The Swamp

Anyone been in the market for a computer lately? I'm way out of the loop. Would like to find a nice desktop/All-in-one solution for my mother for Christmas. Something she can use to browse and upload pictures to and would interface with a wireless printer/scanner. Any thoughts on where to start? iMac seems like a logical starting place, but starting at 11 seems like a lot for the minimal stuff I need. She's not running Final Cut Pro or anything. She's all but computer illiterate ifit's not word/excel/internet.

Any suggestions appreciated Frogs.

Do you want a Mac?

Mac Mini will do the job for you. iMac is certainly overkill.

BSF, if you decide to buy a Mac, let me know and I can order it through my company (as long as you can pay by credit card). We get a small discount on most Apple products (excluding iPhones and iPads), so I can get it for you cheaper than at an Apple store.

Why not just an iPad?

P.D.X. wrote:Why not just an iPad?

She has one. I think the idea is something with a little more storage and ease of use when it comes to doing documents and the like.

For $/value the Windows world is still superior. You can get a great machine for less than a Mac and a good enough machine for way less, and a disposable machine for a steal (but this low powered things are terrible).

Also if I am going desktop, I am building my own from here on out. It is easy to do(all in 2 hours), easy to incrementally upgrade, cheaper, and no OEM software bloat.

wlu_lax6 wrote:For $/value the Windows world is still superior. You can get a great machine for less than a Mac and a good enough machine for way less, and a disposable machine for a steal (but this low powered things are terrible).

Also if I am going desktop, I am building my own from here on out. It is easy to do(all in 2 hours), easy to incrementally upgrade, cheaper, and no OEM software bloat.

I'd love to do something like this so I could eschew all the bloatware, but I have no idea where to even begin. I know less than nothing about building a PC. Even if I could, everything I find online seems to be PCMR assholes arguing about stuff instead of simple practical pieces of a PC for a normal person. Momma ain't trying to play FarCry over here.

BSF21 wrote:

wlu_lax6 wrote:For $/value the Windows world is still superior. You can get a great machine for less than a Mac and a good enough machine for way less, and a disposable machine for a steal (but this low powered things are terrible).

Also if I am going desktop, I am building my own from here on out. It is easy to do(all in 2 hours), easy to incrementally upgrade, cheaper, and no OEM software bloat.

I'd love to do something like this so I could eschew all the bloatware, but I have no idea where to even begin. I know less than nothing about building a PC. Even if I could, everything I find online seems to be PCMR assholes arguing about stuff instead of simple practical pieces of a PC for a normal person. Momma ain't trying to play FarCry over here.

I'm not sure you want to build a machine for your mother, and not only for the reasons you noted. If something goes wrong with it, it'll be your job to pinpoint the failure and then return that component to be fixed / replaced. Or you can take the machine to a shop to get fixed.

Or you can buy a machine that has a couple years' warranty, and if you're buying a PC - remove the bloatware yourself.

wlu_lax6 wrote:... It is easy to do(all in 2 hours), easy to incrementally upgrade, cheaper, ...

... until you destroy a motherboard by bending all the pins trying to fit it into the slot.

wlu_lax6 wrote:For $/value the Windows world is still superior. You can get a great machine for less than a Mac and a good enough machine for way less, and a disposable machine for a steal (but this low powered things are terrible).

Also if I am going desktop, I am building my own from here on out. It is easy to do(all in 2 hours), easy to incrementally upgrade, cheaper, and no OEM software bloat.

i agree and i have it in mind since I'm likely buying a laptop for my daughter for high school graduation. But what's the over/under for how long until the PC acquires debilitating virus/malware?

Steve of phpBB wrote:

wlu_lax6 wrote:... It is easy to do(all in 2 hours), easy to incrementally upgrade, cheaper, ...

... until you destroy a motherboard by bending all the pins trying to fit it into the slot.

My kid just did this. I managed not to say I told him so, but only barely.

Moreta wrote:

Steve of phpBB wrote:

wlu_lax6 wrote:... It is easy to do(all in 2 hours), easy to incrementally upgrade, cheaper, ...

... until you destroy a motherboard by bending all the pins trying to fit it into the slot.

My kid just did this. I managed not to say I told him so, but only barely.

See, my kid asked me to install that piece because he wasn't able to fit it in. So I was the one who f'd the thing up.

And it's good to see you back here, Moreta.

BSF21 wrote:

wlu_lax6 wrote:For $/value the Windows world is still superior. You can get a great machine for less than a Mac and a good enough machine for way less, and a disposable machine for a steal (but this low powered things are terrible).

Also if I am going desktop, I am building my own from here on out. It is easy to do(all in 2 hours), easy to incrementally upgrade, cheaper, and no OEM software bloat.

I'd love to do something like this so I could eschew all the bloatware, but I have no idea where to even begin. I know less than nothing about building a PC. Even if I could, everything I find online seems to be PCMR assholes arguing about stuff instead of simple practical pieces of a PC for a normal person. Momma ain't trying to play FarCry over here.

I did not either when I built this one with my kid. I used
https://pcpartpicker.com/ and a trip to microcenter and one youtube video.

As for removing bloatware
https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2337550,00.asp