My retired husband wants a laptop to use primarily for surfing the internet. Which MAC is the best, most basic machine to use for this purpose.

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Mac

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  • Best Answer

    The best laptop for that purpose would be the MacBook. It has everything he'll need, and it is the most basic Mac in a laptop configuration.

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  • I hope it is not too late to answer this question.
    I would recommend the 11 inch MacBook air. For 999$, you are not paying for what you don't need (large memory, large display for multitasking). If he is just browsing the web, he wants a computer that is instant on (for convenience), is compact, but still has all the general benefits of a full-sized Mac (iworks, iTunes, safari).
    The iPad would be a debatable alternative, for 500$ you would get Internet access but you would not get flash or view some pages as well as well as a computer (same for iPod touch 225$).
    From an Internet only standpoint, I would recommend the macbook air. It has all the features in safari you want, and it's pretty.

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  • The MacBook Air

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  • An iPad 2 - why pay for all the things he won't use. A great experience, great apps, and all in a package that "comes to hand" very easily.

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  • Depending on what else your husband wants to use the machine for, the iPad may be your most affordable choice.

    For pure internet, email, pictures, movies, music and light applications the iPad starts at $499.

    What does the iPad not do compared to a laptop/desktop? Flash videos on the internet (but there are some apps that the larger flash sites, like YouTube, use), no DVD/CD drive (but there are apps to transfer that content from another computer... like a friends or family members), limited storage space (16G at $499, 32G at $599, 64G at $699), and few input options (review some of the accessories that are available.)

    Again, if he is going to be online (on the internet), checking email, listening to music or movies... even streaming video like Netflix... the iPad may be your best, most affordable and portable option.

    Some things you can do on the iPad:
    - browse the internet
    - check email
    - take and share both videos and pictures
    - read books (from many eReaders, including Kindle, iBook and Nook... even library readers like Bluefire.)
    - watch movies and play music
    - watch streaming video from Netflix and Comcast
    - play many games from golf to pinball, cards to shooters
    - have apps for cooking, playing golf, magazines and newspapers, documents, calculators, weather, music creation, social networking (facebook, twitter), movie reviews, etc
    - video chat

    My family has two iPhones, three iPads, two MacBook Pros and one iMac. I've brought my grandmother an iPad (3G for built in internet/ISP) and she loves it.

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