Laptop or tablet/slate for my dad?

[Nincompoop]

This is a serious question.

TLR Should I get a laptop or a tablet/slate for my dad who has never used a computer in his life? And only has basic needs like the internet and maybe typing applications?

Situation
My dad around 50 years old, does not know how to use computers. He has never even tried.
He has never in his life be subjected to this level of technology. He probably can't open an application or search for websites.
We think that it's a pity, and want to help him get a little bit integrated in the technology today, especially the web.
My dad is a musician, and sometimes is asked to listen to some songs and then rehearse and play them at events. Instead of him not being able to listen at them prior to the events/rehearsals, or me having to go through the trouble of downloading them, usually converting Youtube videos to sound, and then copying it to his mp3 player, we would like to learn him basics in computers.

Question
So, the question comes down to this; Should we buy him some cheap laptop, where he has to learn to use both mouse and keyboard, or would it be a better solution to wait for a cheap and simple tablet/slate computer? We might think it's easy to use mouse and keyboard, but we have grown up with it. And if you think about it, the press-and-drag nature of the tablets is more intuitive to absolute new beginners.
The interfaces are also often simpler than, say, Windows or Mac.
In a perfect world the obvious solution is the tablets/slates, but are they good enough now?

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And please, do take this question seriously, any criticism of the technologies from a non-newbeginner's perspective will not be considered.
Thanks in advance.



Addendum; Maybe I should just go with the "Lenovo Idea Pad S10-3T", which can switch between laptop and tablet, and should be quite cheap (haven't investigated the price yet).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8mo-B1Aozc the link if anyone is interested in it. It's quite amazing in my opinion.

Addendum 2.0; It has been pointed out that the word I am looking for is 'slate', I think. Anywho, I mean any of those technologies where you don't actually use a keyboard and mouse, but navigate with the touchscreen.

 

[Marter]

I know that once my dad got his iPad, he basically never touches other computers any more. He's not exactly in the same situation as your father, as he's already pretty good with technology, but I know that tablets seem really good. If all he wants is an internet browser and a typing app, a tablet should do the job.

EDIT: I'm not suggesting you spend the money on an iPad, just using is as an example.

 

[Nincompoop]

I know that once my dad got his iPad, he basically never touches other computers any more. He's not exactly in the same situation as your father, as he's already pretty good with technology, but I know that tablets seem really good. If all he wants is an internet browser and a typing app, a tablet should do the job.

EDIT: I'm not suggesting you spend the money on an iPad, just using is as an example.

Thanks for the suggestion. I would assume the tablets are good enough for simple tasks, but wasn't sure. As I added to the thread, I might go with the Lenovo pad, which can switch between laptop and tablet.

 

[Ham_authority95]

Since he's a musician, a Laptop will give him more use than a tablet.(especially with recording)

But if he's not going to use it for his career, than a tablet would be a much better "baby's first computer" for him.

Hope that helps.

 

[Nincompoop]

Since he's a musician, a Laptop will give him more use than a tablet.(especially with recording)

But if he's not going to use it for his career, than a tablet would be a much better "baby's first computer" for him.

Hope that helps.

Thanks. But he probably won't use it to anything more than typing or searching for videos. It's only that he can't use a computer whatsoever. Even the least nerdiest of people browse the internet now and then, maybe listen to music or watch videos, and he can't even do that =/.
Anyways, thanks for the suggestion, and I will keep that in mind.

 

[smearyllama]

If you've got the scratch, a MacBook is what to go with. Not complicated, awesome for music, and it'll last him a while before he has to upgrade to a new computer.

That said, I've never touched a Macbook, and I'm just going on everything I've heard about them.

 

[Nincompoop]

If you've got the scratch, a MacBook is what to go with. Not complicated, awesome for music, and it'll last him a while before he has to upgrade to a new computer.

That said, I've never touched a Macbook, and I'm just going on everything I've heard about them.

I don't think we will spend that much, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Ham_authority95]

Since he's a musician, a Laptop will give him more use than a tablet.(especially with recording)

But if he's not going to use it for his career, than a tablet would be a much better "baby's first computer" for him.

Hope that helps.

Thanks. But he probably won't use it to anything more than typing or searching for videos. It's only that he can't use a computer whatsoever. Even the least nerdiest of people browse the internet now and then, maybe listen to music or watch videos, and he can't even do that =/.
Anyways, thanks for the suggestion, and I will keep that in mind.

Glad I could help.

 

[Sleekgiant]

Just get an ACER or something from Amazon with at least 2GB RAM and Windows 7 32bit(must be 32 bit).

Win 7 is easy to use and it will be fairly cheap(less than $500)

 

[Eumersian]

Laptop definitely. If he ever needs to actually do work on an actual computer, he'll be better off thrown into the deep end like that. Tablets are good, but not as close to what most people consider an actual computer.

Although if you did get him a tablet, he would be one of the first people ever to have been trained on a tablet, and therefore, a much more interesting person.

 

[viranimus]

I say screw both. If hes not used a computer before and his needs will be minimal, start him off with a netbook which will cost about half what a decent laptop would run.

As for being a musician, even to analog equipment there are converter boxes that can send any analog signal through a USB port, and even a modest netbook can run the software for something like sonic foundry or cakewalk.

But again, start small, start cheap, because if its 2010 and hes really never touched a computer before, theres a good chance that your effort might be in vain and it may just sit collecting dust. If he takes to it, then in the future you can look at getting him something a little more robust.

Just an example.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115916

 

[Nincompoop]

Is your dad an artist? No? Then he does not need a tablet.

I don't really get what you're trying at. He's a musician, that's as much an artist as anything. And on a further note, I don't see why an artist does need a tablet. Anyways, if you could clarify, that'll be nice.

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Thanks for the advice, I will take it into consideration.

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Thanks for the advice, I will take it into consideration, and Lol at the last part.

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Thanks for the advice, I will take it into consideration.

 

[Nincompoop]

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Gotcha. Thanks. I don't know how extensively we want him integrated. But thanks anyhow.

 

[Hashime]

Laptop, they are cheaper and are much easier to operate at a desk. Slates are also not easy to type on. (Tablet PCs have a keyboard and touchscreen / drawing tablet built in. They usually also have a large range of motion on the screen. What you described is a slate.)

 

[sanguinator]

get him a a cheap but functional laptop with a reasonable amount of RAM. he probably will only use it for emails, light google searches and some typing.

 

[smearyllama]

If you've got the scratch, a MacBook is what to go with. Not complicated, awesome for music, and it'll last him a while before he has to upgrade to a new computer.

That said, I've never touched a Macbook, and I'm just going on everything I've heard about them.

I don't think we will spend that much, but thanks for the suggestion.

You're welcome. You can get one about $700, but that's still a little much for what he'll be doing with it...

 

[Nincompoop]

Laptop, they are cheaper and are much easier to operate at a desk. Slates are also not easy to type on. (Tablet PCs have a keyboard and touchscreen / drawing tablet built in. They usually also have a large range of motion on the screen. What you described is a slate.)

I wasn't aware there was a difference.

 

[Nincompoop]

get him a a cheap but functional laptop with a reasonable amount of RAM. he probably will only use it for emails, light google searches and some typing.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will take it into consideration.