Mom and Apple ... Computer?

When Doris and I go down to FL, my mom wants me to go with her to Best Buy and look at Apple computers. She currently has an old Win95 laptop that seems to be slower every time I visit. (I tried loading Firefox on it last time I was there, and I just about killed the computer entirely.)

Mom is really afraid of picking up viruses when she switches to a new PC, so that's why she's picking an Apple. I could probably set her up on WinXP with SP2 safely enough, but I know she'd have a problem keeping up with the Windows Updates. (Rant: Why doesn't Microsoft have an option download and install these immediately? Why do you have to schedule them or click on an icon? This is not really set up for the inexperienced user.)

I think I'll steer Mom toward an iBook with a 14-inch screen and 512 MB of RAM. The standard 256 MB seems a little paltry. If the last computer was any indication, we'll probably be computer shopping again in 2015, so this one better last awhile.

I think I'll also have to get her set up with DSL -- ugh. I don't think that's going to happen during Christmas.