Hello,I'm posting this in the general forum because I think there could be so many different possible answers for this scenario.*
My in-laws are using an old PC hand me down from maybe 2000/ 2001. They aren't the most computer confident people and they use the PC for light surfing and email on Outlook Express.*The VGA card has just died. I think I could get them a new one for very little money.
The thing is, the PC is very slow. It's an old Athlon (I think). I'm pretty sure there's bugger all Ram in there as well.*
I'm thinking of giving them another hand me down PC, this one is an old Barton I built in 2003. It was pretty awesome in its time and has 1Gb RAM, I think.*
They're not looking to spend any money if they can avoid it, so I'm ruling out building them a modern system, unless you can suggest a shuttle/ micro ATX style fully integrated PC I could throw together for maybe £200 tops (I have quite a few SATA drives lying about).*
As an alternative, I was thinking of giving them the Barton with Linux installed (might be quicker than XP). They*use outlook express (I think I could move over their data onto Thunderbird or some equivalent), and they use word and excel and Skype but that's pretty much it. Skypes on Linux, so thats good. Are the Linux Office equivalents as good and able to open .docx etx?*
From my perspective,I want to do the best for them, which includes minimising calls to the Marakith Support hotline if possible
I'd be really grateful for your suggestions.....
My in-laws are using an old PC hand me down from maybe 2000/ 2001. They aren't the most computer confident people and they use the PC for light surfing and email on Outlook Express.*The VGA card has just died. I think I could get them a new one for very little money.
The thing is, the PC is very slow. It's an old Athlon (I think). I'm pretty sure there's bugger all Ram in there as well.*
I'm thinking of giving them another hand me down PC, this one is an old Barton I built in 2003. It was pretty awesome in its time and has 1Gb RAM, I think.*
They're not looking to spend any money if they can avoid it, so I'm ruling out building them a modern system, unless you can suggest a shuttle/ micro ATX style fully integrated PC I could throw together for maybe £200 tops (I have quite a few SATA drives lying about).*
As an alternative, I was thinking of giving them the Barton with Linux installed (might be quicker than XP). They*use outlook express (I think I could move over their data onto Thunderbird or some equivalent), and they use word and excel and Skype but that's pretty much it. Skypes on Linux, so thats good. Are the Linux Office equivalents as good and able to open .docx etx?*
From my perspective,I want to do the best for them, which includes minimising calls to the Marakith Support hotline if possible
I'd be really grateful for your suggestions.....
. But if he wants to do it on the cheap he could just go with the single core.
