I'm asking because one of the things that makes me batshit crazy about tablets and the like, is the no keyboard aspect. I'm a good, heck, a phenomenal typist, mainly because I've had jobs that had me typing all day, and when I try to type something on my Kindle, I'm incredibly put out by the need to switch to a different keyboard for capital letters and yet another one for numbers and symbols. Which slows me down in a way that I need new bad words to express my dislike. It doesn't allow me to touch type as this keyboard does.
For someone who just hunts and pecks in the first place, it doesn't matter. There are several good suggestions already. But if your friend is comfortable typing, talk him into a small laptop kind of computer, one with a real keyboard.
As for costs, I keep on being astonished at how relatively cheap electronics have become, but that is mainly because I so rarely buy anything and am simply completely behind the times, as in a decade or so behind.
Something else, which you and probably everyone else here understands, but I've been astonishingly slow to figure out, is that almost every device out there connects readily to the internet. As mentioned above, I have a Kindle. It came to me when the original owner died and I simply took possession. I have not used it to its fullest to say the very least, and have only recently understood that I can put my email accounts and my Hulu (and no doubt my Netflix and Amazon accounts) on it and view them exactly as I do on this, the desk top I'm currently using to type this response.
Some of us need to join the 21st century. Clearly I am speaking for myself. I gather that's what your friend needs to do, and I want to thank you on his behalf for helping.
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