I bought my mum a PC a while ago and she hasn’t really got to grips with it. Today she handed me an article about the IPAD that she’d cut from the paper. Despite them being close to £500 it sounds like she wants to give it a go as the article reviews an uncluttered, simple web browser. Sure I’d have to sort her out with Wifi and a decent internet connection (she’s on dial up at the moment) but I wonder if any of you guys have any Ipad experience and can make any suggestions.

Cost aside I’d imagine they’d make an excellent browser for the elderly. When my parents laptop packs up I’ll probably get them a tablet style replacement (but probably get an Android based one) as the market will be full of ’em by then and it would suit their needs well.

My mate has one (they are on offer on eBay for around £400) and it is a nice piece of kit. Smaller than a netbook but still perfectly usable, very nice screen, works quick and is easy to use, just works. Nice to have but it is a bit expensive. Fortunately for me I won’t be able to afford one anytime soon so just can use my mates one 🙂 Good thing is that if You get one and Your mum won’t like it, You won’t loose much on sale.

I’ve been trying to convince my mum (74) to get one. She’s a bit racist towards technology though unfortunately. Bought her a mobile ‘phone last Christmas, she was fretting over how complicated it was, but uses it all the time now. I know if she had an iPad, she’d love it. She’s an avid reader, and the e-book feature would be perfect for her.

Old folk can be a bit reticent to adopt new technology, without really giving it a go.

Which is weird; she can use a fairly complex sewing machine, does knitting, embroidery and other reasonably technical tasks, but refuses to use a computer. It’s frustrating.

My experience with my elderly mum is that she’s finding it increasingly more difficult to operate a PC. She’s owned and used one regularly for longer than I have, so it’s a bit distressing watching this regression.

The biggest hurdle is getting through to her that a PC is not something to be feared. You have to dip your toe in the water in order to learn. Maybe you just need to build her confidence and helo her with some basic tutorials. Give her the chance to may a few notes in a booklet so she can refer to this when she gets in a muddle. You just need to invest some time really.

My advice is to become fully au fait with anthing you decide to get for her because you will be the one she comes to frequently for first line support. Also, if you have the same machine at your finger tips, you can talk her through things over the phone. I’ve done this many times with my mum.

I’ve only had limited use of an iPad and haven’t tried web browsing. I’m sure it won’t be too daunting, probably easier than any PC, but why don’t you go to your nearest iStore, have a play with one and then decide?

I’d say that it’s actually probably great for elderly users – it’s very simple once set up, and quite intuitive to use.
The only thing I’d suggest is worth checking out is how easy it is to handle for the intended user, as it can’t be used easily on a table (without some sort of stand/dock) but it’s actually quite heavy for holding if you don’t have strong hands.

Don’t forget that you need a PC or Mac running iTunes to activate it, so it won’t work on it’s own unless the user at least has access to another machine for this part of the set up.

Android tablets can be configured with any need for access to a PC or Mac.

I thought they can activate them in the apple shop?

Yes, it can be activated when you buy it. No computer required.

A wifi router is needed of course ( or a 3G one with contract).

I would echo that it would be great for the elderly and the zoom with 2 taps is a boon when I forget my glasses .

Oh, I didn’t buy mine in an Apple store, and I had to plug it into my MacBook to get it working – you live and learn.

My grandad (80 years old) had no problem figuring out my iPhone and was happily flicking through pics and zooming in on stuff, browsing Google Earth etc.. all with no problem and he has never used a computer. So i’d say yes.

My folks (OAPs and my Dad is also disabled) were visiting us for the weekend just gone and it was my turn to take the work iPad home for the weekend. Bit like the class hamster.

They have a PC at home which sits upstairs in my old room which is now our daughters room when we visit and their study. Its becoming more of a pain for my Dad to get up and down the stairs to the PC.

He has often toyed with the idea of getting a laptop but they would not be portable enough for him to carry about (he walks with walking sticks when in the house) being too big and heavy.

He was well impressed with the iPad, intuitive to use, great screen etc and small and light enough to pop in a bag and be carried about by hand, slung on the back of his wheel chair when out and about.

+1 for the silver sufer generation if you ask me.

How useful are they for basic word processing and linking to a printer?

Sounds pretty good. I’ve done all the PC stuff with my mum – invested the time, talked to her about basic file structures, how to use word – where to save word documents and that, but I think she needs to use it more OR get something more simple that just gets her online. I probably should try one out in an apple store but thought I’d try the impartial advice route first before I get their true capabilities elaborated on by a salesman.

Another positive is Apple’s resistance to viruses. I know most old people are very fearful of the ‘virus thing’ and it makes them very reluctant to enjoy the web to its full potential.

They’re spot on. You do however need a computer to sync it and activate it. But if you were to install it all on yours and then give it her it’ll be spot on.
My Brothers (2&4) are happy using my iPhone and can use it all no problems.
My Nan can also use it no problems too so i’m sure your mum will be fine.

I let my Mum (75, uses an old Mac laptop for e-mail, Word and the web) and her partner (similar age, partially sighted, never used a PC of any kind) loose with the iPad, and both just found it totally intuitive with almost no intro from me.

It was astounding to see Mum’s partner pinching to zoom in the iBooks application (text too small for him to read) after about 5 minutes with the iPad like it was second nature – I guess we’ve all seen that enough times on the TV ads, and I’d shown him how to zoom into a photo, but all the same. Shame pinch to zoom doesn’t work in the iBooks app…

My gut feeling is an iPad on its own wouldn’t suit my Mum – doing anything much with an Office attachment, or printing anything, knocks that out – but for an older person who just wants to get onto the internet and send/receive e-mail, it’s definitely worth considering.

No Flash support I thought?

I see this as a possibly good thing 😉 but it might restrict usefulness?

Struggling to think of an example though….

Anyone could activate/update it on their own iTunes anyway, I have several iPods that don’t belong to me sync’d with my Mac as the owners aren’t all that fussed about having a changing content.