Should I get a iMac for my mom?

May 8, 2005 2:42 PM

MothersDayFilter: Should I get a new iMac for my mom?

Although I had a Mac (Plus!) back in the 80s, I now only really use a PC. She's had an fairly old PC, running Windows 98, that can't be upgraded to run XP. That machine is on its last legs, and she never really got the grasp of how to use it in the first place. Now she really wants a computer to do online shopping, email, etc., and I thought maybe a Mac would be better than a PC for her. The new iMacs look pretty nice, so any computer advice for a mom whose technical skills are less than average?

posted by reverendX to computers & internet (23 comments total)

I can't answer for your own parents, but mine recently switched to both an iMac and a new 15" PowerBook! This after so many years of their PC beeping for new updates, saying that the Port XX wouldn't open because of some other software, etc. My dad is fairly tech-savvy, and still there were issues. I think they're pretty happy, but we had some issues with slow internet. That's been fixed somewhat, and there is a slight learning curve, but I still do get emails signed by "cyberma" [no, I'm not kidding, that's what she signs off as!] so evidently my mom has figured it out. For email, shopping, photos, a new iMac or iBook would be great.
posted by fionab at 2:48 PM on May 8, 2005

A couple of years ago I set my Mom up on an iMac. She's still using it, but she's never quite got the hang of it-- I get tech support calls from her, on average, about once a week.

Fortunately, since it's a Mac, my advice USUALLY needs only to consist of: "Shut the computer down, walk away for ten minutes, come back, turn it back on, and give me a call if the problem persists."

I shudder to think of what the frequency and nature of calls would have been for a windows machine...
posted by dersins at 3:05 PM on May 8, 2005

My mom can't use an ATM, but she uses the iMac we got her for email and Googling. We did extensively set it up for her, making the dock large, simple and clear, and made sure all her logins worked before leaving her alone with it. We also stocked her address book with her friends' addresses. Your mom may not need the same level of attention, but mine has cottoned on fast.
posted by xo at 3:06 PM on May 8, 2005

Yes.
posted by odinsdream at 3:08 PM on May 8, 2005

No.
posted by rxrfrx at 3:20 PM on May 8, 2005

Touché, rxrfrx.. you win this round.
posted by odinsdream at 3:27 PM on May 8, 2005

One huge benefit of giving a Mac to a non-tech savvy parent is that you won't return home at the holidays to find it loaded with porn popups and such. My parents' iMac needs almost zippo maintenance.
posted by bcwinters at 3:39 PM on May 8, 2005

You have a lucky mom. I'd say go for it as long as you are fairly confident you (or someone else in the family) will be able to answer most of the basic how-do-I-do-this-or-that or why-does-it-do-this-when-I-do-that questions.

Even though Macs are easy to use there will be some degree of tech support questions if your mom is not very tech savvy.
posted by sveskemus at 3:42 PM on May 8, 2005

Yes.

Or an eMac, if you're not too rich of pocket. (Well, really I'd hate for someone's mom to have a better machine than I have and which I do tons of work on *g* - but the PowerMac G5 is too big and noisy and the iMac G5 has a non removable screen so Mac Mini it is..)
posted by wackybrit at 3:44 PM on May 8, 2005

Yes.

The spyware /virus/etc issue is the clincher.

But Macs are not easier to use for a non-tech savvy person who has imprinted on Windows. You may need to do a little deprogramming.
posted by yesno at 3:50 PM on May 8, 2005

Yes. My Mom has an iBook and loves it. My very-technologically unsavvy 73 year old landlady got an eMac for Christmas from her kids. We were able to set it up with almost no troubles and she could figure out almost by herself how to import pictures from her digital camera and email them to her kids. The only maintenance it required from us is putting stuff back on the dock after she drags it off by accident sometimes. No spyware no matter what she does to the thing, I've been impressed.
posted by jessamyn at 4:37 PM on May 8, 2005

I've debated whether to get my dad a Mac but decided not to because he's got certain learned behaviors and ways he deals with having a PC, and a Mac would require relearning a lot of stuff at age 72, even though the learning in itself would be easier than the initial learning was with a PC. He's just generally stubborn and doesn't like doing things a different way than he's used to, which is only exacerbated by being elderly. YMMV (Your Mom May Vary), but it's worth considering if she's got a similar personality trait.
posted by matildaben at 5:03 PM on May 8, 2005

My dad's 79, I bought him a Mac and a PC (because there was some piece of software he needed that was PC only)

The Macintosh is much easier for me, it almost always just works (I install updates and such when I'm home visiting). The PC always suffers from various afflictions and requires hours of work.

He had absolutely no computer experience prior to the Macintosh purchase and limited prior to the PC. He can send me email and photos from the Mac. He uses the PC for solitare or to get away from the rest of the family (the Mac is downstairs near everybody, the PC is upstairs in my old bedroom)
posted by substrate at 5:17 PM on May 8, 2005

Sounds like a good sensible choice.
posted by Ken McE at 5:33 PM on May 8, 2005

I got my mom a tangerine iMac three or four years ago. It runs Mac OS 9.2. The only real tech support call I ever got went like this:

Mom: It's got a flashing question mark on the screen.
Jerry: Get out the CD that I helpfully provided, labeled "Mom's Panic CD," and put it in the CD drive.
Mom: Okay, it's booting.
(we wait while it boots)
Jerry: Double-click DiskWarrior.
Mom: Okay.
Jerry: Now click "Rebuild."
Mom: Okay.
(we wait while DiskWarrior warries* the disk)
Jerry: Now click "Replace."
Mom: Okay.
Jerry: Now restart and hold down the mouse button until the CD ejects.
Mom: Oh, there it is! Oh, it's booting now! Thanks!

Oh, and one time she wanted to know how to change her ISP phone number because my parents had moved. I had locked those fields so she couldn't accidentally change them, but had shot myself in the foot because I didn't remember how to unlock them, not having used Mac OS 9 for so long. But we figured it out.

Two calls in four years. Not bad, not bad...

Originally, when my parents decided to get a computer, my mom asked, "Shouldn't I get one of those Pentium things?" My response was, if she wanted help with it when she had trouble, she should get a Mac. I did this because I knew she wouldn't have much.

* Obviously, what a program called DiskWarrior does to your disk must be called "warrying."</small*
posted by kindall at 5:41 PM on May 8, 2005

Yes. you should. or a Macmini.

Make the icons extra large if she has vision problems. Degrade the screen resolution. Make her sign up (and cancel) a dot mac account.

There are free tutorials on the basics of using her mac. Most people dont' know about them. Start them up, go in the other room and answer any questions she has after. Babysit her through them.

It does iphoto & tunes as well the the rest of the iapps.
posted by filmgeek at 5:50 PM on May 8, 2005

I bought my mom a mom's day imac about 6 years ago. This year I got her a new mac mini and a 17" screen. It might take a little while to get her adjusted to OSX, but I think iphoto, itunes etc. are all quite easy to learn. I know she already likes os9 much more than the windows NT she uses at work! so my vote = YES
posted by luriete at 6:33 PM on May 8, 2005

Make the icons extra large if she has vision problems. Degrade the screen resolution. Make her sign up (and cancel) a dot mac account.

If vision is at all an issue, then stay away from the iMac. Get a MacMini and a 1024x768 17" or 21" display instead.

Unlike Windows, there is no central place to change font sizes. Safari does not have a persistent way to keep font sizes large, and mail.app is not much better. Further, a lot of the cool icons that make sense to people who have been using computers for years make little sense to someone with poor vision and limited interest in using computers.

I love macs, but have found that non-geeky people who have gotten used to Windows frequent crashes, virus infestations and general bad behavior are surprisingly indifferent to OS X.
posted by b1tr0t at 6:57 PM on May 8, 2005

Thanks everyone.. seems like the answer is almost unanimous!
posted by reverendX at 7:22 PM on May 8, 2005

Lower screen resolutions don't really work with LCD displays (they have a fixed number of pixels and with lower resolutions it's just sort of approximated) so for visibility needs if any unless you use an eMac or a Mac Mini with a CRT you're going to have to manage with changing font sizes and such, which isn't too bad.
posted by abcde at 9:05 PM on May 8, 2005

Yeah, if all she needs is email, web, photos - look at the Mini with a monitor. Cheaper than the iMac, and you can control the resolution issues.
posted by fionab at 9:57 PM on May 8, 2005

My oldest bro and I split on a iMac for my mom (she had an old bondi blue one) and she's pretty darn happy about it, which was a toal surprise to me. I figured that sh'd hate OS X or would be reluctant to switch, but hse's been quite happy and sends email and surfs the net and types up things in the word processor. The only call I got form her was when the wireless keyboard wasn't working anymore. I stepped her through a fix on the phone and she's been back up.
posted by plinth at 5:46 AM on May 9, 2005

I used to get calls daily from Moms for help with her PC. She bought a Powerbook, and I never heard from her again.
posted by adampsyche at 7:32 AM on May 9, 2005