She's a middle aged technophobe! Bog standard laptop with a keyboard is what she needs.
As for 'action': Christ! Don't want to encourage that at her age!! It would be scary!!
Exactly what the iPad is aimed at... no virus warnings, no software to 'install', get your emails, and it even fits in the handbag (well most of them anyway..) perfect for all women....
One final thing my missus points out is that it doesn't take an age to boot up - it's on and it works...