Don't let my coworker buy a MiniMac - Recommend a sub-$1000 PC!

[tk149]

My coworker (60-year-old woman) wants to buy a computer. She's considering buying a MiniMac, but asked me for my opinion 'cuz I'm the local computer geek. I build my own PC's, so I'm really not familiar with brand name reputations nowadays.

No, I'm not going to be her tech support, so this has to be a brand name "ready-to-go" PC with WinXP (Home or Pro).

It will be used for websurfing, word-processing, and anything else a 60-year-old woman wants to do. Must include everything (keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, etc). Printer is a plus, but not required.

How do people feel about low-end Dells nowadays?

 

[MrChad]

What's wrong with a Mac Mini? A Dell will be a little less expensive, but she won't have to worry about viruses/spyware on a Mac.

 

[necine]

A Mac-mini with a ram upgrade is 10x better a low end dell. effe dell.

 

[ribbon13]

Agreed. I'm rather anti-Apple, but for her needs a MacMini seems to be an ideal choice.

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: MrChad
What's wrong with a Mac Mini? A Dell will be a little less expensive, but she won't have to worry about viruses/spyware on a Mac.

I know nothing about the Mini, but I thought I'd give the PC enthusiasts here a chance.

 

[ribbon13]

For a $1000 and a lil of your time you could do better with a custom pc, and you could try to consolidate brands so tech support wouldn't be a hassle. just an option

 

[tfinch2]

Mini-Mac with RAM upgrade. Leaves enough $$ for a nice 17" LCD for less than 1000.

No spyware, viruses. If she's asking you for advice on what to buy you will become her malware tech support.

 

[Tab]

:thumbsup:

 

[GT4]

The Mac MIni is better than I thought(Tried one at the Apple Store 1.42 with 512 and 80gig HD).When I used one for the first. First advantage over a cheap PC is a real graphics card. Though old (i have a 7500 Radeon in my machine right now!!) I exported a Quicktime movie and performed as well (less than 3 mins) as the 1.8 G5 Imac and 1.67 PowerBook G4!!! With a great software bundle and VGA adapter just find a USB mouse and keyboard and you have a MAC bargain.

 

[3chordcharlie]

If I were her, I'd buy the minimac

 

[arsbanned]

Originally posted by: tk149
My coworker (60-year-old woman) wants to buy a computer. She's considering buying a MiniMac, but asked me for my opinion 'cuz I'm the local computer geek. I build my own PC's, so I'm really not familiar with brand name reputations nowadays.

No, I'm not going to be her tech support, so this has to be a brand name "ready-to-go" PC with WinXP (Home or Pro).

It will be used for websurfing, word-processing, and anything else a 60-year-old woman wants to do. Must include everything (keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, etc). Printer is a plus, but not required.

How do people feel about low-end Dells nowadays?

I would recommend the Mac Mini. Unless you want to support the PC the rest of your (or hers) life. This way, you just go, "ooooh, sorry, can't help ya with that" Plus you get to check the Mac Mini out first hand and do a full review here at AT.

 

[DarkAmeba]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
Mini-Mac with RAM upgrade. Leaves enough $$ for a nice 17" LCD for less than 1000.

No spyware, viruses. If she's asking you for advice on what to buy you will become her malware tech support.

What he said

 

[OSUBeaver]

get the mac mini. I just bought my gf an 12" iBook, and it is perfect for her needs. Especially the no spyware/worms/trojans/virus thing. Honestly, I plugged in a fresh install of xp stragiht into comcast and the computer got loaded with crap, it was insane. You can't expect a regular person to use a firewall and ad aware/antivirus. Even with a low end dell, after a month it would so filled with junk that a p3 500 would outperorm it.

Definitely need 512 mb of ram though. If she wants to spend $900 maybe she would be better off with an iBook from Amazon after the rebate. Same parts but on top of that she gets a laptop. Don't be worried about the 1.2 gig proc, it is more than enough.

 

[CraigRT]

how about this

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/product...ed_dp_desktop1_1?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

 

[LoneWolf15]

Originally posted by: tk149

Originally posted by: MrChad
What's wrong with a Mac Mini? A Dell will be a little less expensive, but she won't have to worry about viruses/spyware on a Mac.

I know nothing about the Mini, but I thought I'd give the PC enthusiasts here a chance.

Then there's no reason to recommend against it. The Mac Mini has a lot going for it. Lots of great software bundled, discrete graphics (as opposed to Intel "Extreme" onboard video), small size, extremely quiet, no malware/virus issue, etc.

I use both Macs and PC's, and for the average consumer, the Mini is a great computer.

 

[suse920]

what is she used to using? If she uses a windows xp machine all the time she might get frustrated if she has to relearn how to do basic tasks on a mac. If shes open to that then i'd say have her get the mac mini.

 

[WalkingDead]

I just got a Dell deal for my bro:

Dell 4700 with free 17" Dell LCD monitor. 3ghz P4 CPU w/HT, 512mb of DDR 2, SATA 7200rpm 80gb HDD etc and 2 year of warranty all for $575 after $100 rebate.

It will beat the hell outta a mini Mac for just about anything.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: LoneWolf15

Originally posted by: tk149

Originally posted by: MrChad
What's wrong with a Mac Mini? A Dell will be a little less expensive, but she won't have to worry about viruses/spyware on a Mac.

I know nothing about the Mini, but I thought I'd give the PC enthusiasts here a chance.

Then there's no reason to recommend against it. The Mac Mini has a lot going for it. Lots of great software bundled, discrete graphics (as opposed to Intel "Extreme" onboard video), small size, extremely quiet, no malware/virus issue, etc.

I use both Macs and PC's, and for the average consumer, the Mini is a great computer.

Agreed. It's the perfect computer for the kind of person the OP is talking about.

 

[TRUMPHENT]

The mini Mac is an eyecatcher. You could fit an even half dozen inside a Dell mini-tower case with room to spare. I would have to opt for more ram than the standard 256mb. Add a nice LCD and there is virtually no loss of desktop real estate. It's like the size of CDRW drive. Who wouldn't at least think about having one?

I don't think a lot of people realize how much gets packed into such a small vessel.

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: TRUMPHENT
The mini Mac is an eyecatcher. You could fit an even half dozen inside a Dell mini-tower case with room to spare.

On a side note, can you cluster with OS X? You could stack those babies into little towers of processing power if you had the cash to burn.

 

[imported_bum]

Mac Mini sounds like an awsome idea for this lady. As everyone else said, I'd go for a 512 ram stick and an lcd monitor.

 

[Ecgtheow]

Originally posted by: batmanuel
On a side note, can you cluster with OS X? You could stack those babies into little towers of processing power if you had the cash to burn.

Yes.

 

[AtlantaBob]

Originally posted by: WalkingDead
I just got a Dell deal for my bro:

Dell 4700 with free 17" Dell LCD monitor. 3ghz P4 CPU w/HT, 512mb of DDR 2, SATA 7200rpm 80gb HDD etc and 2 year of warranty all for $575 after $100 rebate.

It will beat the hell outta a mini Mac for just about anything.

True, but this is a nice 60 year old woman... as long as it emails, and surfs the net, who cares?

Dang it, I want a MacMini too.

 

[JBT]

I am actually considering a mini mac just to mess around with. I probably won't get one but I think they could be a nice little system.

 

[iamskew]

http://reviews.cnet.com/4521-6526_7-5021300-1.html?tag=dir.tp