Web TV? or what should my mom get for e-mail?

[MackGoose]

My mother (Who's in her 60's and not technical at all) needs e-mail access she she can look up e-mail. Is Web TV any good? She looked into it and it's somewhere around $100 (She didn't know the monthly fee). I'd rather she get a PC so she can expand her mind a little, but I know nothing about Web TV? Any suggestions, would be appreciated. Remeber, she only needs to access e-mail and she's on a very fixed income. If I had an extra PC or the $$ myself (family of four eats up the paychecks) I'd hook her up, but money is tight (we have mega hospital bills to pay for our two boys).

Thanks for any assistance.........

MackGoose

 

[hans007]

webtv i believe runs on a normal ISP, so the monthly would be a normal ISP i figure. I've tried it out at a store and its not bad. plus it'll be on a big screen, your mom being 60 might appreciate the size. then agian the resolution would suck.

You could get her a dream cast with the keyboard andjust use the modem on it to dialup an isp. and use like yahoo mail. that might actually cost less, with a dream cast costing like $50.

I dontknow if you could build a PC for $100 with a monitor. might cost you more. But it is possible, like people have old early pentiums they get rid of for $50 or so usually.

 

[perry]

I have a friend that used to use WebTV, suited him just fine. He was able to surf, check email, and chat on IRC with it. I think it's around $20 - $22/month, about the same as AOL or MSN or Earthlink.

Obviously, most geeks want everyone to use a computer, but I think that WebTV would be perfect for your mom.