My grandfather will be 90 in three weeks. He lives in the south, I'm in California. We're flying out for his birthday next month. He's asked me a number of times to get him a laptop or tablet computer because the McDonald's he hangs out at most mornings has free Wifi. I need to figure out what to buy him, so I could use your advice and suggestions ASAP.
This is not an easy decision for several reasons:
1. Although very young for his age, he's never used a modern PC. Zero experience with Windows or Mac computers. He still drives, has a girlfriend
, and is very sharp.
2. The reason for wanting a "computer" is pretty simple. E-mail (which he's never had before), reading/watching the news, and looking up websites about antiques, history, and maybe genealogy. And the times/locations of the next garage sale. LOL
3. In his own words, which he reiterated today, he "would like to download things from the internet, save them, and print them at home." I don't know how feasible this might be.
4. I think he is capable of learning an OS, but my concern is getting hung up on drivers, software patches, configuration settings, malware. That's the whole point of considering a tablet vs. a PC/Mac laptop.
5. He's had eye problems in the past, but not so much traditional ones. But the ability to increase text and icon size is important.
6. He lives out in the country. I'm not so sure broadband would be available at his house, nor if he could afford it. That's another complicated matter. His girlfriend's daughter got him the cell phone thru a family plan. The daughter lives in another state and I doubt my grandfather knows who the cell phone carrier might be. So a Wi-Fi only tablet is probably the safest bet right now.
Any suggestions, comments, advice would be very helpful right now. I'm not sure what to do. I know my grandfather is serious about this because it comes up every time we talk.
Thanks in advance!
David
This is not an easy decision for several reasons:
1. Although very young for his age, he's never used a modern PC. Zero experience with Windows or Mac computers. He still drives, has a girlfriend
, and is very sharp. 2. The reason for wanting a "computer" is pretty simple. E-mail (which he's never had before), reading/watching the news, and looking up websites about antiques, history, and maybe genealogy. And the times/locations of the next garage sale. LOL
3. In his own words, which he reiterated today, he "would like to download things from the internet, save them, and print them at home." I don't know how feasible this might be.
4. I think he is capable of learning an OS, but my concern is getting hung up on drivers, software patches, configuration settings, malware. That's the whole point of considering a tablet vs. a PC/Mac laptop.
5. He's had eye problems in the past, but not so much traditional ones. But the ability to increase text and icon size is important.
6. He lives out in the country. I'm not so sure broadband would be available at his house, nor if he could afford it. That's another complicated matter. His girlfriend's daughter got him the cell phone thru a family plan. The daughter lives in another state and I doubt my grandfather knows who the cell phone carrier might be. So a Wi-Fi only tablet is probably the safest bet right now.
Any suggestions, comments, advice would be very helpful right now. I'm not sure what to do. I know my grandfather is serious about this because it comes up every time we talk.
Thanks in advance!
David
