Computer for the grandfather

Get him a stone tablet, hammer and chisel. He will love you for it.

 

I'd invest in a good antivirus program.

 

might want to just get a all in one. May sound like a crazy idea even coming from me but they are really simple in design and offer touch screen capability. I know older people at times cant get used to a mouse and find just pocking at crap on the screen is much easier to learn. From what I remember also easier to read as well with some of the tools for people with vision issues.

just something to think about.

 

Tablets have shitty nonexistent control over what actual files you have etc. The whole point of tablet OS are to hide every possible function beyond accessing facebook app, shitty mobile browser and whatever smack-a-pony app you might install since there's no real content available for them.

PC is the way to go. If he really wants touch screen, PC's can have touchscreens and everything. And let you actually do things with the device and have content for them other than the stupid shitty crap available for tablets.

I gave my iPad Air away since over a year I only used it like a few dozen times. At first I tried to find use for it but didn't. Sometimes when I didn't want to pull out laptop I watched some netflix or youtube with it but that was not pleasant for me. Small reflective screen, overall it's not ideal to try to watch videos on the go as the devices can't put out much light and you can't really watch a video outdoors anyways.

Did I say there are absolutely no useful apps or games available? And that touch controls fucking suck? Typing sucks. No mouse. Can't multitask. Can't do shit and nothing works on them. Try playing some shitty game by hitting at the screen with your hand in front of the tiny screen.

Some people absolutely love them but they never really liked PC anyway. Lots of people have tablets that they never really got around to using. I waded through rows of clients daily who had bought a tablet but never got around to using it because it wasn't good for them.

So all the mobile hysteria is just that. Hysteria and hype. The only reason to use those things is if you absolutely have to use something on the go and even then you should think if you're constantly on the go AND absolutely constantly must use a mobile device. Even then a 100$ cell phone can be a lot better survival kit than a tablet and at home you can still have a decent PC.

 

All in ones are slightly overlarge monitors that also have all the cpu components inside them. Kinda like a laptop thats not portable. But they arn't really upgradeable and everything inside is cramped. No idea about power.

 

Something like this. Just an example, that was the first one that pulled up.

 

Dual core should be just fine for those kind of things as long as you're not trying to stream movies in full 1080pHD, might slow down a tad for that. My laptop is used exactly for just what you're talking about and has a dual core processor in it. Sometimes streaming video isn't as smooth as watching on TV but it's plenty good enough for me.

 

honestly the only thing that really matters is how much are you willing to spend on this, if the answer is $100 or less, you're looking at a low grade tablet, or something you might find through craigslist or the goodwill. $400 bucks will get you a decent computer (if you're willing to build it yourself) that just about anyone would be able to use for general purpose computer tasks, browsing, data storage, and streaming porn... er, movies.

 

what I have in my computer is dual core i3. the link is specifically what I have.

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Processor-3-06GHz-LGA1156-BX80616I3540/dp/B0031M9QZ4

and hell it runs all the shit we do. including space engineers (not super great but I think my issues are more the graphics card and RAM limitation due to motherboard).

web browsing and streaming video works fine as long as I don't let the memory build up in browser (I think that's more a flash issue though from all the goddamn ads.)

so a dual core would work.

 

I don't know enough about computers to say but I think as long as it fits and has the firmware you can use either core. but better for someone who actually knows to answer. I need a new PC at some point for SC and other games which might (probably) be my first build. And this one (after I clean it) will probably go to my dad.

 

if you want to be able to have a better chance of upgrading after the fact, go with AMD, they typically have a wider selection of processors that work with a specific socket set, and they even often have backwards compatibility in some circumstances. (often requiring a bios update, but still better than Intel which has no backwards compatibility whatsoever) Intel is also far more frequently more expensive for the same equivalent processor, and when you're buying for a lower end PC AMD quite often out performs dollar for dollar.

 

...for grandfather eh?

These...






Assembled and ready for use:

Note, it runs W8.1 so be careful. That shit isn't for everyone.