Recommend a good computer/ laptop for old people.

[announced]

My father is wanting to purchase a new computer or laptop since his previous one broke and he doesn't know much about computers. He mostly uses them for email and watching videos on youtube. Never does any gaming and has zero desire to start gaming. he recently noticed that on Costco they have a Dell Inspiron 15 5575 (Ryzen 3 2200U, Vega 3) available for $600 and it has a 2 year warranty and only costs $600.00 CAD so he is interested in that.

I wanted to know what you guys think about the above laptop and if there would be any recommendations on something better. He also has a wireless mouse and keyboard but they malfunction quite often either due to him not wanting to charge them or maybe they are just acting up so he may need new ones.

Essentially since he likes buying from costco i'd like a list of good quality computers for old people and whether or not a laptop would be viable at his place. He also has cats so my worry is the laptop might get clogged up with cat hair which is why i would personally recommend a desktop. My father would be fine with a laptop or desktop as long as it is orderable from the costco.ca website or buyable from their local store. I can find out that information myself but i would just need a list of good brands to go after - also a good wireless mouse/keyboard.

Budget: about $600-800 CAD (Canadian dollars)
Resolution: any resolution is fine however he has a 4k TV so maybe something that works well with that.
Games / Settings Desired
Any other intensive software or special things you do - no
Country - Canada
Parts that can be reused - none
Do you need an OS? - Windows 10
Do you need peripherals - a cheap but efficient wireless mouse and a keyboard would be great

[Kagthul]

Honestly, he could do everything he does with a Chromebook.

The Samsung Chromebook Plus is a very solid performer, and is 400$ US, so im not sure what it would be in CA$

Its got a great screen, is plenty fast, comes with the S-pen (and a place to store it), and is touchscreen and folds up into a tablet.

It can run Android and Linux apps, as well.

[Linkedblade]

you could build a nice little rig with an i3/r3 and 560/1050 or a ryzen apu build. That price is tough to get something that would put out 4k at a decent fps.

[Temp name]

If he's fine with a chromebook: https://www.costco.ca/Acer-CB3-431-C...100417240.html seems reasonable.
If he wants Win10, the Inspiron 5575 is a decent choice at the sale price, my only problem is the sub 1080p display on the base model and the hard drive as the default drive. It does have m.2 support if you want to upgrade down the line though. Just I wouldn't buy anything with less than a 1080p screen, you just can't really fit enough stuff on it.

[callipygoustp]

Chromebook. Picked one up for my mother whose usage is similar to your dad's. Picked one up from Amazon for ~$150.

[Kagthul]

you could build a nice little rig with an i3/r3 and 560/1050 or a ryzen apu build. That price is tough to get something that would put out 4k at a decent fps.

Since he doesn't play a single game, fps isnt an issue. Just the ability to drive a 4k display.

[announced]

Since he doesn't play a single game, fps isnt an issue. Just the ability to drive a 4k display.

That's correct, he mostly just wants to watch TV/ read emails and sometimes play tv shows or movies on the 4k LG TV screen. A Chromebook sounds interesting, but it does not seem to come with a blue ray dvd player. Also it only has a 32GB hard drive and he is used to having 2TB of space.

He also likes having the dvd/blue ray player. Although there aren't really many or any dvds anymore he still thought the utility feature was a huge plus for the Dell inspiron 15. Are there any glaring issues with the Dell laptop listed above? or is it just over priced.

Also does anyone know of a good wireless mouse/keyboard. My dad has Logitech ones and they are getting kind of old and don't have a very reliable signal anymore and he's only 10 feet away (or less) from the receiver when using them.
I found his old mouse that is having issues. it is the Logitech Performance Mouse MX

Thanks for all the help so far.

[Temp name]

That's correct, he mostly just wants to watch TV/ read emails and sometimes play tv shows or movies on the 4k LG TV screen. A Chromebook sounds interesting, but it does not seem to come with a blue ray dvd player. Also it only has a 32GB hard drive and he is used to having 2TB of space.

He also likes having the dvd/blue ray player. Although there aren't really many or any dvds anymore he still thought the utility feature was a huge plus for the Dell inspiron 15. Are there any glaring issues with the Dell laptop listed above? or is it just over priced.

Also does anyone know of a good wireless mouse/keyboard. My dad has Logitech ones and they are getting kind of old and don't have a very reliable signal anymore and he's only 10 feet away (or less) from the receiver when using them.

Thanks for all the help so far.

I wouldn't say the Dell is overpriced, I just don't like the display.

Logitech still makes fairly decent mice, their MX series in particular is very good (but a bit pricey). Not really up to speed on wireless keyboards though, but they also make some of those

[Kagthul]

I wouldnt put too much stock in it having a Blu Ray drive. Unlike DVDs, you cant just throw a Blu Ray in and have it play. You need 3rd party aftermarket software to watch a Blu Ray in Windows. Even VLC wont do it (except for some rare Blu Rays that have no encryption). And AFAIK, only like one or two software solutions do 4K Blu Ray at all.

If he wants to watch Blu Rays, hes better off getting a cheap Blu Ray player.

As for needing lots of space... for what? Chromebooks dont have large drives because everything is stored in the cloud.

[moremana]

Chromebook.

That's what they were designed for and are very good at. I picked up one on Amazon, the Lenova C330 for under $250 just for that while traveling on business instead of a tablet. It works great.

[Gaidax]

Honestly? STRONGLY consider iPad with cellular and some cover that allows to stand it up.

The strong part of it is that it is very friendly for people who are not tech-savvy, once you set it up it will simply work and at most to fix any issue you legit would need to tell the person to turn it off and on again. Cellular module is to eliminate cases where your home WiFi/router decided to take a break, it makes transition seamless until WiFi returns.

[Temp name]

Honestly? STRONGLY consider iPad with cellular and some cover that allows to stand it up.

The strong part of it is that it is very friendly for people who are not tech-savvy, once you set it up it will simply work and at most to fix any issue you legit would need to tell the person to turn it off and on again. Cellular module is to eliminate cases where your home WiFi/router decided to take a break, it makes transition seamless until WiFi returns.

If you're not used to touch screens, it would take a while to figure out how to get it to work. My mom, a year after getting a smartphone, still doesn't get that in most cases you just have to swipe for some things

[Serialnerd]

Honestly, he could do everything he does with a Chromebook.

The Samsung Chromebook Plus is a very solid performer, and is 400$ US, so im not sure what it would be in CA$

Its got a great screen, is plenty fast, comes with the S-pen (and a place to store it), and is touchscreen and folds up into a tablet.

It can run Android and Linux apps, as well.

I have to agree, a Chromebook is his best choice.

[announced]

I wouldnt put too much stock in it having a Blu Ray drive. Unlike DVDs, you cant just throw a Blu Ray in and have it play. You need 3rd party aftermarket software to watch a Blu Ray in Windows. Even VLC wont do it (except for some rare Blu Rays that have no encryption). And AFAIK, only like one or two software solutions do 4K Blu Ray at all.

If he wants to watch Blu Rays, hes better off getting a cheap Blu Ray player.

As for needing lots of space... for what? Chromebooks dont have large drives because everything is stored in the cloud.

sometimes movies or tv shows get downloaded on occasion if you know what i mean and they do require more than a 25GB hard drive. a 1TB hd would be fine i guess.

or how much space is in the cloud?

[Serpha]

Don't listen to this nonsense. Buy a Thinkpad from ebay for and he will be set for life.

[JenniferT]

have they used a computer before??

If not, or very rarely, then start them on a 4-5-year-old old desktop with Linux Mint, or Zorin OS, or Ubuntu MATE on it. If they have to learn an OS, the process is similar no matter which they go with, and Linux is safer. It will keep them from calling you all the time to help get rid of trojans and virus.