re: Laptop Advice for Senior Computer Illiterate

Here are a few cheaper ones that would serve your purpose:

Lenovo IdeaPad G510 (59406750) Notebook Intel Pentium 3550M (2.30GHz) 4GB Memory 500GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 4000 15.6" Windows 8.1 for $339.99

ASUS D450CA-AH21 Notebook Intel Pentium 2117U (1.80GHz) 4GB Memory 320GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 14.0" Windows 8 64-bit for $349.00

DELL Inspiron i15RV-954BLK Notebook Intel Pentium 2127U (1.90GHz) 4GB Memory 500GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 15.6" Windows 8.1 for $349.99

HP Pavilion 2000-2d80NR Notebook AMD E2-Series AMD E2-3000 1.65GHz 4GB Memory 500GB HDD AMD Radeon HD 8280 15.6" Windows 8.1 for $379.99

After that, I'd recommend you swap out the 5400rpm hard drive with a 128 or 256gb SSD, and that alone will make the PC last a lot longer, run significantly faster, and tolerate a lot more "abuse" as far as data clutter, which will cause slowdowns in traditional hard drives. However, since you said you are computer illiterate, you might need to find someone to do it for you. Otherwise, just buy any of the above notebooks as is, and be extremely mindful of what you download and install.