Need computer purchase help please...

[vabrave]

Hi all -

I am looking to buy my parents a computer for Christmas for as cheap as possible. The one they have now is from the stone and and they dont have any special needs like CD burner or anything like that; just a better way to surf the internet, send email etc.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Chris

[qwilliam]

how old is their computer? if they need nothing special, then a p3-500 mhz will be fine for everyday computing (e.g. word processing, surfing the internet, etc.). i'm on my p2-300 mhz and it runs fine. but, if you just want to upgrade for the sake of upgrading, then i would get an emachines (p4 if possible, but celeron is still good). nowadays, you can find the celeron models at any bb or cc or od for under $600 with monitor and printer, maybe even less. or, you can always get them a dell dimension 3000 or even 2400. with the dellf codes floating around, you could knock the price down $1-200 dollars.

[nate el bueno]

e-machines makes really cheap computers, and they've gotten a little better since gateway bought them out. you can buy the system for around 300, and it comes with some good stuff, like an AMD 3000 or so, 512 ram, and 160 gig hd. if it's not too late, look into e-machines.