So basically, my sister breaks things. That's all there is to it. But also, if her computer doesn't work, she whines to me. So, what I'm looking for is something not extremely expensive, but I don't want to hear her whine about it.

Needs: FACEBOOK. It's essentially all she does. Other than that, she loads a shizz-ton of pictures on it, and a bit of music as well, and general internet browsing.

Budget: $500-$700

Examples: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146995 - I know that this is just their "value" deal, but think it will serve the needs. Any red flags?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834101243

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834200143

Anyway, those are the ones that I'm thinking of. Let me know if you need to know anything else.

Why can't you just get her a netbook?

Is there any netbook with a comparable hard drive?

If all she does is facebook, I'm sure you can get her a weak laptop with a small hard drive for like 300-400 bucks. ;o

She just needs a mobile phone with a decent display. If you wanna make her really happy buy her some cheap external speakers or good headphones too. And maybe a more powerful battery.
Concerning the hard drive... She only needs a large (16-32 GB) SD memory chip. Those are enough for about 600 songs or 30,000 pictures.

I can suggest to you that you should get Chrome OS instead of Windows or Mac and stuff like that because Chrome OS is simply made for surfing the internet and she can upload photos to Google Documents for viewing and upload music to Youtube for listening.

I'm in favor of this, but I was under the impression that Chrome os was awhile away from release...?

netbook with 320 GB

There's $400 laptops too which have bigger screens.

If you join the developer's group, you can build it yourself. If not, there are few non-official pre-builds around the internet.

While looking for Chrome OS, I found Chromebook. It will start coming out on June 15th.

There are two models: Samsung and Acer.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jun 4 2011, 7:10 pm by Apos. Reason: I added the Introducing the Chromebook

Chrome is the weakest OS imaginable. If you get it for her and she decides "oh hey i want to write an essay on this" she won't be able to use Microsoft Office or even Open Office; It's google docs or Microsoft's online thing. If she wants to play a game, better be something in a browser. Etc.

Just get her a netbook... or a Tablet, actually. Tablets are great for the internets. I believe the Asus Transformer goes as low as $400, and I think the $500 one has 32GB... not sure. Anyway, a tablet would be much more satisfying than, though not any more powerful than, a laptop.

Sorry, I spoke too soon. I'm now seriously considering a chromebook for her.



I've used google docs... I love it. I use it as my full time word processor right now. And the thing is, she doesn't play games etc. She gets on facebook, and she looks at pictures. I think its weakness is great for her, because it's exactly what she needs, and nothing more. Plus, she breaks everything she touches, so when she breaks this, she can just get a new one, and everything is already there.

Suit yourself. I consider it a joke; you want it, go ahead. It'll be obsolete whenever she decides she wants to do something that Chrome doesn't support. Which is the vast majority of things.

Also, using google docs over Microsoft Office? Lols.

Well, I agree with you in that it is incredibly limited in what it will be able to do, but she doesn't need anything else.

And as far as using google docs, I guess I just don't need all the tools/options that Office gives. So, while Office is more powerful, I really only need spell check

Microsoft Office online: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/
Scroll down just a little until you see "Select a Web App to create your document" and click on Word then log into your hotmail account if you have one already then save your name of your document and the format will be in a .docx then basically after that is microsoft word in your internet browser!
Chrome OS info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QRO3gKj3qw
You can get the Chrome OS release candidate: http://getchrome.eu/download.php or wait until June 15. Chrome comes with Html5 support and built-in Flash so it's basically all she needs

I'm a little weary of that site... is google not endorsing it?

Assuming you mean 'wary', if you go to http://sites.google.com/site/chromeoslinux/download you'll see the getchrome site is official.