Simple laptop for office stuff (older person)

cjp4

Distinguished
Jun 17, 2009
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18,510
Hello,

I am buying a laptop which will almost exclusively be used for basic office editing (WinWord/OpenOffice), and the usual web browsing (flash or video are of no concern).

I assume that any modern laptop will have absolutely no issues with performance, in that regard.

It is *very* important that the machine is reliable and low on maintenance, because I am buying it for an older family member and will be doing the support and maintenance (ouch...). So, if in doubt, I'd rather take "less stuff" which will subsequently break less. Low heat and noise would be nice.

As you will see, my specifications are all very simple; and offers in my price range abound. I'm mainly asking here to avoid common pitfalls like falling for an aged CPU that uses unneccessary amounts of power, etc. And maybe there is some hidden diamond which you can point out.


1. What is your budget?
400-500 €

2. What is the size of the notebook that you are considering?
No matter.

3. What screen resolution do you want?
The usual office stuff must be easily done. I.e., no netbook-type low resolution. Aside from that => no matter.

4. Do you need a portable or desktop replacement laptop?
No matter (it is a desktop replacement, but the farthest travel distance is from kitchen to living room and back.)

5. How much battery life do you need?
No big issue, outlets abound.

6. Do you want to play games with your laptop? If so then please list the games that you want to with the settings that you want for these games. (Low,Medium or High)?
None at all.

7. What other tasks do you want to do with your laptop? (Photo/Video editing, Etc.)
Nothing like that.

8. How much storage (Hard Drive capacity) do you need?
No matter, there will only be personally crafted documents on the HDD, with no videos or large foto collections at all.

9. If you are considering specific sites to buy from, please post their links.
German sites... A****n probably.

10. How long do you want to keep your laptop?
As long as possible, since getting used to new stuff is a problem for the target audience.

11. What kind of Optical drive do you need? DVD ROM/Writer,Bluray ROM/Writer,Etc ?
Nothing special. DVD-read is necessary; DVD-writewould be nice but not absolutely necessary.

12. Please tell us about the brands that you prefer to buy from them and the brands that you don't like and explain the reasons.
No matter.

13. What country do you live in?
Germany

14. Please tell us any additional information if needed.
Nothing special. It will need to have Windows 7 of course, and I'll likely try to get a remote login, so I can maintain it from home. But I guess that's not related to choice of hardware.


Thanks in advance, let me know if I can add more details.
 

cjp4

Distinguished
Jun 17, 2009
4
0
18,510
Guess I forgot to actually ask a question. ;-)

Is there a good "base line" I can look for? On which CPU/chipset etc. should the laptop be based to fulfill my requirements (price + very "stable" + fast for simple office documents)?

Thank you!