Best value basic laptop

Johnny Cage

Looking for a basic laptop or potentially tablet for my gran which will mainly be used for basic web browsing, max budget €350 euro for a laptop but if you know a cheap tablet that's good value that might suit. Thanks

Johnny Cage

Budget: between €150 and €350

Intended use: mainly internet browsing

Mobility: Lighter would be better but not overly important

Warranty: happy to get one though don't want to pay extra for it

What Operating System do you use? Windows 7 or 8 or android if tablet doesn't really matter so long as it's relatively simple to navigate through for my gran

Cork24

ChromeBook,
our any netbook would be cheap and would do what you are asking.


Problem is your asking price alot of laptops would come with around 4GB that is very low for Windows 8 or Windows 7 64Bit, would you want atlest 8GB,

But if you go with Linux you can run that on 2GB or even less

in today's world Linux is getting more "Friendly user" you can download or even watch Videos on Linux and you won't look back.

Johnny Cage

Thanks for the advice, was actually talking to her there and i think she would prefer to go with a 10.1 inch tablet, was looking on amazon and found this, i think it looks pretty good, anything better around?

Akrasia

Cork24 wrote: »

ChromeBook,
our any netbook would be cheap and would do what you are asking.


Problem is your asking price alot of laptops would come with around 4GB that is very low for Windows 8 or Windows 7 64Bit, would you want atlest 8GB,

But if you go with Linux you can run that on 2GB or even less

in today's world Linux is getting more "Friendly user" you can download or even watch Videos on Linux and you won't look back.

Are you seriously suggesting that someone should go with a Linux machine as a basic computer for someone's granny?

And are you also seriously suggesting that a windows 8 laptop requires minimum 8 gb of ram?

I doubt granny will be playing battlefield 4 on max settings
4gb ram is plenty for everyday tasks on windows 8. 2gb would be sluggish but workable.

FSL

If someone only wants to surf the net, play music, watch movies, display photographs, Skype their children/Grand children then a linux machine is infinitely better than a Windows one. Just as easy to use.

Really how hard is it to click on an icon?

Added to that she will be far less susceptible to scams and virrii.

GarIT

I've used Linux a long time, it has its uses but I have never found any distro that has been as fast as windows 8 without massively reduced functionality. I can't see it being much harder to use but its about what you are used to really. I've also never seen a good value laptop for sale that comes without Windows.

Another thing to note is with most tablets there will be a lot of problems with flash content. I.e. Some websites won't work properly or at all and a lot of videos won't work at all.

mordeith

I got the Acer Iconia a210 for my wife a few months back. Cost just under €230 and in fairness it's a pretty decent tablet.

FSL

If you are just browsing and viewing content from the internet then the limiting factor is always going to be your broadband speed.

I would agree a tablet is probably not a good idea. As one advances in years one's eyesight becomes less sharp.

Torqay

Akrasia wrote: »

Are you seriously suggesting that someone should go with a Linux machine as a basic computer for someone's granny?

A few weeks ago an elderly gentleman in the neighbourhood asked me if I would have a spare laptop. As it just so happened, I had a Dell Vostro 1500 (C2D, 3 GB RAM) here which couldn't take Windows anymore (long story but don't we all know the feeling? ) but it is working grand with VectorLinux (Slackware). Now, it is safe to say that the good man has never heard of Linux in his life but once he got used to enter a username and password to login he is perfectly able to use Firefox and Skype which all he needs. I haven't heard from him since.

You see, there is no age restriction on Linux.

Johnny Cage

I didn't think about linux at all, so am gonna try this first because she has one of my uncle's old business laptops which is basically unresponsive and freezes most of the time hence this thread.

Only thing is the laptop is fairly outdated and i haven't a clue of the spec, i'd say at least 8 to 10 years old running xp and is ridiculously slow but sure may aswell try before spending money unnecessarily.

Johnny Cage

GarIT wrote: »

I've used Linux a long time, it has its uses but I have never found any distro that has been as fast as windows 8 without massively reduced functionality. I can't see it being much harder to use but its about what you are used to really. I've also never seen a good value laptop for sale that comes without Windows.

Another thing to note is with most tablets there will be a lot of problems with flash content. I.e. Some websites won't work properly or at all and a lot of videos won't work at all.

I don't really know much about tablets, are they reliable at all? Tbh the cheaper ones seem to have pretty crap specs but i suppose android doesn't use as much resources as a windows machine.