PC buying advice?

[stretch]

Hey guys. I need to get my Mom a new computer and, because she's in a remote part of the world and Mac support is nonexistent there, it'll have to be a Wintel box, about which I personally know pretty much diddly squat.

Was hoping some of you Windows folks might be able to advise on a suitable bare-bones hardware configuration for an elderly lady whose activities are limited to email, light Web browsing and video chat with the grandkids. CPU? Main memory? Video card?

Also thinking XP is probably the way to go over Vista, since I'll basically have to remote support and stability is the prime consideration?

Thanks.

[TuffDogStudio]

Hey guys. I need to get my Mom a new computer and, because she's in a remote part of the world and Mac support is nonexistent there, it'll have to be a Wintel box, about which I personally know pretty much diddly squat.

Was hoping some of you Windows folks might be able to advise on a suitable bare-bones hardware configuration for an elderly lady whose activities are limited to email, light Web browsing and video chat with the grandkids. CPU? Main memory? Video card?

Also thinking XP is probably the way to go over Vista, since I'll basically have to remote support and stability is the prime consideration?

Thanks.

You might give some thought to getting her a Mac and installing ARD (Apple Remote Desktop) on it so that you'd be able to maintain the machine (rebuild permissions and help her when she gets confused on how to do something).

My opinion here is to stick with what you personally use when buying machines for family because you are the one they will be calling for support and the stress level is just lower if you can sit at your machine and walk them through stuff.

Also, for computer novices I believe a Mac is the way to go, less to have to know for security, chances are the only issues your mom will have is how to do certain things, not issues of something being broken.

[willdacanucker]

What is your budget? I just built my system about a month ago. The system I have would spec out at $1300 dollars bare with no add ons. I built it myself for a little over $400 dollars. The reason I say that is that is not to brag, but to show you the contrast in pricing, from actually building it ground up,building it barebones style (which I would not recommend) or buying a prebuilt machine.

Since she will be needing it just for run of the mill stuff I would find a system that is either fully built around a Celeron-D (cheap and stable) or buy the components yourself and build it ground up. That way you will know EXACTLY what you are getting.

If I were to spec out a machine for you I would do the following:

Celeron D($50) or Amd Athlon($50) (or hell even a Sempron.) Sempron can be picked up for like 20 bucks.

Asus mother boards are the way to go if you are building. They have pretty decent video already built in to the main board for ordinary use. (just one less component needed. That in turn improves stability.)

At least 512megs of ram for XP or BARE MINIMUM 1 gb for Vista.

I would stick with XP for now. Vista is h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e and very buggy, so that is not good for someone with limited/no tech support. I had Vista Ultimate and I switched back to XP pro.

That is just a basic run through. If you would like more specific info or any other help just message me, I would be happy to help in anyway I can.

[chuck]

well you have few options all of which are pretty good, blow out and get her a mac, blow out and order her a new Dell, both of which you can work on remotely with out to much of a hassle.Build her one yourself, this will save you about 2-3 hundred bucks, but will have provide software. The other route is to go refurb or used, go to tiger direct or http://www.pacificgeek.com/ (great company by the way I buy from them often) it will cost you next to nothing and get her what she needs.