My mother-in-law....

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My mother-in-law....

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sean
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42228
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 05 7:36 pm Post subject: My mother-in-law....
Needs to replace her seriously ancient PC. Basically she uses it for email, a little bit of surfing and storing photos. She'd like a TFT monitor, and she wants a photo-quality printer. What spec does she need, and where should she go?

michael

Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Cardiff

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 05 8:05 pm Post subject:

Ooh ooh ooh!

Buy a Mac Mini!

Well sexy (for those of us who like that sort of thing), easy to use, just right for someone who wants to store photos and read email and browse websites. I use one at home, best computer I have ever had, quiet enough and smart enough to put in the living room, where I am writing this at the moment.

https://www.apple.com/uk/macmini/
You can apparently plug a mac mini into a TV, but I've not tried that yet.

Seriously though, almost any computer you buy brand-new will be more than powerful enough, and most new computers come with TFT monitors, some as large as 17". Have a look round PC World with your mother-in-law so that she can get to try out the different computers, see which computers will match her interior decor, and test the different printers to see which is easiest to use. (This was very important when buying a computer for my gran.)

Then buy from one of the online vendors like www.dell.com for a much cheaper computer if you are happy to provide her with first-line technical support.

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28362
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 05 8:22 pm Post subject:
Yep, any basic Dell PC these days will be adaquate for all the normal PC tasks

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
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Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 05 7:24 pm Post subject:

Personally I'll never go near another Dell due to the extremely bad customer service I've had. If it turns up and works then you've probably got a decent cheap system, if anything goes wrong...

With TFT screens I'd go along to a large shop and take a look at the makes. Some makes are very good, some are ok, and some are almost unusable. You don't have to buy from the shop but at least you can compare them. I'd also suggest a 17" TFT as you can either increase the resolution or get a larger pic. Of the makes I've used I like the NEC screens.

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28362
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 05 7:32 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

How "current" are your view on TFT's. These things can change quite rapidly, and having only recently started going the TFT route, I cannot say I have seen such extreme differences.

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
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Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 05 7:40 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

How "current" are your view on TFT's. These things can change quite rapidly, and having only recently started going the TFT route, I cannot say I have seen such extreme differences.

About 3 months old. Based on a problem I had with a TFT screen and looking in PC World and a few other shops and finding, to my surprise, the same conclusions in Computer Shopper. Some can be very blurred, some are very hard to adjust the brightness up or down.

Anyone thinking about buying one, if you are going past a shop I would go in for a few mins and decide for yourself.

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 05 8:00 pm Post subject:
A guy in work bought a couple from www.ebuyer.com. You can get a 2.8 gig acer without monitor for 200 quid all in.

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 05 8:01 pm Post subject:

TFT's are not the right choice for *critical* colour work.
And seriously cheap computer ones are inappropriate for tv, dvd or action games.

However none of that need apply to Sean's mother-in-law.
I'm sure I remember a car road test of the wretched Fiat 126 as concluding that it was ideal for the MIL... (and before anyone starts, I had a proper 500 once, rear-hinged doors and all. It was fun.)

I'd go with the mac mini - or - especially if she wears bi-focals, an iBook. The low screen of the laptop is brill for bi-focal users... The machines are cousins under the skin. No problem adding a mouse to the laptop if she doesn't get on with the trackpad - *roll* the finger for small movements...

There's a new (wide-screen?) iBook and some sort of tweak to the mini rumoured to be due in the very near future, so I might hang back, see the new models and any clearance discounts on the old ones and *then* decide.
For photos, don't forget some backup training, and maybe an external hd.
Note that if you spec the larger hd *in* the mini, then you can have the faster processor for something like a tenner.

Does she have broadband, or is she close enough to make use of yours for System Updates? (You could always send her a cd...)

As an iMac owner Sean, I'm surprised you are asking...

sean
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42228
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 05 9:05 pm Post subject:

dougal wrote:

As an iMac owner Sean, I'm surprised you are asking...

I just need some support for my views

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 05 5:31 pm Post subject:

dougal wrote:

There's a new (wide-screen?) iBook and some sort of tweak to the mini rumoured to be due in the very near future, ...

And they are announced TODAY.

A couple of additional comments

- the mini simply gets config and price changes for the options.

- the iBook G4 has had a substantial engineering change. Apart from a new ATI graphics chip 9550 vs previous 9200 (which remains in the mini), the HD protection system, and the increase in soldered-in memory (the empty socket can still take an extra gig), the spec for the memory chip is now DDR 333 rather than DDR 266 (it seems to need faster chips). The 9550 seemingly supports Apple's Core Image stuff, so it does *all* the eye-candy...

So - anyone considering buying a mini, mouse, keyboard and screen, thinking of a UPS and valuing compactness and portability should look seriously at the iBook. Then compare prices with PC laptops weighing under 5lb that have a 6 hour battery life, equivalent HD protection, wireless 11g + Bluetooth and a dedicated graphics chip with its own VRAM...

sean
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42228
Location: North Devon

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 06 1:54 pm Post subject:
Well, she finally went with a package from Dell, and bought the extended warranty. Dunno why I bother really.

mrutty

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1578

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 06 2:57 pm Post subject:

sean wrote:

dougal wrote:

As an iMac owner Sean, I'm surprised you are asking...

I just need some support for my views

I agree too, always keep the IT illiterate on the play machines

(Does it show that I'm home with no wok to do?)

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 06 3:09 pm Post subject:

mrutty wrote:

(Does it show that I'm home with no wok to do?)

Planning dinner then?

Northern_Lad

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 06 3:19 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

mrutty wrote:

(Does it show that I'm home with no wok to do?)

Planning dinner then?

Either that or his new spill chucker doesn't work.

mrutty

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1578

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 06 3:23 pm Post subject:
I was saving on letters, part of my electron reuse idea

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