Ipad all the way. Old folks love them. The big screen & ability to zoom in on web pages, the camera, email & a few basic apps will get it used more than her laptop & be very virus safe. They might exist, but I've never heard of anyone getting an ipad virus. She can also take it everywhere in her handbag unlike a laptop.

Just an example, I have an older relative who uses hers as a digital picture frame 80% of the time. The rest of the time she uses it for email & surfing news sites, or using some silly app to create collages of her grandkids for holiday cards.

Anonymous wrote:Mac and be virus free forever.

While I love Macs, you still should be careful. As they get more popular the number of viruses you can get on them increases.

OP, I sympathize with you. I've been telling my parents to get a Mac for years but they refuse to and for years have kept this awful desktop Dell from like 1999 that has more bugs in it than a rotting corpse and takes 15 minutes just to boot up. They finally got a laptop-- a PC because my father insists Macs are only for graphic designers-- but it's another cheap PC that they don't use as often as they should because they keep going back to their old crap desktop claiming "there are important files on it". DH has offered to show them how to transfer all of those files to a key drive but they never take him up on the offer. Sigh.

OP, I feel your frustration, but remember that MIL did not grow up in a computer-savy generation. If you'll forgive the analogy, it's like expecting your toddler to understand how the internet works. And the web is a perfect place for elderly folks to get lured into scams (those "health/vitamin" websites are among the worst). Best thing you can do: get her a product where she can't get into trouble. An Ipad is perfect and (relatively) inexpensive.

Anonymous wrote:I recently bought a Samsung chromebook and it is similar to Mac as far as virus protection goes, but costs a fraction of the price. Very few people really need a Mac. The chromebook has its flaws, but for day too day emailing, websurfing and Facebook usage it's just fine.

We bought a Chromebook for $200 for my mom, who only uses it for internet/emailing. Perfect.

Anonymous wrote:Buy a mac.

I have never gotten a virus with a mac, even when my kids click on random things.

I made the switch to apple for exactly this reason. Viruses killed two laptops for me within 3 years.