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PC alternative for parents - who has cross-shopped?

L

ls1dreams

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 13, 2009
708
319
Hi all,

I love my MBP, but my parents are looking for something a little less expensive.

Has anyone done extensive cross-shopping recently?

I'm trying to find something that meets this criteria:

- Any intel cpu (they don't need much power at all)
- A 256gb SSD
- 8gb ram
- A good screen, keyboard, and trackpad.

Basically, I'm trying to find something around $800 or so, and am willing to sacrifice a powerful cpu and no discrete graphics.

What I've found so far:

- The Lenovo series have awful screens (super washed out, though resolution is good)
- Toshiba stuff seems like the best bet so far - rich colored 1920x1080 screens, decent keyboard/mouse. Around $600 and I'd add an SSD.
- Asus stuff had a good keyboard, but their screens were all lower resolution in that price range
- Dell stuff seems crappy all around
- HP stuff seems crappy all around

Any particular models I should cross shop? Basically just want a nice web browsing / MS Office type machine that focuses on good screen/keyboard/trackpad with an SSD.
 
ls1dreams said:
Hi all,

I love my MBP, but my parents are looking for something a little less expensive.

Has anyone done extensive cross-shopping recently?

I'm trying to find something that meets this criteria:

- Any intel cpu (they don't need much power at all)
- A 256gb SSD
- 8gb ram
- A good screen, keyboard, and trackpad.

Basically, I'm trying to find something around $800 or so, and am willing to sacrifice a powerful cpu and no discrete graphics.

What I've found so far:

- The Lenovo series have awful screens (super washed out, though resolution is good)
- Toshiba stuff seems like the best bet so far - rich colored 1920x1080 screens, decent keyboard/mouse. Around $600 and I'd add an SSD.
- Asus stuff had a good keyboard, but their screens were all lower resolution in that price range
- Dell stuff seems crappy all around
- HP stuff seems crappy all around

Any particular models I should cross shop? Basically just want a nice web browsing / MS Office type machine that focuses on good screen/keyboard/trackpad with an SSD.
Click to expand...

A baseline MacBook Air would do the job.
 
ls1dreams said:
Hi all,

I love my MBP, but my parents are looking for something a little less expensive.

Has anyone done extensive cross-shopping recently?

I'm trying to find something that meets this criteria:

- Any intel cpu (they don't need much power at all)
- A 256gb SSD
- 8gb ram
- A good screen, keyboard, and trackpad.

Basically, I'm trying to find something around $800 or so, and am willing to sacrifice a powerful cpu and no discrete graphics.

What I've found so far:

- The Lenovo series have awful screens (super washed out, though resolution is good)
- Toshiba stuff seems like the best bet so far - rich colored 1920x1080 screens, decent keyboard/mouse. Around $600 and I'd add an SSD.
- Asus stuff had a good keyboard, but their screens were all lower resolution in that price range
- Dell stuff seems crappy all around
- HP stuff seems crappy all around

Any particular models I should cross shop? Basically just want a nice web browsing / MS Office type machine that focuses on good screen/keyboard/trackpad with an SSD.
Click to expand...

Refurbished MacBook Air. Some models are under $800.
 
Here's the issue you're going to run into - with any windows pc or brand, there's almost guaranteed going to be a major flaw or drawback in any choice that you make. With Apple, the biggest one right now is Retina vs Non-Retina, but considering everything else, it isn't that big of a deal. Apple is definitely the way to go, and like others have said - macbook air. I also like the refurbished recommendation, but just understand that you may have to check back frequently in order to actually find one with similar specs to what you are wanting.
 
Last edited:
If you are looking for 13",
Asus UX32LA, Lenovo Yoga 1st gen.
Are cheaper and better than an old Air. At least in EU prices.

Yoga 2nd gen possibly.

Every time you drop 200$ the quality gets one step lower.

I would also prefer bigger screens for my own parents. Like a 15" with an ULV chip. 256GB might also not be that important and is in this price range a big difference in price.

The newer 15" lenovos like the Y50 are quite bad the old ones have actually quite good screens (They are overkill in performance obviously). What are you really looking for? Size, battery life requirements is kind of important to mention.
 
Do you REALLY want to saddle your parents with that mess called Windows 8? [the appropriate response is NO]

You're paying a bit more for a MBA, but it's a better built laptop for the price compared to a WinDoze alternative.
 
Another vote for a refurb MBA. Run OS X and not windows and things will get a lot simpler as well.
 
If they're not doing anything past web browsing and basic computer usage, there's no need to spend that much money. Buy something they like that has a good warranty.

Now, do you really want to saddle your parents with OS X? If someone has previously used and is use to a certain OS, you're going to be the one they call every time they have an issue. I don't know how tech savvy your parents are, but it they're not at all, you might want to rethink buying them a computer with a different OS.

"Tommy! Why isn't the X button on the right side of the window?"
"Tommy! How come I can't make all my windows go to full screen mode?"

Etc...
 
nexus4life said:
Here's the issue you're going to run into - there's almost guaranteed going to be a major flaw or drawback in any choice that you make. With Apple, the biggest one right now is Retina vs Non-Retina, but considering everything else, it isn't that big of a deal. Apple is definitely the way to go, and like others have said - macbook air. I also like the refurbished recommendation, but just understand that you may have to check back frequently in order to actually find one with similar specs to what you are wanting.
Click to expand...

"major flaw" but "no big deal" - great, I'm sure they aren't confused by that at all.

----------

2nd the refurb MBA recommendation.
 
I wanted to set my mother in law up with a Mac, but her father bought her a Windows 8, non-touchscreen PC. It's a disaster, but I had no choice.

Get the refurb MBA
 
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