So here's my dilemma: my parents are classic Bad At Computers parents. It's cute, you know? Everything is always breaking, and sometimes things have gone so hilariously wrong that I can't even figure out what they did to get there. It's not that they aren't brilliant -- they are both doctors! -- but more that they don't really care to figure it out. And why should they? They have me.
Anyway, right now their computing situation is basically one of my old iMacs, a couple of iPads, and their iPhones. My mother wants a MacBook to replace the iMac, but I'm thinking about replacing the iMac and buying her a Chromebook instead. There's something fundamentally terrifying to me about making their primary computer a laptop, especially since that's where they back up all of their photos and so on. And that way I can keep remotely administering the iMac (since it stays put) and they can have a fuller browsing experience while mobile and have a keyboard for the charting and email stuff they want to do.
But I'm worried about the Chromebook as well: they both work for huge hospital systems that sometimes send weird filetypes across, or need special apps to run, or sometimes just need Flash on an old website. Should I just suck it up and buy both a new iMac and a MacBook? Or will a Chromebook work?
Help!
>>51946279
Chromebooks are locked-down computers, really not a recommended buy.
Build your parents a hackintosh.
ThinkPad T420 with Ubuntu GNOME or another babby tier distro.
Buy them a tablet.
>>51946386
>>51946347
Ignore these fools
Anon go with the mac. Chromebooks are nice, but as you pointed out your parents are already accustomed to OS X, so ChromeOS would be another thing to learn (Not to mention its glaring compatibility issues) and as they are already in the Apple ecosystem with their iOS devices it would just be stupid to have them jump through hoops to add music to their phone or backup their devices.
>>51946447
>everything is always breaking
How am I a fool for recommending a thinkpad? T420 may even be able to be turned into a Hackintosh spoofing a Macbook 3,1.
>>51946279
>My mother wants a MacBook to replace the iMac
just get her what she's used to
>>51946347
>>51946386
>>51946387
>>51946447
>>51946489
Retards literally replaying to a fucking retarded verge article.
>>51946279
the decision is yours, but i will say that chromebooks do have the flash plugin. they're just missing other npapi plugins like the java plugin iirc.
>>51946387
a tablet as a primary device? sounds risky
>>51946447
as a chromebook user, this desu.
i'm not sure i agree with the "already accustomed to OS X" part -- chrome os is literally chrome, so it's insanely easy to use -- but the compatibility could cause problems.
>>51946386
>>51946489
dude, why the hell would OP hack something together when they could just give their parents a polished, robust product?
OP's trying _not_ to generate more problems, remember?
>>51946547
>buy $200-$300 thinkpad on ebay
>hack something together
wat
>>51946567
i don't mean physically, but nice meme
the person i was responding to recommended a thinkpad with a gnu/linux distro or hackintosh. compared to a macbook or chromebook, both are going to cause problems for OP's clueless parents -- let's be honest
>>51946598
Being honest, most babby distributions are pretty great for people clueless with technology. That's why I recommended Ubuntu GNOME. It looks great, and from experience, a great first distro coming from a Mac! Also, if OP can't burn an ISO to a USB he can fuck off, or clone it in disk utility on one of his parents macs.
>>51946633
sure they do, until something breaks.
the packagekit frontend for GNOME, for instance, is flaky as hell. it pops up requesting updates, but fails without any indication or error message when you have no network connection. i've experienced this myself with my family, and i had to find the problem.
why bother with all of this when a chromebooks or macbooks are braindead-easy to maintain? i recommend gnu/linux when i can, but consider op's parents
>>51946710
Elementary OS, or even to go as far as Winblows?
>>51946347
>So here's my dilemma: my parents are classic Bad At Computers parents. It's cute, you know? Everything is always breaking, and sometimes things have gone so hilariously wrong that I can't even figure out what they did to get there. It's not that they aren't brilliant -- they are both doctors! -- but more that they don't really care to figure it out. And why should they? They have me.
>>51946386
>>51946387
>>51946447
>>51946489
>>51946516
>>51946547
>>51946567
>>51946598
>>51946633
>>51946710
>>51946721
HEY FAGGOTS
GUESS WHAT
http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/18/10621946/should-i-buy-my-parents-a-chromebook-instead-of-a-macbook-which-one
>>51946518
>pic related
>>51946775
sry i dont read verge
neo-/g/ is real
>>51946775
>>51946823
oops, i don''t read it either
thanks for the link. i guess i'll just tell myself that op is nilay.
>>51946279
lots of old medical systems use silverlight (a lot) and chromebooks do not run it natively (you have to strap on another os just to get the workaround version. As much as it pains me to say it just buy the fucking mac.
>bad at computes
just go for a rMBP
/thread
>>51946279
go with what is;
- faimiliar (they don't want to learn new things, right?)
- does the job
- can be afforded (doctors make money, right?)
basically, just let them get macbooks (not modern imacs, who the fuck would do that?)
Chromebooks should work just fine, chromebooks have flash, docs knows most text file types, you can use crouton to make a formal linux partition if you need to run anything special on it, but it has apps for alot of office and viewer kind of stuff anyway.
Theyre cheap, theyre easy to use and best of all for your scenario, they are "stress free" laptops. There is literally nothing about them that can make someone angry besides not being able to use some software. Theyre silent (no fan no hdd), theyre cool, theyre fast and resource efficient.
HOWEVER
Since your parents are also all using other apple products, it may be a good idea to just go with another mac. ChromeOS and chromebooks are fairly compatible with apple products, but not with things like iTunes. If everything else they have is apple, the mac may be a good option. That just depends how integrated they are into apple products.
