My dad, at approaching 77, has decided that his laptop is no longer doing its job and he’s after something that allows him to skype my brother, surf the web and watch cycling on you tube, eurosport app etc.

I’m looking for a laptop as he has self confessed fat finger syndrome and impatient dabber digits where touch screens are concerned (every voice mail I get from him is 4 mins long cos he cant shut the phone down).

Any ideas folks?

Chromebook.

Only caveat will be any web videos that use that twitting useless silverlight codec will not be supported, like Sky Go.

Define cheapish tho. On here that could be a grand.

Chromebook of your choice?

Not sure ‘re Chromebook. Only because some people find the transition from a Windows laptop a bit of a challenge. Me included. And probably more likely with older members of the community. I’ve recently purchased a refurb laptop off of Amazon for £220. A Dell that is approx 5 yrs old and cost in region of a grand new. Its been superb. Fast, slick and good screen. Downside is weight but if it’s only for home use shouldn’t be an issue. Worth considering,way better spec than most new ones at twice the price

I ‘upgraded’ from a three year old £250 Chromebook to a £700 Lenovo.

Sure, the Lenovo feels nice cos its metal, and the screen is more vibrant, but apart from that, its quite underwhelming. Shocking battery life, even when the Chromebook was on its last legs, it only needed charging once a day.

I only went back to Windows for a bit of photo/video editing, wish I’d not bothered! And all those bluddy popups on Windows….arghh!

Chromebooks are simple, fast, cheap and efficient on power.

I had a cheap older chromebook and recently replaced it with a blingy Asus one that converts to tablet with touchscreen. Great piece of kit and a well sized keyboard.

his laptop is no longer doing its job

Why?

Doesn’t Eurosport use Silverlight?

Just bought my first Chromebook, Acer R11, I’m impressed.

I got a HP Stream 14 for £90 off of Gumtree (They are £250-ish in the shops just now). Uses an intel celeron (not an atom – they are only getting windows patches from now on, no new features: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/19/16001366/microsoft-windows-10-creators-update-atom-pcs), has a big clear screen and keyboard and the battery lasts ages. 32gb SSD drive is borderline for capacity but you can put an SD card in.
https://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-stream-14-ax050sa-14-laptop-blue-10152504-pdt.html

Been using it for uni (taking lecture notes, getting chucked in a backpack etc) and hasn’t skipped a beat.

Black Friday is coming up and there are often offers on cheaper laptops.

Chromebooks are nice, but sometimes you hit a snag (often with opening a file type or something) that gets frustrating – especially if it’s your only computer. Windows 10 is pretty sorted now.

I love my Chromebook.

But am tempted to suggest an iPad here.

You can pick them up for £160 or so from Cex etc.

Chromebook.

I have one of the very first Samsungs which is now ancient and unsupported – still works like the day it was bought. Never crashes, on the Web in 10 seconds. No anti virus needed.

We have a newer one which is the same.

My elderly parents have a desktop version and it is perfect for their needs / what you describe. None of the “support” issues we constantly had when they had a windows PC 🙂

Doesn’t Eurosport use Silverlight

Used to, doesn’t anymore

Morning, sorry logged off last night and missed all the replies. Thanks for them.

Cougar – Its at least 10 years old and as he puts it moves slower than him. Its a Toshiba. Takes 20 minutes to fully function and doesnt have windows 10 update (which is no loss)

Stirlingcrispin – he sometimes uses my ipad or my brothers and he swears, and my old man never swears. It will have to have a keyboard.

Guitarhero – Black Friday, hmm the day I love to hate might be a saviour!

Thanks all, I hadn’t thought about refurbs TBH but why not, his budget is limited he says ( I don’t want anything fancy I wont be here much longer) to around £200

I shall get searching