revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I have just spend the last 3 hours trying to get my wife's uncle's computer to recognise the printer het has just bought. The printer is just fine - runs from my phone absolutely fine.
His current laptop is a Toshiba - and I am guessing 25 years old. As I am not that familair with windows anymore, it is running a version I don't recognise . It is very slow - as in geologically slow. So trying to get into settings takes hours - once you get into setting you need to use passwords that have long since gone from his mind.

He bought a new laptop about 9 months ago but "didn't get on with it so gave it to his son". TBH, I tried to get the effing thing to connect to the net - and it wouldn't , so suggested returing it to the shop he bought it from. He didn't.
He also won't get it back from his useless son, who is up for any freebie.

He only uses it as a word processor , for emails, surfing the internet etc. I thought that a Chromebook could be the sloution but the net based working system may be beyound him (a iPhone is).
What cheap, basic windows based PCs can be recommended. It doesnt need a huge amount of memory, RAM, it doesnt need the latest chip. It just needs to work, connect to a printer, and have a stable connection to the WiFi?

I bought a cheap laptop for the same things as you've said it's an HP Stream 11, it's been fine, no problems, I think it was about £180

My mother (who isn't quite 90) has shunned various laptops made available to her and now does everything on an iPad with a keyboard case.

KungFooBob wrote: Thu Mar 19, 2026 6:43 pm My mother (who isn't quite 90) has shunned various laptops made available to her and now does everything on an iPad with a keyboard case.

Not sure he would cope with the IOS architecture- and using Pages etc

Mr Moofo wrote: Thu Mar 19, 2026 7:21 pm

KungFooBob wrote: Thu Mar 19, 2026 6:43 pm My mother (who isn't quite 90) has shunned various laptops made available to her and now does everything on an iPad with a keyboard case.

Not sure he would cope with the IOS architecture- and using Pages etc

You can get M365 for iOS.

This is a difficult issue which I am all too familiar with and the idea of a simple solution doesn't really hold up. I provide "support" for several members of my family, none of them older than myself! Problems can crop up, even on the latest machines. For example I had to download Canon printer drivers and reinstall them on a Windows 11 machine that had been using the printer for several years but suddenly refused to recognise it. (after a Window update?)

The lost password issue is one I often come up against and as the inevitable memory deterioration affects me and family I always insist that passwords are written down and stored in a safe place. A methodical approach can make a big difference at any age.

This doesn't help you find a better laptop and all I can say is my personal preference is to stick with Windows 11, buy the best you can afford then remove all the rubbish that you can ( widgets, bloatware, AI tools etc.). I find that the younger generation fall into two categories, those who rub along by asking someone else, and those who actually know what they are doing. If you have any of the latter group they can take a lot of the issues relating to mobiles apps etc.

Why not stick Chrome OS Flex on his existing computer. I've had good results connecting to printers and the OS is one of the most straightforward around to understand coming from Windows (7?)

You can run from the usb stick prior to install to make sure he can connect to the printer before committing.

Also he only needs one password if he uses chrome as his password manager.

Ditchfinder wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2026 9:39 am Why not stick Chrome OS Flex on his existing computer. I've had good results connecting to printers and the OS is one of the most straightforward around to understand coming from Windows (7?)

You can run from the usb stick prior to install to make sure he can connect to the printer before committing.

Also he only needs one password if he uses chrome as his password manager.

because it would take days to load?

I've found it boot quickly on even ancient hardware with 4gb of RAM.