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Wife's First Computer (Netbook suggestion thread)
joshofalltrades
Class TraitorSmoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
Class TraitorSmoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
When I married my wife, I had to come to terms with the fact that she is completely computer illiterate. I love her to death and she is an amazing woman with many wonderful qualities, but when it comes to adding music to iTunes she's a drooling mongoloid. (I can't dance)
This is the first time she has ever asked for anything technological for Christmas because she doesn't get along well with computers and she is a very practical person. What she needs is a laptop. The budget is $250 a person. She would not really need anything fancy, so the first thing that popped into my head is "netbook". We have an external hard drive that she'd have network access to, so hard drive space can be minimal. A DVD drive is sort of essential, since one of the major reasons she asked for a laptop is so she can watch her instructional videos while I'm using the TV. If I have to in order to keep under budget, I have an external DVD drive but I'd prefer the laptop to be self-contained.
Literally the only things she will use this for are synchronizing her iPod/organizing music in iTunes, surfing the web and watching DVDs.
This is the cheapest thing I could find. It has a big hard drive and no optical drive, which is sort of the opposite of what I want.
Any ideas?
This is the first time she has ever asked for anything technological for Christmas because she doesn't get along well with computers and she is a very practical person. What she needs is a laptop. The budget is $250 a person. She would not really need anything fancy, so the first thing that popped into my head is "netbook". We have an external hard drive that she'd have network access to, so hard drive space can be minimal. A DVD drive is sort of essential, since one of the major reasons she asked for a laptop is so she can watch her instructional videos while I'm using the TV. If I have to in order to keep under budget, I have an external DVD drive but I'd prefer the laptop to be self-contained.
Literally the only things she will use this for are synchronizing her iPod/organizing music in iTunes, surfing the web and watching DVDs.
This is the cheapest thing I could find. It has a big hard drive and no optical drive, which is sort of the opposite of what I want.
Any ideas?
joshofalltrades on
0
Posts
You need to look at the low end of regular laptops, which are around 300-500 dollars. For your budget, consider a used one that you can fix/set up.
We don't exactly have a used laptop emporium here in Bumfuck, TX. Is there an online retailer or equivalent who might carry something like this? They would have to be reputable, I hate the thought of buying a used PC without seeing how it performs first.
I have one, I love it, it can do *just about* anything I might want to do. It won't really run Cryengine games, but anything else it will run just fine. Lovely screen, the keypad is nice, and it's got a built-in mic, speakers, and even a little webcam that I never bothered to learn to use.
edit: this will not have a DVD player, but it is otherwise an awesome little machine. If you have an external DVD player, that would work fine.
You'd have to find a copy of Win XP to put on it (or Vista, it runs it passibly but not super great). But other than that she works fine.
If you're interested, I'll pull it out and post some specs for you.
Absolutely, that would be fantastic. Thanks!
EDIT: What operating system is it using currently?
If Iceman sends you that laptop, and you don't have an XP license, consider Linux, it will be perfect for what it's being used for anyway. Ubuntu can be set up to be pretty easy for the computer illiterate.