Expert: Bobbert - 6/16/2008

Question
I'm in the graphics field and am thus fairly familiar with Mac computers but
my dad who's 86 is looking to upgrade to a new PC for Internet surfing, email
and the like and I'm thinking a Windows machine might be better and more
mainstream for that, but I'm also worried about Vista issues--plus I'm trying
to differentiate between a laptop, all in one machine and desktop models. I'm
figuring a laptop might pose certain problems, including smaller text and
screen, while an all-in-one might save space and still not compromise too
much on quality. The HP TouchSmart IQ775, in fact, was one I saw highly
rated in Consumer Reports. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Answer
Honestly, I'd go with what you know, and get an iMac, my reasons for this:

A) its the best reviewed all-in-one in terms of price, performance, longetivity, upgradability, etc (hardware wise basically)

B) OS X is generally considered a better operating system for newbie users, or older users, because its more intuitive (he won't be running anything really complex, so it'll be fairly simple for him to browse the internet)

C) OS X is much safer than Vista by default, while Vista can be configured to be just as safe, it takes some doing

D) OS X handles all of its own updates on its own

E) and above all, you know the system better than Windows (it sounds like) which means its easier for you to provide him with support/teach him how to use features of the system (and generally new users perfer to learn from a friend/family member, instead of a salesman or phone rep)

-bob