Are you in search of a reliable laptop for seniors? Unlike an engineer or a gamer, the requirements of the elderly are pretty minimal. Unable to pick the right one? It’s not just you! Finding the right laptop is a very tedious process, especially when it does not serve well for your requirements’ specificity.
That’s why after spending a huge time researching and testing a lot of them, we’ve made a list of the best-rated options that are highly suitable for older people.
Things To Consider When Buying
Our senior parents, grandparents, and other older people deserve the best and the softest bite of tech. We must respect their candor towards technological unfamiliarity without making it obvious. While some of them may be computer literate, operating a new-age laptop could still be a bit difficult, even for most tech-savvy.
With age, comes experience. However, once an individual starts growing old, technological gadgets and computing advancements can feel overwhelming. That said, it is the prerogative of the elderly to get all the necessary help with laptops and other devices. Moreover, they have restricted requirements and it wouldn’t make sense to complicate selections for them.
- Simple & Easy to Use Interface: As mentioned, we wouldn’t want to complicate the laptop using experience for the elderly. Therefore, it is advisable to opt for devices that run the purest version of Operating System (OS) such as Windows 10, macOS, Chrome OS, without a barrage of pre-installed software and unwanted bloatware.
- You must save the thrills for the more inclined individuals and concentrate on simplifying the older adults’ device-centric experiences. Refrain from getting a device that consumes them with intricate pop-ups, demanding applications, and tedious navigations.
- Improved Functionality: Seniors prefer laptops with improved functionalities. For instance, you should get them a device with a touch-interface if they do not feel like accessing keyboards. Elderlies are more like kids with experience, and we must account for their shorter attention spans and fickle mindedness.
- Excellent Display: Vision is often a restrictive factor for older adults. Therefore, it is advisable to select devices with excellent displays. More than the brightness, a good display signifies sharper viewing angles and the vibrant reproduction of colors.
- Compact Form Factor: You wouldn’t want device management to be a deal-breaker for older adults. Even suggestive guidelines showcase the importance of compact yet portable laptops. However, the selection eventually depends on the usage patterns. For instance, active elders rely on mobility, whereas the home-bound ones can work around the more sizeable units.
- Ergonomic Keyboard: We must understand that elders, who like interacting over emails or via written content pieces, prefer keyboards with a backlit and decent key travel support. Older adults aren’t as quick as the millennial population and might take some time to adjust with the keypad on offer.
- Fast & Responsive Processor: Senior citizens never appreciate the slowness of tech. Moreover, the lack of cadence isn’t always understandable to them. That is why it is necessary to purchase a decent device with a powerful processor with higher clocking speeds.
- Better Performance: There aren’t many older adults who would understand a lot about RAM, ROM, GPU, and other processing terminologies. Therefore, to keep the experiences fast and productive, it is necessary to purchase gadgets with at least 8 gigs of RAM, SSD support for faster data reading and integrated or even a dedicated GPU that renders exceptional graphics.
- Excellent Battery Life: Old age is like a lulling wintry period for the adults that often makes them forgetful. A Skype session with the kids and loved ones blatantly interrupted by battery discharge is a major dampener. As we cannot expect the elders to remember the charging schedule, we should consider getting them a device with at least 12 hours of battery backup.
- Additional Specs and Utilities: Elders usually perform a restrictive set of activities. These include basic emailing, video conferencing, watching movies, and more. Therefore, you must check for a device that packs in a high-end webcam, a decent set of speakers, an integrated microphone, and a responsive UI.
Microsoft Surface Pro 7
Most of the tasks seniors do on a laptop don’t require such high-end specifications. However, if your elderly person is retiring and doesn’t like to wait while switching between switching tasks, then this machine can really be helpful!
A lot of people might consider it as an overpowered machine for senior use and it is for sure overpowered. But in our interviews, we found that seniors disliked waiting for booting
The new and improved Surface Pro 7 is one of the best Surface Books to consider in 2021. It has the same thin and light design as other models in the lineup and is packed with the latest hardware from the market that will be a great choice for a senior audience.
The laptop is powered by the 10th Gen Core-i7 processor, which makes this laptop fast and responsive enough. Coupled with 16GB RAM and a whopping 1TB SSD based storage, this machine can boot in less than 10 seconds and takes no time to load apps like Google Chrome or even some office apps that a senior wants to use.
Thanks to the amazing 12.3-inch display with a native resolution of 2736 x 1824 resolution, this is of the highest resolution display on a laptop and it results in a great cinema/movie viewing experience for the senior citizens. As this is a touch display, seniors can easily play touch-sensitive games and can even type on this laptop without using an external keyboard.
The laptop weighs at 1.74 pounds, which makes it thin and light and very easy to carry on a side bag. The laptop also offers an all-day battery life and on a single charge, it can last up to 10.5 hours, and with the support for fast charging, this is one of the best laptops for seniors in terms of battery life.
Overall, this laptop has everything that a senior might dream about as it offers high-end specifications, amazing battery life, good looks, and also runs on Windows 10 OS, which is known for almost every senior out there and the laptop is also made by a company that is known for making software for personal computers from a long long time.
Lenovo Flex 14
The Lenovo Flex 14 offers the right mixture of pricing, performance, and design. Thanks to its compact form factor, though it has a 14-inch full HD (1920 x 1080) touch screen display, it feels like a machine with a 13-inch screen. The display does support touch input, which makes it easy for senior citizens to browse through the device using a capacitive pen.
The laptop is powered by the 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8265U, which is a quad-core CPU that offers a base clock speed of 1.6GHz and a boost clock speed of 3.9GHz. The laptop does come with the Intel UHD 615 GPU, which uses the built-in 8GB DDR4 RAM as video memory and it good enough for most of the general tasks that a senior would do on this laptop. As this laptop does not have a dedicated GPU, it can last longer and in our testing, we found out that it can last up to six hours on a single charge.
This is one of the few laptops at this price tag that offers a massive 512GB SSD based storage, this means one can store all the data right into the laptop and access them at a much faster rate compared to a laptop with HDD based storage system. With an overall weight of 3.64 pounds, this is not a heavy laptop and senior audience can easily carry this laptop wherever they go without worrying about the weight of the device.
Apple MacBook Pro
Most laptops on this list are running on the Windows OS, and the Apple MacBook Pro is an exception to that. The smoothness of macOS and slimness of the profile easily make it one of the best options for older people. For one, it is very easy to learn and use this laptop compared to a Windows OS laptop and it is also lightweight which just weighs 3 pounds.
Powered by the latest Intel Core i5 processor, the MacBook Pro features Touch ID and Touch bar which is a great addition for a senior audience. Besides, the laptop offers super-fast 256GB SSD based storage with 8GB RAM, and the built-in Intel Iris Plus 655 GPU is also good enough to connect this laptop to a big 4K screen using the blazing-fast Thunderbolt 3 ports.
Unlike most of the 13-inch or 15-inch laptops, which either offer 720p or 1080p display, the MacBook Pro offers a super retina display with 2K resolution (2560 x 1600p), which is one of the most color-accurate panels that we have seen on a laptop of this caliber.
In terms of battery life, MacBook Pro supports 61W fast charging via the USB Type-C port and lasts up to 10 hours on a single charge and a senior citizen can easily charge his smartphone directly from the USB Type-C port. This is the best macOS powered laptop for a senior audience who likes power and portability.