Laptops: What to buy?

[Dan2k3k4]

Well my Aunt is looking into buying a laptop, though she's never had one before and she isn't very tech savvy.

So she's asked for my help, but I'm not sure what laptop she should go for. She wants a large laptop screen/large keyboard, as she's pretty old...

She only really wants it so that she can type and print, but wants to access the internet too.

So I'm guessing, the laptop should be about 17" monitor? 1 or 2gb Ram? Vista? MS Office included (Word etc)? Wireless?

But I've no idea what laptops are good, nor do I know how much she should look at spending. I did a quick look and found a decent looking laptop for £300 Acer Aspire 7520-6A1 G08Mi Laptop - but I've no idea if it's any good...

Anyway, any advice is much appreciated <3

[Eagle101]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

That looks fine to me, the Acer. You can easily find laptops 17" priced at 300 quid. The tech spec is fine according to what your aunt is going to do which is Type/print/ surf the web.

[invicta ging3r]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

If its just for simple browsing etc. i think you can get anything, just the screen size really

[[USAC]S|Cpl.TinFoil]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

Asus EEE PC.

[=98=]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

Asus EEE PC.

Bad, is small.

I point out one major issue with that laptop. 1gb of RAM. Vista runs slowly with 2gb RAM, 3/4gb being the optimum.

It will be as slow as your Aunt walking if you stick with 1gb, although you can update the RAM yourself manually if you knows what you are doing.

[iQue]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

If she is just gonna use it for general browsing then maybe go with something a tiny bit cheaper with XP. Or what the heck just go with Vista as long as you can get 2 GB ram.

[Eagle101]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

Yeah there are laptops with the 200 range although i fear that it would be quite hard to find them with a screen size of 17".

[Dan2k3k4]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

I'm not sure how much she's willing to spend... so I might be able to look for something that's £400 or something...

I could probably customize the laptop and build it up myself, but I won't be sure what to buy, and if it'll all fit together. Is building a laptop difficult? Like is it pretty hard to get that one screw in or plug that cable into the graphics card etc. - would any 'special' tools be needed? (Think I've got a bunch of small screwdriver heads, but don't think I've got any good/decent bendy/flexy screwdrivers)

[AllFoamNoBeer]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

17" is huge for someone like her.

I'm guessing your aunt would be mid-40's or early 50's. 17" wide or normal will be way to big.

I am not sure about products in the UK, but I'd go for something like this:

http://www.acer.co.th/v2008/product_detail_spec.php?id=662&cat=1

12.1" is perfect, probably a 14.1" at the most.

I'd go for XP, it's lighter on the laptop (lower RAM, no need for extra features etc.)

[Eagle101]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

Laptops are pretty hard to be built, as you wont find the parts needed easily it will be difficult. What Vika has suggested is pretty good, now it depends on your aunt on what preference of screen size would she want.

[Dan2k3k4]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

I'm not sure what size you wants, she just said you wanted one that was big so she could easily read and type etc. so the first 4 laptops I found, the biggest was a 17" one and I just thought that would be ok, though it might be "too big" will have to talk to her and find out what she'd prefer... I think my dad's laptop is about 12-14" and she can use that one ok.

[[USAC]S|Cpl.TinFoil]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

Bad, is small.

I point out one major issue with that laptop. 1gb of RAM. Vista runs slowly with 2gb RAM, 3/4gb being the optimum.

You know it runs on a Linux distribution & not Windows, right? That the most some distros use with Firefox/Epiphany/Opera/Konqueror and Openoffice included is 256MB?

It is completely possible to run XP on an EEE. Just think of the performance as an old 4-year old Dell.

[=98=]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

LOL OWNED

[Dan2k3k4]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

I doubt she'd be into Linux, since she'd probably use MS Word and save some files then possibly send them to someone who also has MS Word, plus she'd probably end up buying a program for Windows later on and realising it doesn't work with Linux...

[AllFoamNoBeer]

Re: Laptops: What to buy?

Nuff said. Get a compact 12.1 or 14.1" laptop that runs XP with MS Office 2007 with 1.5GB or 1GB ram.