[askjeeves]

I am looking for a new laptop for my mom. The only requirements are a 13"-15" monitor, something "stylish", good quality, and long battery life would be a bonus.

For myself I would just get a lenovo and be done with it, but the lenovos don't really meet the style requirement for my mom.

any ideas?

[ragingclue]

Get her a MacBook. They're good for moms.

[FDfranklin]

macbook = hip


+1 for macbook

[blue2fire]

Originally Posted by ragingclue

Get her a MacBook. They're good for moms.

. Make sure it is the Pro. The construction is very pleasing, i love mine.

[timmahh]

What's your price point.. Macbooks aren't exactly thrifty.

[ragingclue]

Originally Posted by timmahh

What's your price point.. Macbooks aren't exactly thrifty.

Yeah, this is what it would depend on. If you're not willing to splurge, forget about MacBooks. But they seem to fit your requirements, provided you're willing to pay for it.

[askjeeves]

Originally Posted by ragingclue

Yeah, this is what it would depend on. If you're not willing to splurge, forget about MacBooks. But they seem to fit your requirements, provided you're willing to pay for it.

thanks for the input guys.

I would like to keep price to >$1500. It's just not necessary to spend more on a laptop for my mom. Even that much is overkill, but I know she will have the computer for a while so I can justify it.

I went and checked out the selection at Best Buy, just to get an idea of what's available. I was really disappointed that they don't have a single Windows based laptop that doesn't feel like garbage. All they stock seem to be the lower end models from each brand.

And so I looked at the Macs. They certainly have the quality and style I am looking for. My only concern is that since my mom has never used a Mac, she will be bugging me all the time to figure things out. And since I have never had a Mac it might be a hassle. Then again, might be a good way for me to get experience with Macs.

So at this point the considerations are:
Macbook Pro 13"
Macbook Air 13"
Samsung series 9 is awesome but too expensive
Sony Vaio S Series? - Anyone have experience with this model? I will check it out at the Sony store tomorrow.

Anything else I should be checking out? (sorry for the long post)

[ragingclue]

The Vaio S have some pretty good specs available and might pass as "stylish" enough.

[BKap08]

Samsung is only good at making TVs
All Sony products are over priced and don't last very long
MacBook air is a sweet laptop considering it's size but it's not a practical primary laptop considering it's lack of harddrive space and CD slot
Go with the MacBook pro. She will absolutely love it

[boymonkey]

15" macbook pro. I find 13" screen too small.

[FDfranklin]

If your looking at PC go with Tosihiba, ive had great experiences with them. Just bought another one last week for the office.

If you want your mom to be that hip mom who goes to starbucks to feel cool get her a mac.

[KGB7]

If you want something durable then get her a Lenovo.

Stay away from toshiba and acer.

[FDfranklin]

Originally Posted by KGB7

If you want something durable then get her a Lenovo.

Stay away from toshiba and acer.

/insert notsureifserious.jpg

[Echo M3]

I use my Macbook air (13") as a primary PC. Yes the HD is small, but you can also back up onto a portable HD, and you can buy an external DVD/CD player (not that I ever have the need for one).

Pros - awesome battery life. I can get 5-6 hours or more, depending on what screen brightness I use and what apps I'm running. It's also easy to use and super portable (a must for me). The solid state HD also makes things like start up and shut-down incredibly fast. The design is also very sturdy, and has already withstood a 3 foot drop onto hardwood, resulting in no damage. The screen is bright and super clear, too - something that I am quite picky about, as poor video quality is a pet peeve of mine.

Cons - Keyboard feels a bit cheap. It would have been nice if the keys were larger or if they were a bit more raised - I immediately felt it was harder to type as rapid/accurately as my old computer. It can multitask, but it WILL hang up if you try to run too many apps (especially processor intensive apps) at the same time. I don't play any computer games or do any serious video editing/processing, so I can't report on the overall performance accurately.It also can overheat if you are in a warm room or if the air vents are covered. No HDMI or AVI output - you have to run it through the Mac port, requiring you to get an adapter and making audio through HDMI essentially impossible. Also, I definitely prefer any Windows (XP, Windows 7, etc.) over Apple's OS. OS X is easy to use but at times it feels a lot more tedious - I really miss all the little shortcuts on a PC that helped me be more efficient (even simple things, like page up/page down).

Hope this helps! Good luck with the choice.

[askjeeves]

thanks for all the input. i ended up getting the 13" macbook pro. it didn't seem worth it to get the mba for similar cost but lesser specs since the computer won't travel often.

i dont think my mom will be taking it to starbucks ever. (but fdfranklin i get what you're saying)

[Weaselboy]

Originally Posted by askjeeves

thanks for all the input. i ended up getting the 13" macbook pro. it didn't seem worth it to get the mba for similar cost but lesser specs since the computer won't travel often.

i dont think my mom will be taking it to starbucks ever. (but fdfranklin i get what you're saying)

Couple suggestions from a fellow mom tech support person.

Setup the Macbook with two user accounts. Make the first an admin account that you will use to install updates and change system settings etc. Then make a second account without admin rights that your mom will use.

Also, setup mom's account with parental controls (it is in the System Prefs) and UNcheck "Allow User to Modify the Dock. This way she can't accidentally drag things off the dock. Prior to me doing this mom would call all the time telling me "my mail is gone" when all she had done was dragged it off the dock. Click around in parental controls... there some other setting there you may find useful.

[KGB7]

Originally Posted by FDfranklin

/insert notsureifserious.jpg

I used to repair laptops. Acer and Toshiba are the worst. Many of them needed repairs the next day after customer purchased it. You are few of the lucky ones whos laptop didnt break or havent had any issues.

I rarely seen Dell, Sony or Apple break, but only if they were 5 years old or older. Most common issue is that they needed a new HDD, removal of Viruses or RAM upgrade.

[FDfranklin]

Originally Posted by KGB7

I used to repair laptops. Acer and Toshiba are the worst. Many of them needed repairs the next day after customer purchased it. You are few of the lucky ones whos laptop didnt break or havent had any issues.

I rarely seen Dell, Sony or Apple break, but only if they were 5 years old or older. Most common issue is that they needed a new HDD, removal of Viruses or RAM upgrade.

You don't know anything about computers do you?

[1trip5]

if you love your mom and you have some extra $, macbookpro.

such a pleasing piece of technology.

[bluespeed117]

all be it expensive, the macbook pro is the best bet. I have the 15 and its done its job well. Its pretty durable as well (at least from my experience). I dropped mine on accident about 5 feet onto marble floor and all it got was a dent on the corner. Still works fine with no problems.