I have a yard- and house-work customer, about 70, who is planning to buy a home computer; I believe her 15-year-old granddaughter (the grandmother has legal custody of her) would be using it for the most part.
The grandmother asked me yesterday about what to get with it; the basic hardware would seem to be the CPU/monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer, hard disk/floppy disk/CD-ROM drive, speakers/headset jack, scanner (OK, maybe she won’t need or want a scanner).
For Internet access she’d probably want Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and possible America Online.
For word-processing, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and WordPerfect for Windows.
Perhaps she will also want a service contract, since neither she (the grandmother) nor the granddaughter has the expertise to deal with service problems.
What other hardware/software should they look for? Thanks very much. 
I’d recommend getting at least a CD-RW drive instead of a plain CD-ROM. The cost difference is very minimal from ROM to RW and I’m sure they can find lots of uses for an RW. A DVD-ROM would be nice but I’m not sure how much more they cost.
They’ve got some nice scanners these days that don’t cost much. If that grandma has any other kids or grandkids, a scanner would be nice for sending all those pictures of the kiddies around.
Don’t forget a modem, if she’s planning on a dial-up connection.
Does she really need two word-processing applications (MSWord and WP)? She’ll likely get the MSWord as part of bundle but might have to buy WP separately.
They should definitely get a virus protection package and most important, learn how to use it.
Good points, Missbunny. A modem is a must, of course.
I’ve heard the granddaughter say she wants to go into some kind of professional career. My career of choice is law, and Wordperfect, in whatever package, seems to have been all the rage in the legal profession. This girl leans toward a career in some aspect of biology; whether WordPerfect would be suitable there I do not know.
What does “RW” stand for as you use it here?
No question Virus protection is necessary; perhaps Norton Utilities, eh wot?
CD-RW is a CD read/write. This means she can both “read” data (play music, game, and software CDs) and “write” (burn music and data CDs (assuming she has the appropriate software) with a CD-RW. With a plain old CD-ROM, she’ll only be able to read CDs or get data off a CD, not put data onto one. CD-RW is much more useful.
Norton Anti-Virus seems okay to me for home use. I don’t like it for networks but I’m not an expert by any means.
That looks pretty good for basics. To get into the nitpicky stuff: Mousepad, power strip, printer cable, paper, and a spare ink cartridge (and warn her about how much cartridges cost before she prints out War & Peace).
I’d suggest an iMac. It would give them the minimum of chords and individual components to deal with. They come standard with a modem and all software is installed. Netscape, IE and AOL is available if you must.
Applworks is the office suite and is also installed. I hear MS Office for Mac is pretty good or at least better than the bloated stuff for Windows but it’s overkill and expensive at that. Why does a 15 or 70 year old need Powerpoint or Excel? I doubt many people use anywhere near the majority of Wo rd’s features and kids and grannies definitely don’t need them.
Forget about the anti-virus package (but only if she gets a Mac). Virii aren’t much of a problem for Macs but granny will have more problems with installing additional software if one is ins talled.
The computer will come with a mouse and possibly a pad as well. A pad isn’t necessary though as the mouse is optical and will work on any surface perfectly.
Most decent scanners and printers will be Mac-compatible and should come with the requir ed Firewire or USB cable. If they find they are tearing through the ink cartridges, there are refills available (you refill the old cart from an ink bottle with a syringe) and I find this work well for my needs.
They will be eligible for an education discount and can find models with CD-ROM or DVD or CD-RW or a combo DVD/CD-RW…
Correction: CD-RW means rewrite/write. You can buy CD-RW disks that let you copy and then erase and recopy to the disks.
:o
I was at home late last night when all of a sudden into my head popped the fact that I had posted incorrect information. Obviously the SD never leaves my subconscious. 
throatshot is of course right about what CD-RW stands for. Sorry about that.
Rather than start a new thread, just thought I’d ask a quickie here. I bought a used IBM Thinkpad in the need for a computer at home (and with a limited budget), but now am wishing I had a processor faster than the 133 Mhz one it came with (something more in the 233-300 range). Is it possible to buy a processor on its own and connect it to the computer/replace the existing one, or does one really just have to buy a newer computer? This might be an obvious question, but I have always been more of a software guy than a hardware wiz, to say the least.
I don’t think so. Laptops are designed with small size and light weight in mind. Therefore, many of the components are built to accomodate each other which is a reason you can’t really build your own as you can with a PC. A desktop model might have been a more cost effective choice for home use but the horse has already bolted I guess. On the other hand, I’ve always heard the Thinkpad is a good machine and 133Mhz isn’t really all that slow. It’s just a lot slower than the newest machines. You might find b etter performance gains by adding RAM than Mhz. How much memory do you have now?H
Sadly enough, Mersavets, there is no noble or academic reason why I really need a faster processor (when I got it the main reason was to have something on which to write novels and play the odd solitaire round), rather it is the fact that The Sims requires 233 Mhz, a detail I failed to notice upon purchasing it and realised only after the game feebly crawled to a pathetic, frozen screened coma (am I being a bit melodramatic?) I assumed this must be because my processor is only about 60% of what is required. I know I still had memory available even after installation, but I don’t know offhand what the figures are (I am at work at the moment). It is probably just the processor in the case of this game hides head in shame, right?
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For word-processing, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and WordPerfect for Windows."
Why do you need both Word & WordPerfect???
Otherwise if you don’t need WP, you can get the others as a package in MSWORKS. Also, look at plenty of cheap software at ebay.com
Hm, I’ve known several people who had MSWorks, and none of them had Word, Excel and Powerpoint. They usually had a word processing program and a spreadsheet program, but neither was as good or as powerful as Word or Excel.
The MS Office package is the best one to get.
You’re right, throatshot, MSWORKS doesn’t have those exact MS programs; but has generic variety database, spreadsheet, word processor. But I thought, why would a fifteen year old girl need the expensive stuff?