear screen and a standard keyboard although the white lettering is not backlit but is no problem with an overhead or side light.
PC World have them in their store (or did when I bought earlier this year) so if you have one nearby go and try it to decide whether this will be suitable.
HTH
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