Need help? Desktop for mother-in-law

[twitherspoon]

I have been tasked to either purchase (Dell or equivalent) or build a computer for my mother-in-law and I'm not sure which method is best. Or what to get. Currently she has a 4-5 year old Gateway with 400Mhz processor probably 64-128mb of RAM. She mainly needs it for basic tasks, no gaming, web browsing (through dail-up, she lives in the country), and just opening and viewing pictures. Her current pc is can't even do the above items without choking. She would also like it to last her probably the next 5 years doing the basic tasks. Any help is appreciated. Suggested specs, online pc configurators, and any other tips. As many tips and suggestions will be very helpful.

Thanks a lot guys

 

[johnjkr1]

Get the cheapest Dell you can find. I got a 2400 for $350 for some friends and it gets the job done. Also, I dont have to provide constant support for it, Dell does. A wonderful side benefit for me. If you build it yourself, guess who gets the call every time?

 

[Wolfsraider]

rather than recommend a dell
see this as to why

or a compaq same reason

or an hp as seen here

get her an abs computer
as seen here

good luck on your decision

mike

 

[Abhi]

DONT build it urself...

Get extra warranty...

 

[twitherspoon]

Thanks for the help so far, but are there an config recommendations?

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: Wolfsraider
rather than recommend a dell
see this as to why

or a compaq same reason

or an hp as seen here

get her an abs computer
as seen here

good luck on your decision

Those statistics are so inaccurate, its not even funny. 690 total reviews for Dell.com?

They move more PC's alone in an hour.

 

[johnjkr1]

As for config, go as basic as possible. I put together a celeron 2.4, 512 ram, 40gig hd, winxp for about $350. Yea, yea, I know....celeron sucks, but you know what, if you aren't playing games (like your mother-in-law) a celeron is great.

As far as the Dell/Compaq/ABS thing goes, Dell makes a decent computer. No, it's not as good as a home built. It might not even be as good as an ABS, but when your mother in law's computer breaks at 2am in 2 years, you know Dell will be around, ABS computers, who knows?

 

[bob4432]

i would do a fresh install of win2kpro, the specs she has should be able to do the tasks she wants. maybe bump the memory upto 256. if you go ahead and buy one, get a dell. don't build it yourself. people need to learn this, it sucks unless you are really good friends with the peeps because they will ask you everything computer related from now on. i made the mistake and let my mother-in-law borrow one of my machines and every time she would screw it up, i would get a call. a couple of times she said it wouldn't turn on, so i drove the 40miles each way to find out the power cord was not in all the way, or the mouse was pulled out. save yourself the headache.