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So it's happened; mom's venerable Dell has bit the dust and I'm being called on to find her a new laptop. Everything I've seen here and elsewhere says Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare and we're trusting Microsoft's forced automatic updates to not break the computer. Dell is still offering computers with Win 7 and 8.1, but Microsoft is pushing the OS upgrade hard and heavy. I'd love for her to let me set her up with Linux but she's devoted to Google Picasa (Google not porting their apps is another rant) and I'm not sure how often she's going to be calling me with some Windows only program she needs. And then there's Apple, which makes my fingers itch to type, but it's looking better and better. So, what is the collective wisdom of the Soylentils*?
- Is windows 10 really not that bad and just roll with it.
- Is Linux finally ready for Grandma?
- Stick with 8.1 and turn off all the updates?
- Shell out the cash for a Macbook?
*Irony duly noted.
(Score: 4, Informative) by mmcmonster on Tuesday November 03 2015, @11:28AM
What does your grandmother do? Just light web browsing and email? Banking? Read books? Heavy duty email? Light Gaming? Hard Core Gaming?
It really does make a difference.
Though I think the answer will lie somewhere between:
1 - iPad if she doesn't create much content
2 - MacBook Air if you really don't want to worry about setup or she needs a laptop
3 - Linux Mint if it's a desktop you can set up for her
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2015, @11:54AM
This. I got my mother (older than your grandmother) an iPad. She absolutely loves it and now refuses to pay any attention to Dad or me because she's too busy playing Words or FreeCell. I even put Netflix on it for her and showed her how to use it. She FaceTimes me, Skypes my cousin, and e-mails everyone under the sun (with SMIME encryption enabled by default, since I put a new cert on her iPad every year).
Dad had Windows and DOS before that, back into the 1980's, but Mom never learned how to do anything online until I got her an iPad. Suddenly, it's her favorite thing in the world. She loves it more than Dad, the cat, or me.
(Score: 1) by Caballo Negro on Tuesday November 03 2015, @12:04PM
Just to add that secondhand MacBooks going back to Core 2 Duo or later perform fine for light-to-medium work with the latest OS X, so long as you replace any HD with an SSD. But check for screen burn before buying, and be prepared to replace the battery if it's exchangeable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2015, @03:09PM
Another consideration is what they are used to and physically capable of using.
For example I recently did this. I suggested an iPad almost immediately. They both came back and said holding it up for any amount of time was too much. They have an amazon fire and they only use it for small amounts of time. They can however sit at a desk for a couple of hours. They had probably one of the crappiest vista installs I have had the misfortune to use.
Another consideration is what they can afford.
A macbook air will probably be 2x-3x what they can afford. They are on a fixed income. Then it would be so different from what they are doing they would be calling all the time. They learn by 'click here' 'oh wait let me write that step down'. Handing someone with dementia a massively different interface is a non starter and just frustrates them.
That put me squarely in the 'find the cheapest HP/DELL I can lay my hands on'. That also means win81/10. I saved them a decent amount of cash on not having to buy new monitors. New computer starts up in 30 seconds (vs the 15 mins before). The built in help system seems to be working well for them (I periodically check). The only major call I had was they needed some help crawling under a desk to hook up a printer. The other was 'where is the email icon' I told them 'oh yeah I am sorry I forgot' .
I set them up a lower priv user instead of the default 'you are admin'. This will nix most of the viri they could come across. Most importantly they can play those 3 windows games they like with little fuss.
Know your audience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2015, @06:26PM
Handing someone with dementia a massively different interface is a non starter and just frustrates them.
That also means win81/10.
Microsoft did change the interface massively from Win 7 to Win 8.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 03 2015, @06:29PM
And they mostly put it back in 10. Which is why they were still on vista.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04 2015, @04:03AM
For example I recently did this. I suggested an iPad almost immediately.
Suggesting proprietary, DRM-infested devices that act as jails for the users to people just does them a disservice.