I want to get my dad to invest in a computer so that he can email mykids, his grandkids...?

Question

He's across the country and they haven't seen him in a while due to the cost of air travel. Any ideas on a reasonably priced system that he could purchase in order to be able to email and get photos from us? He's 77 and I know he can grasp how easy it is to email and surf the web. He's a little gun shy over the idea, I sense. But, he used to teach electronics in the Air Force. I think it will be a cinch to him once he sees how simple it is. And, it will help keep him mentally stimulated being that he's usually in his assisted living apartment since he can't walk much.

Answer 1

for the last time dell is not overpriced!!! Go to the page in my sources. The first thing on the list is a Dell Dimension desktop with an Athlon 64 DUAL CORE processor and up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM for less than $400

Answer 2

For someone in your father's situation, you should make sure that whatever he gets is something that will stay as simple as possible. I'm a tech nerd, and I have a number of different operating system environments on the four computers at my house. I love to fiddle with systems and software, so I usually go the PC route. But for the people I set systems up for, who fall in your dad's category, I usually go the Apple Macintosh route. People will say that the Mac is more expensive than the PC, but that's not quite true if you take a look at the whole picture. The Mac doesn't get spyware on it, it doesn't have the problems with viruses like PC's do, and the operating system is much more intuitive, easy to use overall and problem free than the Windows environment. If your dad is new to computers, he would invariably get spyware on his system, and would have to contend with the hassle of getting it off, and continually running programs to check for it. That's more than daunting for the new computer users I work with. The long-term cost of the Mac vs. the PC will show that a Mac is actually a more promising investment. The most important thing however, is that as someone new to using computers, he will become much less frustrated with the Mac, and would probably end up using it much more than a PC. And this is from someone who primarily uses a PC, just because I love to get into the guts of the software and even the hardware. Lastly, in the case that you do need help as a Mac user, Apple consistently beats the pants off of PC companies when it comes to user satisfaction in terms of customer support; that's good news for a new computer user.

Answer 3

You can get a very adequate system good for web surfing and emailing for under $500. Then there is web access. A dial-up may be good enough for now and that can be as low as ~$5 per month.

Answer 4

You can find some decent and cheap systems on Tigerdirect.com. If buying something online is too intimidating most national Electronics carry reasonalble starter systems(Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.)And definitely do not go Dell.......they are way overpriced.

Answer 5

None of these systems come with monitors but monitors are fairly cheap now a days
http://microcenter.com/search_results_e_compare.phtml?web_group=pc_desktops&page_title=Desktop+Systems&page=1&search_id=795348e19e187a41b78798a8ff61ca16&per_page=&sort_price_direction=ASC&sort_by=product.retail
I recommend the
164962 Refurbished Dell OptiPlex GX260 at $299.00

Answer 6

Dell has about the best deals, but you can get a fine used rig pretty cheap. My pal just got dell's basic rig and a monitor for 500.

Answer 7

You can get a good refurbished PC from TigerDirect.com for not too much money.

Or, if you plan to upgrade your computer soon, send him your old one after you clean it up a bit.

Good luck!