[conspire] Recommendations for cheap Linux laptop?

[Paul Snyder]

Greetings from Philadelphia,

My wife is out in Redwood City for at least the next month while her
father is in the hospital.  Her old Dell laptop finally gave up the
ghost, so she finds herself without a computer.  We're trying to decide
if it makes sense to buy her a new one now (i.e., if we can find one
cheap enough).

Does anyone have a recommendation for a dirt-cheap Linux laptop that
could be, say, purchased at Frye's or ordered online?  Ideally, it
would have integrated 802.11g, but getting a PC Card would be
reasonable.  I'm a bit hamstrung as I can't install Linux on it myself
until she gets back, and I'm leery of picking an online vendor without
a recommendation.

The main use of the laptop will be Internet access (via various WiFi
hotspots) and word processing, so CPU power is not a major concern.
Nice-to-haves are small size, a readable screen,  and reasonable
battery life.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Paul
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Philadelphia Linux Users' Group: http://www.phillylinux.org