Laptop for My Mom

I'm saving up to buy a computer for my mom for Christmas but it will probably have to be under a thousand dollars. She hates Macs, she even complains about having to use mine when her's is broke. I would like to surprise her but I don't really know enough about to computers to go shop by myself. I was wondering if you could make suggestions for a good Window's based laptop, please? She doesn't really have to worry about huge programs like Adobe Photoshop but she needs tons of memory because she handles files between business people.

 

Well, if you mom hates Mac then your only option is a non-Mac which is Windows-based (presumably Windows 10 for the OS). And for under a thousand bucks, the range of selection is quite a lot. I would suggest an HP since I have a good experience with HP, my laptop has been with me for more than 2 years without any major issues. And for the basis uses of your mother, I guess you can settle for the basic specs - 4GB of memory and 500 GB of storage. But if you are hesitant on the 4GB then make it 8GB for good measure.

 

If she handles files between business people, she doesn't really need tons of memory. What she needs is lots of storage space. Most new laptops come with 1Tb of hard drive space. That's a lot of space. One thing, though, if your mother basically handles text files, she doesn't need a very high-end laptop. A basic laptop would be fine.

 

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Though I had a one of the tech guys from Best Buy tell me that you never want to buy a laptop with 1TB of memory because it's bad for the computer. He suggested having an external hard drive instead.

 

I'd ask Mom outright what kind of a laptop is her dream laptop and start looking for something like it. It's fun to go window shopping anyway, but something like a laptop is so personal that when buying for someone else, best to find out what they like in a laptop. You're price range is big, you're so nice to buy to your Mom a laptop, but surprises are not always good, so ask your Mom what she exactly wants so you both will be happy in the end result.

 

Most people I know love Mac just by how simple they are. Though, there are a wide base of various laptops you can buy on the market. You don't have to spend thousands to own a decent laptop at this point. You can easily go with a "older" laptop and still be ahead technically.

 

Well of course, he suggested that. He's trying to sell more stuff. If you're on a budget, Best Buy is not the place to shop for computer hardware or software. We made that mistake once... went into the store to just look at computers, ended up walking out with a system we couldn't afford... but that's okay, since they also offer Best Buy credit cards. What a nightmare it was on our budget trying to pay off that computer.

Naturally, the Geek Squad want to set up your new computer for you, and when the warranty expires in a year or so, the machine will suddenly and mysteriously develop a few minor quirks here and there. You ignore them only to have them continue to pop up and worsen over time. Before you know it, those 'quirks' have destroyed your mother board and your computer won't even turn on anymore. This is exactly what happened to us. I've never before had a computer that only lasted less than four years. I usually manage to keep them running for at least eight years with no troubles at all.

 

Well, since your mom hates Macs, I will definitely recommend you to buy an Asus laptop or perhaps an HP laptop, these are two of the best brands in the market nowadays and I'm pretty sure that your mom will love any of these. Look up for some low-mid gama devices since I suppose that your mom will not give your laptop any strong use such as gaming or stuff like that. Good luck.

 

I think you are confusing memory with storage space. Hardly any computers, whether laptop or desktop, comes with 1Tb of memory. That's a fantastically huge amount of memory. 1Tb is equal to a thousand Gigabytes. Any computer with 16Gb of memory is considered high-end. 32Gb would put it at the extreme end. Most computers run with 4Gb of memory. Storage space, on the other hand, is a lot larger. 500Gb of storage space used to be a lot. Now 1Tb of storage space is very common.