New laptop for parents

[FalvinP]

My parent’s five year old Gateway P4 laptop is on its last legs. They have decided it’s time for a new laptop. My parents are both in their late seventies and in reasonably good health. I would put their budget at around $1200-1300 or possibly a bit more. Although they can easily afford it, my Dad wants to be sure to get the best “bang for the buck”, which in this case appears to be the Asus referred to below, although the specs might be a bit high for what they need.

They use the laptop primarily for email, web browsing and a little word processing. However, since one of my siblings has recently relocated to the opposite coast from where we are, a decent webcam, using Skype or some equivalent, will be a must, unless there is a recommendation to get a separate webcam. I handle all their picture needs like downloading from their camera etc., so there needs to be the ability to edit photos and maybe some short movies. Because of the needs of other family members who visit, they will also have a version of Microsoft Office on the computer as well.

The laptop is the only computer in the house. My parents move the laptop four times a year…….they fly to and from location #1 and fly to and from location #2 (all in the US). Because of the sibling relocation, they may have occasion to take the laptop with them on a few more trips. They have said that the 15.4 inch screen of the current laptop is sufficient for their needs. I would rather have them get a 17 inch screen, but I’m not the one who has to lug it around the airports. We need Bluetooth built in so they don’t have to deal with an external dongle when traveling. I’m going to find a Bluetooth mouse that charges through a usb cord to further eliminate the bulk of a charging stand when traveling. I don’t see any reason to go with 64 bit Vista, so I’m probably going to recommend having 3 gig of ram.

Battery life isn’t all that important, since the unit will primarily be plugged in via ac.

During my research, I’ve discovered that glossy screens are becoming pretty much the norm, although almost every review I’ve read mentions how highly reflective the screen is, as well as how much they attract fingerprints. I’m trying to find someone with a glossy screen so I can take it to my parent’s house and see how it looks in their environment. If it turns out to be too reflective, I’ll have to look for a matte screen, which might be harder to find.

The laptops I’ve researched so far include the Dell Inspiron 1525, the HP Pavilion dv5t, (both through Costco) and the Asus M50 series (Newegg). The more I’ve looked around, the more I like the Asus, although I’m a little skeptical of their customer support.

I’m looking for advice on which laptop to get. I’m also looking for alternatives if there are better buys out there. As with desktops, there are a lot of different configurations available, so any advice on basis specs would be appreciated also.

Thanks for your help.

[glc]

I'd look at Lenovo Thinkpads. They can be bought preconfigured, or you can custom configure them and buy them direct from lenovo.com. Nobody else makes mainstream laptops that are as rugged/reliable or with any better support.