# The Telikin: The Perfect Computer for Seniors?



## SifuPhil

Caught a commercial on the telly last night for the *Telikin*, a supposedly senior-friendly computer featuring a touch-screen interface and simplified applications for Facebook access, video conferencing, email and games. 






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It's shown as a "one-plug" system - just plug it in and you're ready to compute, but of course that isn't quite the reality of the situation. You're still going to have to have a wireless Internet connection set-up, and those are always a roll of the dice: either it works flawlessly, picking up your wireless signal on the first try, or it will give you hours of uninterrupted joy trying to figure out just WHY you can't get on the 'Net.

Telikin comes in 3 different models: *Telikin Touch*, *Telikin Elite* and *Telikin Elite II*. 

The *Touch*, their basic model, features an 18.6" touch-screen, an Intel dual-core 1.8GHz processor (the "brain" of a computer), a 320Mb hard drive and 2Gb of memory. This retails for *$699*. If you note on their detail page for this model, they list the included manual and tutorial and help features _twice_ - both identical and both grouped together - something that hardly instills confidence in the company. Their paper-based User Manual is *100 pages long* - I've never had a manual that long for ANY computer I've ever owned.

The *Telikin Elite* increases the screen size to 20", substitutes an AMD dual core 1.6 GHz processor and a 500Gb hard drive. The memory remains the same at 2Gb, and the price is now $999.

The *Telikin Elite II* is their premium model and offers a 22" touch-screen, an Intel 847 Celeron dual-core processor and the same 500Gb drive and 2Gb memory, and retails at $1249.


So much for the tech stuff and the prices. Now my reaction ...

It's nice that they're targeting seniors with these things, it really is. It tells me that we aren't a forgotten group. It also unfortunately tells me we're a group that they think they can bleed money out of for inferior products.

Let's take a look at the processors first. ALL of them are yesterday's news, most often used on low-end laptops from several years ago. This means that the "brain" of your whiz-bang new toy is already crippled.

Hard drive space ... 320Gb is under-sized for just about any serious system these days. 500Gb isn't really much better. You aren't going to be using this thing for long before you discover that you need more storage space.

And the memory, the RAM ... more is usually better, and no decent system offered for sale these days comes with anything LESS than 4Gb, yet all of these models offer a measly 2Gb. Your hard drive will be spinning constantly to make up the difference and that means a shorter life for your computer. You won't be multi-tasking any time soon with stats like these.

Finally, the prices. These things are WAY over-priced for the tech they offer. The gimmicky touch-screen is always problematic (that's why they still have a keyboard and mouse, right?), but even with that magic upgrade these things are worth _maybe_ half their suggested price.

They also cleverly offer benefits that seem to be magical and specially designed for seniors, but which are part and parcel of any modern system. Automatic software updates, "virus-resistant" design, photo viewing through Facebook (who would have thought?) and several other "features" that are about as remarkable as wings on birds.


*SifuPhil's Verdict:*


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Save your money and buy a real system that actually has the power to do what you want, and avoid these gimmicky toys. They don't offer any advantages over a regular system nor are they a quality product. They are outdated, under-powered and of questionable design (cramming everything together in an "all-in-one" design ensures over-heating of critical components).


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## Diwundrin

Thanks Phil.  I can't see the benefits of those type of gadgets.  Hard enough keeping this laptop screen clean, I hate to imagine the state it'd be in from touching it all the time. 
 2GB ram!  I just updated from one with that from nearly 7 years ago!  They haven't come far. This one's got 8GB ram and it blows my hair back it's so much faster.  ... and I might say cheaper than what the old one cost me.  I got it, a Toshiba,  online for a bit over 500 bucks, 800 retail so you're right about those prices!

Right about the wi-fi too.  This one sat quietly for months waiting for someone with a brain to figure out how to set up the connection.  That's what we 'oldies' need, ON. OFF. and a Keyboard.


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## SifuPhil

Diwundrin said:


> ... Right about the wi-fi too.  This one sat quietly for months waiting for someone with a brain to figure out how to set up the connection.  That's what we 'oldies' need, ON. OFF. and a Keyboard.



Networks and networking, especially wireless, is my Achilles's Heel - always has been, since I first hooked up my 56k modem to my Commodore 64. 

I've also never been happy with the slow speed or lack of security that a wireless connection offers. The last time I had one - a few years ago - I inadvertently ended up serving as my neighborhood's free ISP because I couldn't figure out how to configure the security settings.  

Never again. Now I use only wired connections.


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## Diwundrin

I was warned about people being able to use the wi-fi so I've kept a close eye on usage and it's never spiked, or wavered, so far so good.  Wouldn't have a clue how to set the security higher.  I have no neighbours closer than around 50 yards so maybe that's a bonus but don't even know what the range is.


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## That Guy

The Perfect Computer for Seniors.


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## dbeyat45

> Save your money and buy a real system that actually has the power to do  what you want, and avoid these gimmicky toys. They don't offer any  advantages over a regular system nor are they a quality product. They  are outdated, under-powered and of questionable design (cramming  everything together in an "all-in-one" design ensures over-heating of  critical components).


Spot on Phil .....


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## basefare

Computers are such a drag and so temporary. All digital systems and data are temporary. Using digital I've lost all my photos three times, as many documents as well. I went from PCs to Mac products. No matter, I'm just hard on computers. This last one I lost I had all backed up, but I didn't get it repaired and I didn't buy a new one, so I had nothing to load my backed up files onto. It's always this way with a computer. I trashed everything and bought a tablet, an Apple iPad. They are not worth what you have to pay for them, none of Apple's products are, but if you get one you'll pay their price.


I've got this iPad and I can't print with it, it requires a printer with an Air something or other. My printer doesn't won't work with the iPad. I can't download my camera onto my iPad, so I have no place to down load my photos. I like apple products better than PC, at least I thought I'd had better luck with them. But now I don't know, I think they all have planned obsolesce built into them. I guess what we ought to do (those of us who live on a budget) is buy the cheapest thing we can find that's got what we want. I've always had desktops until I got this oversized iPod, I've never had a laptop. I guess they're all one big hassle and a black hole that sucks up our spare dollars and are oh, so temporary.


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## terra

Why should I have to lift my hand off the desk to touch the "touch screen" ...
 dunno.... but my hand feels comfortable on the mouse, firmly planted on the desk.

Apart from that, nice find Phil !.  I want one.


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## SifuPhil

terra said:


> Why should I have to lift my hand off the desk to touch the "touch screen" ...
> dunno.... but my hand feels comfortable on the mouse, firmly planted on the desk.
> 
> Apart from that, nice find Phil !.  I want one.



The funny thing about touch-screens is that I just don't get the ergonomics of them. You're constantly flexing your wrist backwards into an uncomfortable position, then going back down to the keyboard, then back to the screen ...

It just makes more sense to keep your hands in one general area instead of all over the place - the same thing my last girlfriend told me. 

You really do want one? Or are you pulling my leg?


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## dbeyat45

Touch screens for PCs and laptops standardize the software development with the ubiquitous tablets & smart phones:  One OS fits all ..... well, almost.


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## terra

nah... just wanted to see if you'd bite !  



No, seriously Phil, I'll stick with my 6 year old desktop PC ( a clunker) running XP. 

 Yeah, it's old but I'm comfortable with it and I work on the theory,    "if it 'aint broke... don't fix it".

cheers


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## SifuPhil

terra said:


> nah... just wanted to see if you'd bite !



Ooooo-kay - just checking! 



> No, seriously Phil, I'll stick with my 6 year old desktop PC ( a clunker) running XP.
> 
> Yeah, it's old but I'm comfortable with it and I work on the theory,    "if it 'aint broke... don't fix it".
> 
> cheers



XP was a great OS - I still have copies of it on my ancient Dell laptop, which goes into fits on start-up because the hard-drive is dying and I won't pay for a part that will cost more than the computer is worth. I also had it on a few desktops and I think it was SO much better than Win7.

As for Win8, I dread the day I'll ever have to use it.


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## snaarl

I got my latest desktop pc  and it came with Win 8.  It was really confusing at first but once I got it figured out it was kinda easy. But then I've been fooling around with computers as a hobby since 1986 when I got my first one, a Timex. Now living on SS, it was my last one. My daughter bought me an iPad though and I use it more than the pc.


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## dbeyat45

Win8 is OK .... you can make it work pretty much exactly as you're used to with previous versions and you don't have to use all the additional apps (but I'm slowly exploring them).


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## snaarl

dbeyat45, now comes Win8.1. !


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## SifuPhil

Please edumacate me here, guys ... isn't Win8 a highly graphical OS? I mean, yeah, all the previous Win versions have icons, etc., but from the ads I've seen for Win8 they look like huge panels on the desktop ...

I hail from a long line of hackers and pirates, so I prefer something that needs a little tweaking under the hood. irate:


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## snaarl

Those huge icons are called tiles by Microsoft.  They thought people would love this as the new Start menu.  HAH!  There's a tile that says "desktop"  and clicking it takes you to the regular desktop.  However, the file system is different and I'm have a helluva time finding an individual .exe file. I have tweaked my older OS's  as I want them but Win 8 is a whole other animal and I'm afraid to try it.  What happened to all the pirated software sites and serial finders and cracked programs?  They seem to be gone!


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## SifuPhil

snaarl said:


> Those huge icons are called tiles by Microsoft.  They thought people would love this as the new Start menu.  HAH!  There's a tile that says "desktop"  and clicking it takes you to the regular desktop.  However, the file system is different and I'm have a helluva time finding an individual .exe file. I have tweaked my older OS's  as I want them but Win 8 is a whole other animal and I'm afraid to try it.  What happened to all the pirated software sites and serial finders and cracked programs?  They seem to be gone!



You just have to know where to look.  

Thanks for the info on Win8 - at least there's some hope if you can change that ugly billboard. 

I'm also intrigued that the OS itself is so radically different, and that you can't find the .exes ... please keep us updated on what you find, and good luck!


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## dbeyat45

EVERYTHING is available via an Explorer (_File_ Explorer, that is) window under _Program Files_ or _Program Files (X86)_.  *Just be careful* .... 

Here are a couple of paths I have put into Desktop shortcuts to give me quick access to a couple of areas:

C:\Users\<_your_user_name_>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"
*
Be careful.  *


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## snaarl

You can also, I have discovered, right click on a program and then on open file location and there's the .exe.  Microsoft lists it as "application" but a right click on it will show you it's the .exe file.  BTW, Sifu I have found the sites I was looking for.


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## dbeyat45

Back in the 1970s, automation was creeping into many of the systems            associated with large airliners. One day after the boffins and engineers            had laboured mightily for many weeks, a fully-loaded Convair 880 took            off from Heathrow bound for New York. The cabin crew did the normal safety demonstration and the aircraft            taxied out to the active runway, lined up and took off in the usual            manner. As the Convair climbed through about 26,000 feet, an announcement            came from the flight-deck:- 
         "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome onboard this the first fully-automated            transatlantic flight from London to New York. So advanced are the            automatic systems onboard this specially-equipped Convair 880, there is            no actual flight crew onboard in the flight-deck, the door to which is            therefore locked. The entire flight-plan, with all imaginable            contingencies, has been programmed into quadruplicated flight management            computers, all backup systems are duplicated and there is a fifth,            entirely separate set of automatic systems in case of any unforeseen            problems. 

So relax, sit back, enjoy the cabin service from our excellent            crew, and again we hasten to assure any of you who may feel slightly            apprehensive about this flight that nothing, I repeat, absolutely      nothing can go wrong...go wrong...go wrong...go wrong...go wrong..."


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## Diwundrin

> Even though the reviews were mixed, I downloaded a two week trial of   "Webroot".  It downloaded in a skinny minute and seems to be doing its  job.  The PC runs faster now than it has at any other point in time,  since date of purchase.



Is it just me or are some other Aussies having a little chuckle about that?? 
 I doubt that program would be marketed here as Webroot. 
 In the Aussie vernacular it translates as Webf**k.  :rofl:


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## SifuPhil

TWHRider said:


> ... Even though the reviews were mixed, I downloaded a two week trial of  "Webroot".  It downloaded in a skinny minute and seems to be doing its job.  The PC runs faster now than it has at any other point in time, since date of purchase.
> 
> It also downloaded without issue, on top of the Malwarebytes program.  If things keep running this smooth after the trial period, I will purchase Webroot and hope to Samhill this is the end of the big problems ...



Out of curiosity and on the strength of your endorsement I also downloaded Web****  and it found 7 "threats" that my other programs overlooked (or that I had unwittingly blocked). The initial scan took quite a while, though - I almost want to say longer than my regular AV program scans, but maybe it's just my perception. It's been a while since I did an initial scan with a program like this. 

But so far, so good, so thank you.


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## Matrix

I'm not using any anti-virus or firewall software, my computer has been working very well after I stopped using them.

I only download software from reputable websites (usually from official websites). For online security, Google chrome will warn me if I try to visit dangerous websites. Why bother using those security software that cause all kinds of problems?

Windows will get slower and slower, that's the nature of Windows, no software can help with that. The only and best way is to re-install Windows every one or two years.

For data safety, backup, there are lots of free storage service such Google drive.


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## Jillaroo

_*Di wrote*_
                              Is it just me or are some other Aussies having a little chuckle about that?? 
I doubt that program would be marketed here as Webroot. 
In the Aussie vernacular it translates as Webf**k.  

 Di you are a bad girl, go straight to the norty corner 

   :badgirl:                                                          :lofl:


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## Diwundrin

I shouldn't have told 'em??


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## That Guy




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## ehgill

The thing is cumbersome, slow, and crappy. My friend bought one from a tv ad when he was drunk. He was told it was paid off, but his bank account kept getting billed. He died.  Now the shit ridden thing which he left to help a disabled person won't work because the extortion money wasn't paid. If you are stupid enough to buy one, get a tub of vaseline first.


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## hollydolly

ehgill said:


> The thing is cumbersome, slow, and crappy. My friend bought one from a tv ad when he was drunk. He was told it was paid off, but his bank account kept getting billed. He died.  Now the shit ridden thing which he left to help a disabled person won't work because the extortion money wasn't paid. If you are stupid enough to buy one, get a tub of vaseline first.


you do realise this thread is almost 10 years old !!


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## Alligatorob

SifuPhil said:


> featuring a touch-screen interface


Something I avoid, with my fat fingers and declining dexterity and eyesight it ain't for me!

Keyboards I can still work, on good days anyway, LOL


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## Alligatorob

hollydolly said:


> you do realise this thread is almost 10 years old !!


No, guess I should look for that before I post.  Thanks Holly!


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## hollydolly

Alligatorob said:


> No, guess I should look for that before I post.  Thanks Holly!


makes you wonder why someone would sign up 1/2 an hour ago and go and search for a 10 year old thread to have a rant


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## Nathan

Just a Chromebook would be tons cheaper, and more up to date.   Chromebooks


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## Paco Dennis

ehgill said:


> The thing is cumbersome, slow, and crappy. My friend bought one from a tv ad when he was drunk. He was told it was paid off, but his bank account kept getting billed. He died.  Now the shit ridden thing which he left to help a disabled person won't work because the extortion money wasn't paid. If you are stupid enough to buy one, get a tub of vaseline first.


I am glad I never was lured into buying one. I went through many used computers both desktop and laptops starting with windows when they first started their Windows 95 in 1995. Computers changed very fast back then and with faster computers came new Windows versions. Win 98/SE - 1998, Win XP - 2001, Win XP 64 bit - 2003, Win 7 - 2009. I used Win. 7 until about a year ago when all my computers developed problems and I have been using Win 10, on a used laptop- Toshiba Satellite ever since. I loved Win 7, and could get around on it easily. It had my favorite game on it. It only worked with Win. 7. It was a disappointment when I switched to Win. 10.  But the browsers ran pretty slow with Win. 7 since all the tech exploded. So I decided to upgrade my internet speed with the newest Firefox browser.  Again, glad I didn't buy the
tub.


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## Meanderer

This is a very old thread!


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## Marie5656

hollydolly said:


> makes you wonder why someone would sign up 1/2 an hour ago and go and search for a 10 year old thread to have a rant


I am guessing they were looking through messages to get a feel for the place


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## hollydolly

Marie5656 said:


> I am guessing they were looking through messages to get a feel for the place


Unusual to hunt down a 10 year old message before introducing yourself,  .. tho'


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## Paco Dennis

I just looked up the operating system. It comes with Linux. I wouldn't want that either.


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## Packerjohn

basefare said:


> Computers are such a drag and so temporary. All digital systems and data are temporary. Using digital I've lost all my photos three times, as many documents as well. I went from PCs to Mac products. No matter, I'm just hard on computers. This last one I lost I had all backed up, but I didn't get it repaired and I didn't buy a new one, so I had nothing to load my backed up files onto. It's always this way with a computer. I trashed everything and bought a tablet, an Apple iPad. They are not worth what you have to pay for them, none of Apple's products are, but if you get one you'll pay their price.
> 
> 
> I've got this iPad and I can't print with it, it requires a printer with an Air something or other. My printer doesn't won't work with the iPad. I can't download my camera onto my iPad, so I have no place to down load my photos. I like apple products better than PC, at least I thought I'd had better luck with them. But now I don't know, I think they all have planned obsolesce built into them. I guess what we ought to do (those of us who live on a budget) is buy the cheapest thing we can find that's got what we want. I've always had desktops until I got this oversized iPod, I've never had a laptop. I guess they're all one big hassle and a black hole that sucks up our spare dollars and are oh, so temporary.


Nice to hear from someone who tells it like it is.  You are 100% right about planned obsolesce  when it comes to computers, smartphones, TV and almost all electronics.  You pay big money for the latest and the greatest but as you are driving home, there is a ship coming from China which makes your expensive, credit card purchase old hack.

I like technology when it works for me but I do not worship at the temple of technology.  I do not believe it will solve all our problems.  We still need people and talking to a real friend cannot be replaced with video conferencing or yaking on the phone.  If you sell your soul to technology you will find yourself in a sorry state.  It's tough out there because our society invests billions in advertising to almost force you to keep buying and buying and buying and throwing out the old stuff.  

We have a landfill problem in North American.  No use giving lip service to the "Green Movement" when you are part of the problem.


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## JonSR77

The Best Chromebooks for Every Budget

https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-chromebooks/

mine only cost $250, new...​


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## Mizmo

Anyone running a Mac with Monterey?
I have Catalina on my six year old Mac and that slow spinning ball is beginning to drive me crazy as well as few other things.
I  read that upgrading to new OS would cure that but would like any comments on  Monterey before I do so.
please and thank you


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## Nathan

Mizmo said:


> Anyone running a Mac with Monterey?
> I have Catalina on my six year old Mac and that slow spinning ball is beginning to drive me crazy as well as few other things.
> I  read that upgrading to new OS would cure that but would like any comments on  Monterey before I do so.
> please and thank you


Apple does a great job pushing out the latest OS and software to as many older Macs as they can, but that only goes so far. At six years old I'd say you Mac is one of the "Intel-Macs" and thus could easily accept an installation of Linux, which would breath years of life into your machine.


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## Mizmo

Nathan said:


> Apple does a great job pushing out the latest OS and software to as many older Macs as they can, but that only goes so far. At six years old I'd say you Mac is one of the "Intel-Macs" and thus could easily accept an installation of Linux, which would breath years of life into your machine.




I thought about that too.
I ran Ubuntu , which is Linux  based when I had Windows and liked it a lot so might give Linux a whirl first.

I  started with Windows 98 and really  liked XP and 7.
 W10 finished me with them and I must say my Mac has been trouble free for six years which is good these days.
....will do some investigating later..


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## ManjaroKDE

I will wait until I see how MicroSoft Office 365, browser-based apps and the cloud are going to affect my future technology needs.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-just-blew-up-the-only-reason-you-cant-use-a-linux-desktop/


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## Mizmo

ManjaroKDE said:


> I will wait until I see how MicroSoft Office 365, browser-based apps and the cloud are going to affect my future technology needs.
> 
> https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-just-blew-up-the-only-reason-you-cant-use-a-linux-desktop/


Yes good idea to wait...wonder if Apple will come up with similar excuses.

 I decided to go with Monterey, dowloaded it, clicked install and it tells me the download is damaged.
Ran a repair check on my disk and it was okay so dumped Monterey download.

I still want to try Linux but I do not have back of my Catalina system.  I need to buy a larger USB. My Mac Time machine wants you to buy their app to backup and I refuse to do that. I could partition with boot camp but on reading through some reviews not a good idea with Linux though I had no problem when I installed W10 with it.  They only install basic system and wanted 350 dollars to download full systems with apps.
I wasn't that anxious about it so got rid of that too.....

..oh well keeps the old grey matter hoppin....


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