Pelican Parts
Parts Catalog Accessories Catalog How To Articles Tech Forums
Call Pelican Parts at 888-280-7799
Shopping Cart Cart | Project List | Order Status | Help



Go Back   Pelican Parts Forums > Miscellaneous and Off Topic Forums > Off Topic Discussions


Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Rating: Thread Rating: 2 votes, 3.00 average.
Author
Thread Post New Thread    Reply
Registered
 
Shaun @ Tru6's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Cambridge, MA
Posts: 44,358
Mac Advice: Getting my grandfather on email

At 86 he's still going strong with local politics, school, church, Knights of Columbus...you name it. He's missing out on a lot of email communication and wants to get on the web.

I have an old G3 Blue and White with OS9 that's as stable as can be and won't ever have any upgrade messages and certainly no viruses. With Outlook and Word, he should be fine forever, but it's slightly slow and he'll be using a dial-up/modem to access the web until I can get cable set up.

Should I set him up with that or go with a newer OSX Mac, maybe a notebook, that is overall faster, would have wireless capability, etc. but would also ask him to install new software now and again...stuff that will more confuse than help.

Pros and cons of each in your experience?

__________________
Tru6 Restoration & Design
Old 11-17-2010, 06:00 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #1 (permalink)
Registered
 
id10t's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 10,337
My kids use a similar iMac running debian.

How much memory do you have? You can pick up a couple of PC-133 256mb sticks to give it 512mb ram, makes it a very serviceable machine...
__________________
“IN MY EXPERIENCE, SUSAN, WITHIN THEIR HEADS TOO MANY HUMANS SPEND A LOT OF TIME IN THE MIDDLE OF WARS THAT HAPPENED CENTURIES AGO.”
Old 11-17-2010, 06:06 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #2 (permalink)
Registered
 
Shaun @ Tru6's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Cambridge, MA
Posts: 44,358
it's got 192MB. thanks for the tip on the RAM, that could do it for him.
__________________
Tru6 Restoration & Design
Old 11-17-2010, 06:25 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #3 (permalink)
The Unsettler
 
stomachmonkey's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Lantanna TX
Posts: 23,885
Send a message via AIM to stomachmonkey
I'd avoid the old B/W box.

The apps on it are no longer being maintained and you may find he has more issues due to lack of feature set/compatibility with the "modern" stuff on the other end.

Personally I'd opt for a used box,

Buy and Sell Used Macs - We Have Used Macs, Refurbished Apple Desktops, Apple Notebooks, Peripherals - Mac of All Trades

Apple Intel Core Duo/1.83GHz 13.3" MacBook - Mac of All Trades

Refurbished Apple Macbook Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz 1GB 80GB Combo 13 inch Refurbished Used Macbook Apple

Or a new Mac Mini.

The software updates are really not bad.

Just set it to check monthly and it'll only be an issue 12 times a year.
__________________
"I want my two dollars"
"Goodbye and thanks for the fish"
"Proud Member and Supporter of the YWL"
"Brandon Won"
Old 11-17-2010, 06:37 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #4 (permalink)
Registered
 
Shaun @ Tru6's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Cambridge, MA
Posts: 44,358
agree on compatibility.

used iMacs are crazy cheap on CL.

thanks Scott.
__________________
Tru6 Restoration & Design
Old 11-17-2010, 11:22 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #5 (permalink)
78 in a '71
 
mossguy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: WA on the Wet Side
Posts: 4,048
Go with the MAC

__________________
On glide path......
1971 911 T Targa
2013 Ford Fusion Titanium AWD
1982 Volvo 245, 1996 Ford F-150
Old 11-17-2010, 12:50 PM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #6 (permalink)
Reply


 


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 05:51 AM.


 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2025 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page
 

DTO Garage Plus vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.