As another has asked, is there a specific reason? I recently was
involved in just such an upgrade (though little old lady conveys the
wrong impression: though this person is little - tiny in fact - and
seventysomething, she's extremely full of beans!), and the reason was a
slight feeling that her old machine (I think it was a 700 MHz) wasn't
quite cutting the mustard (and I think she was right there), plus a
slight desire to be able to use Skype (which her old one had had severe
problems with).
Well, I've always thought of them as somewhat overpriced, but then there
is the good reputation behind it - and it may not matter that much,
since she's probably going to not purchase another PC for a long time if
ever. But one of the small-format ones - hp and Acer for example - might
suit better (though see below).
(Probably none; most either have a recovery partition [part of the HD
kept for this], or instruct you to _make_ recovery DVDs, or both.) I
suspect that any but the lowest-powered netbook (and probably even
those) will be more than powerful enough for anything she's likely to
want. I'm guessing she's not a gamer (in the usual sense - I'm not
counting solitaire and the like!), so the only thing that I can think of
that she's likely to do that is at all resource-intensive is to do with
video: use YouTube, or view the odd video that someone might email her.
Worth quizzing her about such things - including taking her a few sample
files. But I think it's _unlikely_ that _anything_ new (or even
second-hand if less than about 15 months old, provided it's got enough
RAM and has had 7 properly installed/upgraded) won't be more than
capable of anything she might want to do.
I'd probably not recommend that, unless you find that there really is
something that will only run on XP that there really isn't a new version
of (or where the new version is radically different). Although many will
say it's not that relevant, I'd say it is worth (for her) changing to 7:
in practice once inside applications, which is where she'll spend most
of her time, she won't see _much_ difference, and it is a more
future-proof thing to do. (You don't saw what word-processing app. she
uses: FWIW, Office 2003 seems to work fine under 7.)
Parts/specs: probably at least 2G RAM; HD - the OS itself plus
applications needs 30-40G to give a reasonable futureproofing buffer,
but you won't get anything less than 160G these days, usually 250G or
more. Processor I'm not qualified to say (the one we eventually got for
our LOL was powerful), but I'd say anything with two or more cores is
more than adequate, with some of the single-core ones maybe so.
Fairly, unless it's DOS (such as Brother's Keeper 5 [current version is
6.5.1 and is fine]). Genealogy software does benefit from modern
changes, actually: modern versions, if it is necessary to upgrade (which
it probably won't be), do things like handling of pictures, and
producing charts, a lot better. I hate myself for saying this, because I
know I'm suggesting more changes/upgrades, and I hate people who do
this! As another has asked, how good is she - and willing - to take to
new things? There again, I'd strongly suggest (to her) getting into an
XP-compatible email prog., rather than running under XP emulation. [If
by any chance her old one was/is Eudora, there's a version called Eudora
OSE which is really Thunderbird made to look somewhat like Eudora; our
LOL managed the transition to that reasonably easily.]
Consider getting a laptop. It may be ideal for her.
This is what we did.
Small, lightweight, portable, wireless, bluetooth,
built in webcam, etc.
I like my Lenovo T410 for work and email programs.
It is great for that but it is terrible for gaming.
frys.com
microcenter.com
You could point out (and show) that her existing monitor (and keyboard
and mouse if USB, or replacements if not) could be used with it, with
the added bonus that she _can_ move away from her old workstation area -
including taking it completely away, e. g. to visit friends ("you can
show them pictures") - if she wants. That's for a small laptop. We
actually got a 17", 4G, 500G, home premium 32; Margaret isn't
(obviously, that size!) intending to carry it around much, but can use
it in her dining room, conservatory, or elsewhere, rather than being
stuck in the hall as she was.
(Details - it is IIRR a Toshiba, multicore processor; I got it, via
Ebay, second-hand - just over a year old, had been upgraded from Vista
but the seller included the proper full upgrade pack, and authorised it
in front of me [he'd just done the upgrade] - from someone local to me,
for 250 pounds, which is a good price for UK. She's very pleased with
it.)
For the other end of portability, but to be used with her existing
monitor (and a proper keyboard and possibly mouse), a netbook might be
ideal, though a USB DVD drive is probably worth adding. Or one of the
tiny boxes, though not having a screen/keyboard you lose the portability
option. (Netbook plus DVD drive probably comes out not that different in
price from bottom-end conventional laptop.)
_Probably_ avoid "starter edition"; I haven't experienced it, so can't
comment, but I get the feeling it is excessively limited.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
Everything you've learned in school as `obvious' becomes less and less obvious
as you begin to study the universe. For example, there are no solids in the
universe. There's not even a suggestion of a solid. There are no absolute
continuums. There are no surfaces. There are no straight lines.
-R. Buckminster Fuller, engineer, designer, and architect (1895-1983)
