Computer purchasing question

[trinityvixen]

Nevermind that test I should be taking the slow day at work to study for! I have computer purchasing questions.

The customer for whom I would be looking to buy a computer is looking for something cheap. Emphasis on cheap. We're talking netbook cheap, here. She is nervous about spending too much money in this economy, saw my netbook, and loved it. I should say she loved the idea of it--how portable and basic it is, for her needs are basic and she does not need bells, whistles, or other such gee-gaws. She wants something purposefully discreet. Not because she plans on doing surreptitious computing but...well, okay, she's planning on doing surreptitious computing. She has to because otherwise her kids might see it and want to take it over from her as they have done the family computers. The less attention the machine draws to itself, the better.

Personally, I'm not sure that a netbook is what she should have. She's older and slightly heavy, and I'm worried that a combination of tiny screen and tiny keys would make it frustrating to use. Better to spend maybe $100 more and get something even 13-14" range with a nearly-100%-sized keyboard. I know some netbooks have 92%-sized keyboards, and those would be fine, but I do still worry about the screen. I'm sure I can find something still relatively portable with a larger screen.

So, here's my question. Two of them, really. One: am I right that a netbook is probably wrong for her? And, two, if I am, where would I go about getting a decent laptop for less than $500?

One option I have found is this coupon for some Dells. They're all, like, four years behind the curve, though. Seriously, my 2006 Dell that I bought (at like four times this price, damn it), had some of these specs. But, like I said, I'm not so sure that that would be terrible for what she needs. It just grates on me because a netbook has better specs, it's just the size that's a problem. Damn it.

Help, tech-savvy friends?

Comments

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

My mother is basically her kids' second mother, and she's like, "If these were my kids? I'd have murdered them ages ago." This woman is my second mother, and I adore her and would never, ever treat her, much less my own mother, with the mix of entitlement and brattiness they do. I hate to say it, though: she does bring some of it on herself. She's an Italian mother. Her boys, much as she wants to kill them, she attends to their every whim, it seems like.

As such, they're used to being able to shout at her with, like, no consequences. Doesn't surprise me they'd do it over the computer, too.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

If you ever see me doing this with my kids, hit me upside the head. Print this out and show it to me if I try to yell at you for it. Future Me, stop being stupid.