macs for moms

Discussion in 'Technology' started by bfun, May 13, 2015.

  1. I was up to 2:00 AM last night working on my Mom's PC. She apparently was doing the the most dangerous activity one can do on the Internet. Surfing for pictures of puppies. She may or may not have had her PC hijacked. But anyway I'm looking for a new means of protection. Antivirus alone is not going to cut it. How do you protect someone from puppies?
     
  2. Buy her a Mac Mini.

    Or else:
    Firefox with AdBlock Plus, no-script, duck duck go
    Chrome with AdBlock Plus, uMatrix, duck duck go
     
  3. If you go the Mac Mini route, OWC has some good used models and it's a reliable company.

    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/Apple-Systems/Used/Mac-mini
     
  4. no-script and uMatrix are effective but not exactly Mom friendly. I seriously thought about the Mac Mini but that introduced new issues as well. I got her an All-In-One PC as that fixed the problem of her not know what cables did what. The All-In-One has exactly 1 cable for power and that's it.
     
  5. Just get her an iMac and be done with it. That's what I did for my mom. I've had two tech support calls in two years. She used to call me all the time. They're incredibly idiot proof. Also the iMac cuts down on clutter. Windows PCs and old computer illiterate people are not a good combination.
     
  6. So why are their used 2011 i5 box $500 while a brand new and faster 2014 i5 box is also $500?
     
  7. The 2014 i5 that's $500 is a 1.4 Ghz.
     
  8. Right but if I've pulled up the right charts it's actually a faster CPU than the old i5.

    http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i5-4260U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-2415M

    I called my Mom and gave the pitch. She seems interested. I told her we'd go to an apple store to she how she likes the OS. Do they come with support or can it be bought? By support I mean someone who will talk on the phone for an hour to walk a person through adding a bookmark to a browser.

    My Mom bought an iPod touch. She called support and the guy actually remoted into her computer and showed her step by step how to upload music to iTunes. Impressive.
     
  9. New Mac Mini ram can't be upgraded so older ones carry a premium at least on eBay. Also, Apple products have insane resale value that doesn't make sense sometimes.

    Is your mom open to a tablet? Got my mom an iPad, and she barely uses the desktop Mac after.
     
  10. Yes and yes. They also have classes which are great for older people.
     
  11. I think it's quite a bit harder to change out the HDD for an SSD as well. You'd have to buy the new $999 model to get the combo HDD/SSD fusion drive.

    EDIT: I think the GPUs can be better as well (like Radeon HD6630M), at least compared to the Intel HD 5000.
     
  12. I'll mention that but I'm sure she'd probably still want a desktop.
     
  13. Also, go for the 27" iMac. Most old people are half blind. The huge screen on that combined with turning down the resolution seems to work well. It has no cables other than a power cord. The thing is retard simple.

    Wouldn't really recommend a tablet. It will get tossed in a corner somewhere to collect dust.
     
  14. i guess it depends on peoples needs. My mom just uses facebook and looks up recepies. The tablet is good enough and portable to the kitchen.

    Not getting the wiring complications with a mini. It's just a power and Monitor cable. Get the wireless kb and mouse.
     
  15. My mother is an OCD neat freak who is super concerned with aesthetics in her beach condo. She was also originally thinking of putting the computer on the counter in her kitchen. As few wires as possible was a big concern when buying a computer.
     
  16. Yes. OCD is a bit of a problem for me as well. The real problem is she wants the PC to have a static unchanging interface like a 1970s push button phone and she doesn't understand why it keeps changing. For instance her new screen is bigger than the last one and the extra empty space on her IE home page really bothers her.
     
  17. More reason to go with a Mac. OSX doesn't normally have dramatic shifts in the basic user interface from version to version. No dick moves like the start screen and lack of a real start menu like in Windows 8.
     
  18. Well we went to the Apple store and ended up with an iMac. I think and hope it will work out better than a PC. I had to go to Boulder to get it. Alterego will be happy to know that I put down 3 hippies on my way out the door.
     
  19. lol my mom complains about all the wires too but doesn't know any better.

    Exactly. Windows 8 was such a departure from the norm it felt like learning something new. Microsoft instantly neutralized the biggest advantage they had over OSX. I wonder if Apple picked up noticeable market share.
     
  20. You installed a tie-dye screensaver when you got it home. Admit it!