Building a PC for my Mum now...

digitalwanderer

digitalwanderer

wandering
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...and I'd like to get some opinions, she wants it cheap yet good...and she's technophobic to an extreme so she doesn't want to have to think/compare PCs. :???:

So I thought:

Gateway PC $399, Pentium dual-core E5200(2.50GHz) 6GB DDR2 640GB NVIDIA GeForce 9200 Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

Hanns-G 22" widescreen LCD monitor $150, 1680x1050

Edimax wireless G NIC $20

Altec-Lansing VS2521 28 Watts 2.1 Speaker System $50

Logitech Ultra-thin Illuminated Keyboard $65

Logitech MX Revolution $60

$783.39 shipped, what ya think?

I know I went crazy on the mouse/keyboard, but that's what she'll be using most and what will leave the biggest impression with her. Same thing with the speakers; the PC she's getting comes with some truly craptacular USB speakers, but this AL setup is actually insanely nice sounding and I think she'll appreciate it.

Did I forget anything or miss anything obvious?
 
Not my money, I just wanted to give her something to look at and pick what she likes. I highly doubt she'll get a Revo, although I will sort of push her to get a halfway decent mouse and keyboard.
 
That Logitech keyboard is very nice, I have one. VERY useful for typing in low light conditions. IMO the PC is too big/bulky, I'd rather get something in a smaller form factor like a Shuttle PC or maybe even a laptop for her but use it with the external LCD.
 
Nothing was that cheap that was much good that small, I was honestly shocked to find that PC deal and thought it was pretty good.

I'll just hide "the box" I figure, put in on the floor next to her desk out of sight or something.
 
Don't you think she'd be more happy with 2.0? ;)

Over here I'm also looking at a PC for myself. I see a lot of offers these days for quad-cores with 4GB for 499 euros. But either way this seems fine.
 
When I get done customizing either of those to be even near the PC from Newegg they're well over $400.

She e-mails, web surfs, and does all her legal work from home. She runs Office 2007 a lot and tons of documents open at once, I figured giving a little extra beefy never hurts.

Plus she's not gonna upgrade for a decade, so it has to last. ;)

My sis who lives with her just got a new laptop and I just got done helping her hook it up to their network, and for my efforts she rewarded me with her old 8200 Inspiron which I'm having fun turning into a real laptop. When I hook up my Mom's PC I get her laptop to play with/make good, but I have to give that one back.
 
The top comment complained that they couldn't register for the Windows 7 upgrade. Does that matter?

Also wouldn't $100 make the system last longer if you switch to a quad core?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883113100

Its essentially the same with poorer GPU support and a Q8200 which should scale better with time given the heavy office type applications she'll be running?
 
I don't believe office applications are that heavy, a word processor or a spreadsheet will spend 99% of its time idling waiting for user keypresses.
In this context a single core with a lot of ram is a multitasking powerhouse ; even 1GB is a lot of ram (but sure, build with 2GB ram)
Your first choice with a good dualie, ungodly amount of ram and good IGP should last forever.


I agree so much with the speakers and keyboard choice. Real quality where it's needed, I'd rather do office work on an old PC with a great keyboard than a new one with an awful 5€ piece of junk. good speakers will preserve her hearing too. I'd wager the little subwoofer gets even more useful with older people as their hearing spectrum gets lower.

about the mouse, I prefer a more simple, wired, flat one. So I'd get a Razer for the mom :). Even I am put off by the bulky, curvy, heavy ones with battery charging.
 
Woah, she likes it! :oops: One thing she asked about and I actually find it an astute question:

Should we wait until they move from Vista to the old program revised? I think that is happening in Sept.
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Any opinions? My first thought was, "Pffft, don't worry. I'll just toss it on when it comes out."; but I don't think she'd be comfortable with that philosophy. :???:
 
May take a long time ... last I read, it will be "before the end of the year". That doesn't sound like September to me.

I just bought an Acer Aspire X1700 (small form-factor, low energy quad-core Q8200, 4GB, 750GB and Radeon HD 4350). 499 in euros, but this stuff is always much more expensive here. Should be same or less in dollars I reckon. It's nice, quiet, and fast enough. Like it so far! And it comes with a free upgrade to Windows 7, which I will do whenever I think it's stable enough. ;) (looks good so far, but we'll see - there've been some weird last minute changes). Windows 7's XP virtual mode does look promising though.

EDIT: the Aspire X1700 on NewEgg is (still?) G100 based, it seems.
 
I think I'll get my mum an Apple next. They're so easy to use and there's just something precious about them. She'll know I really care once she gets her hands on the elegant simplicity of the anodized aluminium keyboard.

I'm only half kidding.
 
Florin said:
I think I'll get my mum an Apple next. They're so easy to use and there's just something precious about them. She'll know I really care once she gets her hands on the elegant simplicity of the anodized aluminium keyboard.
Click to expand...
And then she gets to use the mouse ...
 
Behold the Mighty Mouse :
index_hero20090210.jpg
 
I'd have to disagree about the Mac suggestion. If your mom has been using Office for a while she will want to retain the right click on her mouse. It's annoying to have to press ctrl to get the right click options on the Mac.
 
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