Hi all,
my wife would like to have a laptop. She doesn't know about linux anything, but can use any GUI.
She do not need 3d graphic and high power to calculate things or play games, she only wants to browse the net (facebook, youtube, emails) and have some apps to run like libreoffice and wine with some simple windows programs. Probably the most difficult application would be the Stellarium (if you know that). I do not want to have MS Windows, but install a wife-friendly GUI, like gnome or ????.
We do not need cd/dvd reader/writer at all, but I would like to buy her a small, light and thin and obviously silent but high quality product - to keep it in her bag all day long. Oh yes, and she needs a relatively "big" screen to display pictures.
So I would like to ask you to suggest me a few of them or just share your experiences. Thanks.

I wonder if you should consider a cheap small Tablet with android on it

My wife liked the Dell E4310 I5 laptop I bought her with 8 gig of ram and a 500 gig SSD.
I got lucky and bought a corp. resale for cheap on it and a Dell XT2 Netbook with swivel touch screen.

My Samsung RV510 is Linux Friendly. Large 9 cell Battery was cheap to buy. Large screen. 4 gig of ram.
Should be a cheap buy in your area I would think.

My Bad. I did not know this.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/23/s...aptops-europe/

very well , i know that -- some of my planet and moon maps are in it

qt5 - for steliarum
so you really will want a KDE desktop with qt 4 AND qt5 installed

and for mostly business type things with a few extras
OpenSUSE 13.2 is a great OS

any major laptop that is using a NVIDIA chip should do
do to the NEEDS!!!! of win7 os
a laptop with a i5 and 8+ gig ram is very easy to get


but

all you really will need is a i3 and 4 gig ram

( mind you the LAPTOP i3 IS NOT !!!! the same as a DESKTOP i3

it is only a 2 core cpu but CALLED a i3 when it is really NOT

All jokes aside.

You can easily boot to a live cd/dvd/usb right now to see how well she may like a distro. If OK then consider a laptop that supports that distro.

I've had good luck with Dells, though they do tend to have Broadcom wireless, which takes a few extra steps to get working. I've also had an Acer Travelmate that performed very well.

Giving the projected usage, you may want to consider getting a reconditioned machine from some place like TigerDirect.com, then slapping Linux on it. My girlfriend has had such good luck with Tiger Direct that it has become her go-to place for computer stuff. She once even had a warranty issue and tells me they stepped up to the plate like champs.

As for a desktop that she would feel comfortable with, I would suggest Mint with MATE or something KDE, though my decidedly non-geeky Second Son took to Mint with LXDE (the machine I gave him had only 1 GB RAM) with no issues.

No, I won't do that (although it was a good idea, but I'm a bit lazy), because it would take a lot of time and actually not really important. She must learn something new anyway.

Thanks for the tips.....

Most modern laptops should be able to run modern distro's. We should be able to get you going on almost any common system.

If you buy something new you will want to know that the distro that you install hasn't builtin support for UEFI, so I would try the live-cd/usb first, so as to not have to install grub via chroot which is going to take longer than loading an OS onto a cd/dvd or usb.

Have you asked her what so likes since it's going to be hers??

Yes, that's what I wrote in the original post: youtube, facebook, emails, pdf files, listening music, skype, and a few simple apps inside wine. Should be small and light to take it with her easily and the screen should be big enough to show pictures.... No DVD/CD required, no hight capacity storage, no extra features even, it should not be expensive. But she is not really familiar with laptops at all, and I have worked only with high-end laptops.

I meant take her to the store and see what attracts her not use case and non requirements. Does she seem attracted to glossy screens, a particular aspect ratio, type of keyboard, color and the like.

Women seem to like Mac's.

http://lifehacker.com/5665765/macbun...-like-mac-os-x

Make it pretty.

You can go for chromebook, if you need laptop only for browsing purpose.

Chromebooks while cute & light weight don't have really great graphics. Also if you want to check on you lorex home security system they don't have support for it.