$1200 to spend on a Laptop for my mom. Suggestions?

[gozulin]

My mother wants to buy a laptop that she will use for word processing, some light internet browsing and whatever other things your stereotypical mom uses computers for. She's not tech savvy *at all*.

It needs to be:
*-easy to use
*-stable
*-durable
*-stylish

It won't be used for gaming, photoshop, videoediting or any of that stuff.

I was thinking maybe a mac? But it needs to be more specific than that I'm afraid.

Ah, also, I'm a student so I am entitled to $100 discount at the apple store, take that into account as well.

That said, it doesn't NEED to be a mac, it's just a possibility.

The price is not very flexible, my mom could be persuaded to spend an extra 100 bucks but that's the absolute limit.

 

[halfadder]

I think the Apple iBook meets your requirements quite well. But I'm biased, I love my PowerBook.

Amazon.com may be the best place to buy one, if you can get in on one of the $799 deals for the 1.2 GHz model. But, at the Apple Education Store:
iBook 12" 1.2 GHz ComboDrive -- $949
Add a much needed extra 256 MB from Crucial.com for $48. (Or from Apple preinstalled for $90, hehe).

Preinstalled should be Mail (POP/IMAP client), iChat (AIM and video chat), Safari (web browser), iCal & Address Book (calendar and contacts/address labels), iTunes, iPhoto (photo album software), iMovie (video editing), Quicken 2005, World Book Encyclopedia 2004, AppleWorks (oldschool but usable word processing / good database / basic spreadsheet / drawing / painting). It'll also have a few games and a demo version of MS Office 2004. Also on there should be the buggy/crashy/awful Mac version of MS Internet Explorer.

(And of course, all of the other utilities... Preview (image and PDF viewer), FontBook, Calculator, Stickies, Network Utility, Disk Utility, Printer Utility, Terminal, etc etc etc)

You should get 3 DVDs with the iBook: Mac OS X 10.3.x installer, iBook Software/System Restore and Hardware Diagnostics, and the Xcode developer tools, docs, and APIs/SDKs/libraries.

If she needs to buy Office:
MS Office 2004 Student Edition -- $150

Maybe?
XtremeMac Recipe Manager -- $40

Does she travel much?
Route 66 Route USA 2004 -- $40

You might also consider spending $50 or so on an external USB wheel mouse and/or an 802.11 base station.

 

[JMoore]

Id go with either a IBook like Half said, or with a Dell Inspiron 600m/ Latitude D600.

 

[bdude]

Dell 700m, get it with the multitude of coupons.

 

[uOpt]

12" Ibook, $1000 minus $100 rebate at amazon, bump up with larger harddrive, more RAM or backup device to fill the money.

For people who won't need more than 1024x768 the ibooks are just perfect IMHO.

 

[Tostada]

Like everybody else says, for the price those 12" iBooks are great. I'd get it with the Bluetooth adapter installed, though, as mom would probably really appreciate a real mouse to go with her laptop. The MX900 with its recharging cradle is great.

I just know that my mom barely has the mouse figured out, so I certainly wouldn't go inflicting a touch pad on her.

I'd also just go to Newegg and spend $80 for an extra 512MB.

That would end up being $1150, plus I think the Apple store will charge you sales tax, so right around $1230 - $1250 total for a 12" iBook, mouse and RAM.

 

[halfadder]

MX900 works great with my Apple PowerBook G4!

 

[Wuzup101]

iBook w/ 60gb HDD from the Student store: $1016 + tax and tags... should be right around $1080
512mb of pc2100 by either Kingmax or Corsair will be $85 shipped...

Now I'm not sure if she needs the 60gb hard drive, but hey, it never hurts.. and it's a ***** to replace iBook hard drives to upgrade. Never hurts to go right with the larger drive, who knows maybe she'll get into the whole mp3 thing. If you drop down to just adding an extra stick of 256mb and the base 30gig hdd you save yourself about $40 for the ram and $70 for the hdd... that will buy a nice mouse and a nice case. Also, i would skip office if she doesn't need it specifically. The iBooks still come with appleworks 6 which isn't awesome, but it's adaquate. Also, open office can also be used on the mac, and can be saved as pdf or doc files for compatability's sake. Other than that, mail is a pretty decent mail client, and all the iLife programs are pretty much awesome...

I would go iBook, it's easy to use, and sexy as hell... not as sexy as my powerbook... but up there...

 

[Pliablemoose]

Inspiron 600m Notebook Special Deal, Dec 27

Dell Home has this special Inspiron 600m 4.9lb Centrino Notebook Pentium-M 725 1.6Ghz 2MB Cache, 14in Screen, 512MB/60GB, Free Dell 720 Printer, DVD/CDRW, Free Intel 802.11g wireless card, Word Perfect, XP Home SP2, 3 year warranty at $542 off, now $1199 shipped free. No tax in some states

 

[NoToRiOuS1]

macs are a good way to go but if you're leaning towards windows consider the averatec 3200 series. small, lightweight, and good bang for the buck

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Inspiron 600m Notebook Special Deal, Dec 27

Dell Home has this special Inspiron 600m 4.9lb Centrino Notebook Pentium-M 725 1.6Ghz 2MB Cache, 14in Screen, 512MB/60GB, Free Dell 720 Printer, DVD/CDRW, Free Intel 802.11g wireless card, Word Perfect, XP Home SP2, 3 year warranty at $542 off, now $1199 shipped free. No tax in some states

Not a bad deal here either if you're looking at getting a windows PC. Definitely will have more power than an iBook. I'd still personally use the iBook because of OSX; however, that's personal prefrence. That and I don't like dell... again personal prefrence...

 

[cheesehead]

DEFINITELY go for the Apple. They're stable as could be, and easy to use. They do'nt run many specialized programs; but they do'nt run most spyware or viruses, either.

 

[Commodus]

I have to support the recommendation for an iBook.

If someone is a complete novice, they may not know how to navigate the OS but they're also unattached to any particular method of doing something. OS X generally makes more sense - settings aren't buried as deeply in most cases.

Also, remember that you'll probably end up being Mr. Tech Support. While you'll have to learn some basics of OS X yourself ("Panther: The Missing Manual" is a good intro), teaching your mom the ropes beats having to clean up spyware for the 20th time.

As far as the configuration: it'll have to be a 12" model for the price, but use the extra money for a larger hard drive (the 60 GB will be fine) and/or getting some 3rd-party RAM to boost it to 512 MB total. You may also want to be extra-nice and get Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition ($149 on the Apple store); AppleWorks (the included suite) can save Word and Excel format files, but if "my Word/Excel files must work for Windows users" is an important point, it's better to have the real thing on hand - especially if your mom wants to use Powerpoint.

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: Cheesehead
DEFINITELY go for the Apple. They're stable as could be, and easy to use. They do'nt run many specialized programs; but they do'nt run most spyware or viruses, either.

Programs for Apple have com quite far from whta they were back in the day. You'd probably be supprised at how many programs are offered for the Mac platform. Granted, it's' definitely not as developed as the software market for windows, that's given. Still many specialized programs (ie: engineering programs like mathematica, matlab, maple, etc... have Mac support). All macromedia's great products are supported on the Mac, as well as Adobe programs. There are many small shareware programs that aren't out for the Mac; however, most of these programs have a shareware Mac counterpart to get the job done... so while the program name might be the same... they do the same thing. I've been a heavy computer user for quite a few years, and I spend a lot of time using one daily at college. I have yet to have any problems not being able to find software that does what I need it to. And, what you said about the spyware/viruses is also a good point... you don't really have to worry abouut any of that stuff on macs... especially spyware. Also, OSX can run any linux based program though X11 which comes with the OS, so you have that many more options.

Also, I should note, that 99% of the programs offered for mac are the same price as their windows counterparts, and many of the useful ones can be purchased through a student/teacher software store for a greatly reduced price (since the poster said he was a student).

 

[Safeway]

Dell - not Apple. The world is PC.

 

[halfadder]

The world is PC... and so are the spyware, virii, and worms.

Actually, the world is tcp/ip, http, imap, ftp, sql, aim/icq/msn, .doc, .rft, .pdf, .gif, .jpg.... which is why your bank's AS/400 midrange database machine can talk to their Win2003 web server which can talk to your WinXP desktop or my Apple PowerBook... which can also talk to my credit card company's Linux web server which talks to its S/390 mainframe.

The world these days is protocols, standards, and file formats. Unless you need a specific application that's not available for your platform, it's pretty easy to fit in... regardless if you're a mainframe, mini/midrange, Windows box, Mac, Linux, traditional Unix,... or even BeOS, RiscOS, QNX, etc...

At the end of the day, the best advice is to choose the right tools for the job. If someone needed to spend all day in MS Office, the best choice would be a PC running XP and the latest version of Office. But in this example the needs are not as strict.... websurfing, word processing, email... perhaps some photo manipulation and storage, video editing, consumer-level database, personal finances, etc. Almost any machine would fit the bill. Even an iBook. Even that $500 Walmart Linux notebook. If the thread parent is willing to give an iBook a try, then go for it. Several million Mac users are happy with the machines they've bought in the past year or two. There's plenty of software available. And heck... if nothing else, it'll be a fun experiment.

 

[Commodus]

Dell - not Apple. The world is PC.

That's a flawed argument for popularity. What makes sense for many people doesn't make sense for everyone, and the majority isn't necessarily right. After all, just over half of US voters wanted Bush, and I've seen news stories suggesting that Bush isn't getting a "honeymoon" in the polls.

 

[addragyn]

Originally posted by: Safeway
Dell - not Apple. The world is PC.

You might've heard of these things - networks. The "internet" is a fairly big one. All kinds of computers exchange information using standard formats and protocols. Neat stuff.

 

[gozulin]

thanks for the advice everybody. I'm leaning towards the mac right now but the hefty price of office 2004 is kinda discouraging. If i go mac, i'll probably install OpenOffice for her. Good tips about the Ram upgrade too, I assumed that apple would know their sh*t and include enough ram for their laptop to be well balanced. Apparently not.

 

[Commodus]

Quick tip - if you want OpenOffice, go with NeoOffice instead. It's OpenOffice, but much more Mac-friendly (you don't need to install X11 and use it to run the app, for example).

 

[halfadder]

Apple has always been stingy with the RAM, I don't get it. At least 256 MB is enough to boot, surf the web, and manage some pictures with iPhoto. Or if you aren't running anything else at the same time, edit video in iMovie. But you know just as well as I do... life is soooo much easier when you have 512 MB!!!

The boxed version of Office 2004 for students is $150 from the Apple Store. Most colleges and even some high schools have a program where students can pay $10 for a legal copy of Office... and in some cases it's totally free........ But, If you want the 100% full retail version of Office 2004, it's expensive... $399. But Apple sometimes has coupons at the Apple Store that can bring the price down to $250. Another option might be to try to find some online Mac store that still has Mac Office v.X aka Mac Office 2002. You might be able to find it for $200.

One of the programs the iBook comes with (see my post towards the top) is AppleWorks 6.
http://www.apple.com/appleworks
It's oldschool (remember Microsoft Works?) but it doesn't use much RAM and it runs fast. It has most of the features you'd expect and at least you can do word processing, spreadsheets, and simple database/painting/drawing right out of the box without having to buy additional software.

Appleworks is not Office... but the word processor portion of Appleworks is able to open and save basic MS Word .doc and MS Wordpad .rtf files. Also, Apple's basic text editor (TextEdit) can also open and save basic .doc and .rtf files. The Appleworks spreadsheet can also open and save basic MS Excel .xls files. But again, it's not Office, so don't expect 100% compatibility.

 

[frazzled]

Also, remember that you'll probably end up being Mr. Tech Support. While you'll have to learn some basics of OS X yourself ("Panther: The Missing Manual" is a good intro), teaching your mom the ropes beats having to clean up spyware for the 20th time.

Been there done that ....in spades. I had the task of clearing out my father's Dell laptop after he passed away and he was pretty computer-savvy . Holy cow!!! What a disaster of spyware, malware, etc.

So now my mother wants to get hooked up again and since I cannot rely on Dad to help her out anymore I'm going Mac all the way.... just picked her out a nice 17" iMac. Last night I tried out the digital camera I bought her on my daughter's iBook , I was dumbfounded over how easy it was to use with iPhoto (I use both Macs and PCs, haven't bothered with the iLife apps yet) .... I didn't have to install a single piece of software for the Kodak dx7440, plugged in the cable, it was recognized and iPhoto started up . Was able to email pics 30 seconds later... seamless. But I digress....

I ordered my teenage daughter's iBook over the summer with bluetooth, Airport express (was an option at the time), maxed out HDD space and added a stick of 512 MB RAM from Crucial. She has a PC on her desk (that is used much less often) and....... I haven't had to touch her iBook since she got it in August. It's an absolute pleasure.

Go with the Mac for Mom.

Good luck,

JT