I called Art this evening and asked him some questions about the equipment he has been using and what work for him.

He has Dragon speaking software but it hadn't been installed, so he hasn't actually used it. The last computer was using was a laptop, prior to that, a desktop. His son took the laptop to work on it, but it sounds like there was an ominous message coming through from the non-operating system. He has a mouse, that's the extent of his extant computer equipment.

He uses a keyboard, types with one finger, but he has ALWAYS typed with one finger. ;) He works with the laptop on a table, he doesn't use it in his lap. He hasn't heard of tablets (and they aren't set up for how he uses his computer.) He has started using Skype and was planning to use a web cam with the laptop right before the laptop died. So a computer with the usual components that include a built in web cam or one that can be set up, would be useful. He's working with someone in Idaho who is doing a book of his songs, and they apparently send material back and forth and talk. The computer will be used for some scholarly applications, not just email and mudcat browsing.

I left a message for Chris so I can discuss the pros and cons of the various pieces of equipment and to determine how much space they have. An all-in-one would be be economical space-wise, even moreso a laptop, but there are also reasons why a small desktop with a touch monitor would work. I'll see what Chris says, I won't try to read the tea leaves without his input.

I'll take a little time this evening and write back to each of you who expressed an interest and give you my contact information. Ballpark I'd guess we're looking at equipment costing somewhere from $700 up to possibly $1000.

Here are a few low cost starting points:

The traditional box and monitor

Dell Inspiron starts at $300 for the basics and for as little as $80 more you can get a good amount of memory and hard drive space. And to any of these you can add a monitor for $109.

Hewlett Packard has Dell beat by a few dollars on the box and the monitor. Dell had free shipping, so does HP.

All in one, touch screen

Dell has various touch computers and the all-in-one starts at about $800.

HP's basic All-in-one starts at $800 but there is a $250 sale going on.

And then there are places like Amazon that sell lots of stuff. Here are a few Lenovos to look at.

They have laptops and ultrabooks that are comparable to each other and to the other computers.

Just basic research. I don't know if any of these links are durable, they're probably cookie-driven so they may simply take you to the home page and you can poke around from there.

SRS