Should I get my Mom a new tower computer, tablet, or small form factor pc ?

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ng4ever

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She mostly uses her phone.

Her pc tower she currently has is going on 6 to 8 years old. It has a i5 2500k if I remember right. Maybe I am wrong on the age of it.
 
I'd probably get her to test out a tablet (if she hasn't already). Seeing as her primary device currently is her phone, a tablet is basically a larger version of that same interface.
 
Maybe you want to make a surprise for which asking is not an option or maybe we are talking about someone so technological far away that they would not know what to answer ?

Considering someone is asking online and considering the mostly use the phone comments, I would strongly consider a tablet, my parents are fully transferred to them by now, they had an Ubuntu a bit customized to their need (a desktop with just 4 icons or so of what they used, which is something you could consider has well, a 2500K on a SSD and 16 gig of ram Linux could ran an light user workload quite well) that they simply stopped to use at all a couple of years after the tablet arrived.

I am assuming, would she be using anything a PC make sense for (excel, long typing or what not) it would have been included in the thread question.
 
Also whether or not she has an iPhone or some flavor of Android would set you down a path pretty quickly.
 
Really depends on what you want to accomplish...

Do you have kids that are playing games at Grandma's? Does your mom want to be a virtual pilot on msfs? If so, the 2500k might not be the best.

Does she just email and do her check book, etc? Then the 2500k is fine. Maybe a clean windows install on an SSD with 16gb of ram. Really does wonders. If you really want to get advanced, you can clock it up. I just finished clocking a 2600k up to 4.5ghz with 16gb 2133mhz ram and an SSD. For a work station, it is still quite good.

Or, maybe just a port replicator and a monitor to plug a keyboard, mouse into her phone for long emails. Could do the same thing with a tablet....
 
pendragon1 said:
put an ssd in what she has now, its fine for facebook and webgames.
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*sucks teeth* eh, asking all that decade-old hardware to keep its electrolytics in their intended arrangement is starting to ask for trouble.

When I was a sysadmin, we recapped a ton of motherboards and power supplies that weren't even nearly that old, because we were budget-constrained. And that was when they still used reliable, delicious lead.

I used to go up on the roof up there on spring and fall evenings to smoke a Nat Sherman while the sun started setting, when it finally got cool enough, and wasn't covered in snow.
 
Axman said:
*sucks teeth* eh, asking all that decade-old hardware to keep its electrolytics in their intended arrangement is starting to ask for trouble.

When I was a sysadmin, we recapped a ton of motherboards and power supplies that weren't even nearly that old, because we were budget-constrained. And that was when they still used reliable, delicious lead.

I used to go up on the roof up there on spring and fall evenings to smoke a Nat Sherman while the sun started setting, when it finally got cool enough, and wasn't covered in snow.
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nah, its fine. a "6-8 year old" system isnt going to have cap problems, that was the early 00s. all that lead might have had an effect...
 
pendragon1 said:
nah, its fine. a "6-8 year old" system isnt going to have cap problems, that was the early 00s. all that lead might have had an effect...
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It's been 10 years for that CPU. And it's not just caps, but delamination of PCBs, who-knows-what with the heat regulation, moisture cycles, and just fatigue in general.

If it was the best stuff on the market back then, maybe it's got a couple of more totally reliable years ahead. But even with an SSD upgrade, it's time to plan for a replacement. To have a plan, not necessarily to buy something.
 
Just buy her a laptop. The only reason to get anything larger is either heavy gaming or need of significant compute (video cranscoding or the like).

I did that with my father and mother and they are both happily using the laptop which they can take with them. The era of buying a box computer is over for vast majority of ppl.
 
buy her this. I am selling it since I don't need it anymore. ;)
IMG_2204.JPEG
 
ng4ever said:
She mostly uses her phone.

Her pc tower she currently has is going on 6 to 8 years old. It has a i5 2500k if I remember right. Maybe I am wrong on the age of it.
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A lot of this hinges on what she uses the computer for, and whether or not she wants to stick with desktops.

Like was suggested, a no-frills (but quality) laptop might do the trick if the fixed nature of a desktop was keeping her from using her computer. I'd get something better than those $300-600 laptops that are likely to have flimsy designs and crappy specs, but it doesn't have to be much more than that.

If she'd still rather have a desktop... what about a Mac mini? No, really. Unless she's truly unwilling/unable to leave Windows, she may be happier with it. The Mac mini is very quiet, and compact enough that it'll free up a lot of space. She can very likely use her existing monitor, mouse and keyboard. More importantly, it might relieve some of the burdens on both of you. She'll be less likely to get malware (as most of it is aimed at Windows), and she can easily take the Mac mini into the Apple Store or an authorized shop if there's ever trouble. And if her phone is an iPhone, she can get text messages on her computer or otherwise integrate tightly between the two devices. My folks switched to the Mac over a decade ago, and while I wouldn't say they've never had problems, those issues have been rarer and generally unrelated to the Macs in question.
 
Axman said:
It's been 10 years for that CPU. And it's not just caps, but delamination of PCBs, who-knows-what with the heat regulation, moisture cycles, and just fatigue in general.
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Many of us have 2xxx-3xxxx or older system running 24/24-365 days has server without issues (and we can assume that machine clocked less work) and for non-critical system there is absolutely no problem for them to stop working suddenly and just change them when an issue occur no ?
 
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LukeTbk said:
Many of us have 2xxx-3xxxx or older system running 24/24-365 days has server without issues (and we can assume that machine clocked less work) and for non-critical system there is absolutely no problem for them to stop working suddenly and just change them when an issue occur no ?
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Computers that run 24/7 typically have fewer problems in the long run since they go through less load cycles and fewer power cycles. And that's not even accounting for different parts selection for server use. If you power-cycle a PC several times a day for different types of work, it will, statistically, have more hardware problems.

That's why buying an 18-month-old GPU from a miner is generally considered to be a safer buy than the same card from a gamer.
 
If she doesn't push her 2500K then NOTHING. Leave her with her fucking phone as she is happy and doesn't need any of your needy shit in her life!
Comedy aside I mean really WTF does she need if she is functioning with her phone? PC level gaming? 3D rendering? Come on man!
 
Ziran said:
Just buy her a laptop. The only reason to get anything larger is either heavy gaming or need of significant compute (video cranscoding or the like).

I did that with my father and mother and they are both happily using the laptop which they can take with them. The era of buying a box computer is over for vast majority of ppl.
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That makes me sad.
 
Thanks everyone! All good ideas!

I was just planning for the future not getting something yet. Like Axman said have a plan!
 
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