Any advice on buying a new computer and monitor

pschroeter · Post by **pschroeter** » 2013 Jan 08, 04:49

Any advice on buying a new computer and monitor for my father? I want a desktop that can handle the Internet, word processing, and light gaming duties. One urgent need is it should be able to run my 82 year old father’s Lotus 123 program and the spreadsheets he created for it which keep track of his finances. I really would like to not have to force him to learn Excel at his age.

I use to be the house computer guru, but our current computer is eight years old and runs Windows XP and I have no idea how to shop for computers anymore. When I last bought a computer you bought the fastest processor, most memory, and biggest hard drive you could afford. Now there are dual and quad cores, and 34 and 64 bit, and more flavors of the Windows operating system.

I also don’t particularly like Windows 8 and Microsoft switching to using ribbons in everything, but there isn’t much I can do about if I want to be current. This is the first time in my life I am not thrilled to be getting a new computer.

Post by **nikos** » 2013 Jan 08, 08:01

lately I don't even see desktops on sale. (real) shops sell laptops and pads. You could get a mid-range laptop with good warranty for under 500 euros. I guess your father wouldn't care much about performance. Try to avoid windows 8 if you can because that's a culture shock even for you and me

fgagnon · Post by **fgagnon** » 2013 Jan 08, 23:05

Having just (last October) bought a new desktop computer, and seeing win8 on the horizon, I made a preemptive buy to replace my own 10-yr old XP box by going the rounds of local electronics/office store to see what they had on clearance.
Got me a $200-off origList deal on a loaded Lenovo desktop at Staples for $280. I'm just now getting around to setting it up 'cuz my XP refuses to completely die.

It's probably too late for you to get such a deal, but I would suggest doing the rounds of your local Best Buy, MicroCenter, Staples, etc... to see what's left.
And then check on-line at Amazon, TigerDirect, Buy.com, NewEgg, etc.
There's a lot of "good-enough" win7 desktop stuff still out there for sale.
And *do* get a big new monitor for Dad's aging eyes. He'll thank you for it.

-fg-