Wanted: a low-cost laptop for dad

Dad is 73 and has struggled with an ancient, slow PC for many years. Now he reluctantly accepts that he should upgrade to a modern and fast laptop, which he will sometimes want to use in the conservatory. He needs access to the internet and email, transfer and storage of photos, and the simplest of word processors. Any suggestions around the £350 to £500 price range?
Ian Stephen

Dad is right in the middle of the mass market for what we call "desktop replacement" laptops, where hundreds of very similar PCs compete mainly on price. He doesn't need his new laptop to be thin-and-light, he doesn't need long battery life, he doesn't need high-resolution graphics, 3D or Blu-ray, and he doesn't even need a particularly fast processor.

Almost any PC with a 15.6in screen should do the job, though you might consider buying one with a big 17.3in screen instead. And while you could come in under budget, I'm going to encourage you to think about buying a few extras as well.

Eyesight tends to deteriorate somewhat with age, so I'd go for at least a 15.6in screen, which will display exactly the same information as a typical 13.3in laptop screen: 1366 x 768 pixels. The 15.6in screen just means that text and icons will be bigger and easier to see. Laptops with 17.3in screens generally display more information on the screen, the typical resolution being 1600 x 900 pixels. Bigger is usually better, but a 17.3in laptop will tend to be a little heavier – closer to 3.0kg than 2.5kg – and this may be a consideration if it's moved a lot.

Regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of this year's Intel Core iX range, codenamed Sandy Bridge, and the mid-range Core i5 is often the best choice. (The Core i3 is cheaper and slower, but lacks the TurboBoost, while the Core i7 is faster but pricier.) Sandy Bridge is probably the way to go for longevity.

However, the popularity of the Core iX range means there are bargains running earlier designs such as Intel's Core 2 Duo range and Pentium and Celeron brands. (Nowadays, they're not actually Pentium and Celeron chips.) These will provide a huge improvement on your dad's current system, and his applications don't require anything better. Even slower processors would be usable, as long as they are dual-core and, preferably, include hyperthreading.

Most laptops in the "desktop replacement" category have 15.6in screens, 3GB or 4GB of memory, a 320GB or 500GB hard drive, DVD writer, and 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. Most have Intel integrated graphics on the motherboard (sharing main memory) but some have dedicated graphics processors to provide better performance. Most have a slot for SD (Secure Digital) memory cards, and your dad will find this extremely useful if he uses cameras, music players or mobile phones that also take SD storage cards.

Low-end systems that you could consider include the Lenovo G560 (Pentium P6200, £299.99), Samsung RV510 (Celeron T3500, £289.98) and RV511 (Pentium P6200, £329.99), and the Asus K53E-SX195V (Pentium B940, £346.80). From this lot, the P6200 is the fastest processor, though only fractionally ahead of the B940 thanks to its extra on-chip cache memory.

These are all under your budget, so you might want to spend a bit more and get a system with a Core i3 or even a Core i5. Examples include the Lenovo G570 (Core i3-2310M, £389.00), Samsung RV511 (Intel Core i3-380M, £424.60), Acer Aspire 5742 (Core i5-480M, £429.97), and Asus K52F-EX1238V (Core i5-480M, £423.60).

Most of these systems are also available with 17.3in screens, but this is an area where Samsung's R series looks particularly competitive on price. Examples include the Samsung R730 (Pentium P6100, £399.99), the Samsung RV720 (Core i3-2310M, £478.99) and the RV11 with a P6200 £408.92 or a Core i3-380M £425.87. Another option is the Asus K73E-TY040V (Core i3-2310M, £478.80), and there are rivals from HP, Acer and Toshiba.

The Samsung RV11-A03 has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels despite its huge screen, which might appeal to users with impaired vision. Otherwise, the Samsung RV720 (1600 x 900 pixels) might be the pick of this particular bunch.

I've taken most prices from Amazon.co.uk because the site also offers a specification, reader reviews and star ratings. However, if you shop around, you may be able to find lower prices.

If you want to compare the speed of the various processors, there is a comprehensive table at Notebook Check: Comparison of Mobile Processors (CPU Benchmarks). If you want to read reviews, look at TestSeek.

A final choice can depend on things like a laptop's general appearance, visual screen quality, the feel of the keyboard and other personal preferences. It's always worth checking systems in a high-street shop or computer superstore to see if a particular model stands out. None of these systems is particularly stylish, but you are getting a big-screen computer with a keyboard, hard drive and DVD player for less than the price of many smartphones, it will last longer, and the running costs are a lot lower.

Either way, I suggest you spend any money you've saved on an external hard drive to move your dad's data from his old Windows XP machine, using Windows Easy Transfer, and to provide a back up. (Windows 7 includes decent backup software but the HP Simple Save models will do backups automatically.) If he's used to using a mouse rather than a touchpad, an external USB mouse might be appreciated.

Finally, do your dad a favour by installing the latest Windows updates, then download most of the Windows Live Essentials suite, if not already pre-installed. This free suite includes a desktop email program that works well with Gmail (set to IMAP) and Hotmail, Messenger, an excellent Photo Gallery/organiser, and 25GB of free online space in SkyDrive. The email program automates the process of sharing photos by uploading the photo (or a whole folder of photos) to SkyDrive and emailing the recipient a link.

Hotmail now provides access to web-based versions of Microsoft Office programs, and enables document sharing as well. Windows Live Mesh lets you synchronise documents and photos between different computers (including Macs), synchronise settings and Internet Explorer bookmarks, and connect to your PC remotely from a different computer. Finally, Windows Live Essentials integrates with Windows Phones, for the few that have them. It's an excellent set of programs that would be even more widely used if people actually tried it.

As for "the simplest of word processors", Windows already includes a free one: WordPad. The new version in Windows 7 has an Office-style ribbon and a customisable Quick Access bar that makes most commands instantly available. It doesn't have many features so it is certainly easy to learn. WordPad can't handle a wide range of formats, but it can open plain text, rich text files (.rtf), Microsoft Word documents (.docx), and OpenDocument Text (.odt) documents, which covers most needs. If not, the open source AbiWord is worth a look.