Will the new $500 Apple mini work for my mom?
Tim Bray asks if the new $500 Apple Mini is good for his mom. I asked myself exactly the same question today.
My mom reads email, and she looks at a website or two every now and then. And writes something in Word and prints it out. She also likes pictures we send her by email. Will the mini work for her?
Read emails: no problems there.
Write things: OpenOffice has a Mac version, and will do just fine for her. The printer won't fit, I don't see a serial port there, so we'll have to buy a new one. But it seems that the cheap kind of inkjet printer (where they make money of the cartridges) will work on Macs as well, so that's fine.
Hardware: I have an USB keyboard lying around, so that's good. I'll have to buy a mouse. I'm not sure the old monitor will work, it's a few years old. If I have to buy a new one that would suck. It's got that standard blue PC monitor connection, but I don't see that on the Mac. Will that work?
The learning curve.
Tim was right, however easy the OS is, for my mom it's just another learning curve. Then again, the biggest problem with Windows is those error dialogs popping up, confusing her. Maybe the Mac really *is* easier and will make her life less stressed. The "it just works" approach is perfect for my mom, if it really does just work. What do you think? Should I get her one?