buying mom a computer
March 18, 2006 3:56 PM Subscribe
buying a small desktop computer for mom
my mom needs a desktop computer. I'm thinking of buying her either a dell desktop for a max price of 600$ or a mac mini. What do you think would be the pros and cons of the mini vs a dell. She would be doing hi-speed internet surfing, photosharing, word processing, synch with a digital camera, finances, and itunes. Would she benefit from a pentium processor instead of a celeron .. What would be the best system for mom in your opinion -- and why? thanks!
my mom needs a desktop computer. I'm thinking of buying her either a dell desktop for a max price of 600$ or a mac mini. What do you think would be the pros and cons of the mini vs a dell. She would be doing hi-speed internet surfing, photosharing, word processing, synch with a digital camera, finances, and itunes. Would she benefit from a pentium processor instead of a celeron .. What would be the best system for mom in your opinion -- and why? thanks!
Response by poster: she's 59 .. she's never had any mac experience .. but she says she thinks she'd be able to handle it ok .. if i were to get her a pc .. should i be concerned about the processor .. what, really, is the difference between a celeron and a pentium ? would she notice a difference ?
posted by jason9009 at 4:11 PM on March 18, 2006
posted by jason9009 at 4:11 PM on March 18, 2006
I totally recomend the mini mac.
There really is about a 30 minute learning curve for macs.
The benifits of never have to defrag, no big worrys about virus's the "clean look" of OSX. I think the mac would also appear less intimadating due to its tiny size. Plus get her apple care and she can call in with any problems she'll ever face
posted by Building at 4:27 PM on March 18, 2006
There really is about a 30 minute learning curve for macs.
The benifits of never have to defrag, no big worrys about virus's the "clean look" of OSX. I think the mac would also appear less intimadating due to its tiny size. Plus get her apple care and she can call in with any problems she'll ever face
posted by Building at 4:27 PM on March 18, 2006
Another Mac Mini recommendation here, but as odinsdream has stated, this has been asked and answered extensively many times before. Check the archives.
posted by qwip at 4:50 PM on March 18, 2006
posted by qwip at 4:50 PM on March 18, 2006
My fiance just bought a mac mini -- I was against it at first (we have a gazillion computers), but it is so cute, small, quiet and really functional -- and Apple has written the book on making things just work. There are a lot of Apple stores across the country -- maybe take her to one and let her play for a bit?
posted by j at 5:35 PM on March 18, 2006
posted by j at 5:35 PM on March 18, 2006
Mac Mini, with a Dell 1704FP screen. Absolutely no question about getting a Mac - zero maintenance. Things work.
Worrying about something like the speed of the processor is really rather irrelevant, unless you've left out some important piece of information (like "oh, by the way, my mom is an avid FPS gamer and likes assembly programming in her spare time...").
posted by dmd at 5:38 PM on March 18, 2006
Worrying about something like the speed of the processor is really rather irrelevant, unless you've left out some important piece of information (like "oh, by the way, my mom is an avid FPS gamer and likes assembly programming in her spare time...").
posted by dmd at 5:38 PM on March 18, 2006
I recently bought a Mac mini for my mom, who's in her late '60s (sorry, ma!), and she loves it.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:55 PM on March 18, 2006
posted by kirkaracha at 5:55 PM on March 18, 2006
I had a hard drive go out on my mini earlier this month. Thankfully it was on warranty and replaced without cost in three days. With the recent Intel upgrades, the mini is roughly comparible to Dells in terms of price/performance.
On the other hand, with the mini you will also have to buy or bring your own monitor, mouse, modem and keyboard.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 6:05 PM on March 18, 2006
On the other hand, with the mini you will also have to buy or bring your own monitor, mouse, modem and keyboard.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 6:05 PM on March 18, 2006
Another Mac Mini reccomendation here. We did this last year for our mom, and she's been incredibly pleased with it. She had no problems switching from the PC she'd been using for a few years before.
posted by vernondalhart at 6:14 PM on March 18, 2006
posted by vernondalhart at 6:14 PM on March 18, 2006
dmd Mac Mini has built in ethernet and modem, KJS.
Gigabit ethernet, yes. Modem no. (For that matter, not all of the G4 minis had the internal modem.)
posted by KirkJobSluder at 6:20 PM on March 18, 2006
Gigabit ethernet, yes. Modem no. (For that matter, not all of the G4 minis had the internal modem.)
posted by KirkJobSluder at 6:20 PM on March 18, 2006
Mac. It just works. And it mostly works like one expects it to work.
Windows is for the same sorts of people who change their own sparkplugs. Often.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:34 PM on March 18, 2006
Windows is for the same sorts of people who change their own sparkplugs. Often.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:34 PM on March 18, 2006
KJS: Oh, sorry. My Mac Mini has a built in modem. I didn't realize the new ones don't any more.
posted by dmd at 7:40 PM on March 18, 2006
posted by dmd at 7:40 PM on March 18, 2006
I'd recommend the mac mini:
hi-speed internet surfing: safer on the mac, and I think it's faster too (safari feels faster to me). set up an admin account that isn't the account she uses all the time and she could forego the virus software expense and system drag.
photosharing: a .mac account would make this very easy to do online. and iphoto comes for free, I don't think you'd get comparable plug and play and organize and edit software out of the box with the dell.
word processing: i'd recommend buy iwork ($99) and using pages instead of paying so much for ms office. pages can export as a word document, and has some really nice templates too.
synch with a digital camera: iphoto is great for this. just plug the camera in.
finances: some people don't like it, but I've never had a problem with Quicken for the Mac. it converted my pc quicken files just fine.
and itunes: it's mac software. .. so. . .
posted by visual mechanic at 8:59 PM on March 18, 2006
hi-speed internet surfing: safer on the mac, and I think it's faster too (safari feels faster to me). set up an admin account that isn't the account she uses all the time and she could forego the virus software expense and system drag.
photosharing: a .mac account would make this very easy to do online. and iphoto comes for free, I don't think you'd get comparable plug and play and organize and edit software out of the box with the dell.
word processing: i'd recommend buy iwork ($99) and using pages instead of paying so much for ms office. pages can export as a word document, and has some really nice templates too.
synch with a digital camera: iphoto is great for this. just plug the camera in.
finances: some people don't like it, but I've never had a problem with Quicken for the Mac. it converted my pc quicken files just fine.
and itunes: it's mac software. .. so. . .
posted by visual mechanic at 8:59 PM on March 18, 2006
I remember paying $400 for a 1200 bps modem once upon a time. My god. And you say Mac minis don't have them? Gosh... that must be like not having a floppy drive.
Sorry, man, but as an early adopter of ADSL and CDR, I just get a kick out of the idea of missing a modem (or floppy slot, for that matter.)
I wish they came with a rock-solid system for secure and robust digital media distribution to powerheads throughout the house. A Sonos system, but as the hardware equivalent of an API. Bonjour/zeroconf substantiated, I suppose.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:00 PM on March 18, 2006
Sorry, man, but as an early adopter of ADSL and CDR, I just get a kick out of the idea of missing a modem (or floppy slot, for that matter.)
I wish they came with a rock-solid system for secure and robust digital media distribution to powerheads throughout the house. A Sonos system, but as the hardware equivalent of an API. Bonjour/zeroconf substantiated, I suppose.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:00 PM on March 18, 2006
fff: I remember paying $400 for a 1200 bps modem once upon a time. My god. And you say Mac minis don't have them? Gosh... that must be like not having a floppy drive.
You youngsters.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:06 PM on March 18, 2006
You youngsters.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:06 PM on March 18, 2006
Another vote for the Mac Mini here. My parents have one and they like it.
There can be a few hiccups with compatibility with other folks machines though - that's the only downside. For most of us those sorts of things do not present a problem, but for your parents it can be different.
posted by sien at 3:15 AM on March 19, 2006
There can be a few hiccups with compatibility with other folks machines though - that's the only downside. For most of us those sorts of things do not present a problem, but for your parents it can be different.
posted by sien at 3:15 AM on March 19, 2006
Get what you can best support, and what has appropriate software for her needs. My Mom's in a small retirement apartment, so we made sure she has a nice flat panel monitor that doesn't take too much space. I'd even consider a laptop.
posted by theora55 at 8:16 AM on March 19, 2006
posted by theora55 at 8:16 AM on March 19, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by librarina at 4:06 PM on March 18, 2006