of course the average HN user won't relate to that. But anecdotally my mom gets by fine (somehow) with an old ipad. She can pay bills, check email, watch videos, browse sites - that's enough. So I can believe Phil here.
Agreed, the selection here on HN isn’t the market. Even Schiller addresses the fact that it isn’t for everyone, but it can (and does) work for many. I’m pretty confident my folks could get by with just an iPad, and my wife could almost entirely do it with an iPad Pro (she’s in the creative space).