Acer makes a good product, I love their monitors I have an Acer LCD monitor, my husband had an Acer laptop several years ago that he liked a lot, then Acer kinda went out of biz but has come back to life in a big way with pretty good products. The main thing to watch in that price range would be the type processor I would try not to get the lower end processors like the Intel celeron, I personally prefer AMD processors. RAM you can always add more easily and cheaply as long as it has expansion slots for it. I like HP and IBM/lenovo laptops, Compaq is also now by HP. Sony is good but generally pricey. You can at times find good prices on some of the lower end Dell laptops too. Battery life should be considered for laptops if they will be used as such. I would google each model number you consider and go to sites that have real reviews by real people that own that product. I have seen some very good prices at walmart and walmart.com and at sams. You can find some good prices at www.buy.com some of those are factory reconditioned though so be aware of that, however they will still generally have a manufacturer warranty.

First of all, regardless of who uses it, I can't help but recommend that you max out the ram in your desktop if it hasn't been done already. It's great "bang for the buck". You can probably get a $500 laptop that will do the trick, but I might suggest a trip to best buy or one of the other dealers and talk to them about it. I noticed that hggregg has some great prices, but their sales folks don't seem to know their stuff so "caveat emptor". Buy one with a dual core processor and at least 3 or 4 meg RAM and you should be fine. (I'd worry less about the hard drive capacity.) Also, based on my latest experience with HP laptops, I would avoid them. I bought one for my niece a bit over a year ago and the mousepad buttons have come off in addition to it failing to go into sleep mode when the clamshell is shut. They look great but don't hold up worth a darned under normal teen use.

SamKaren, What do you want to do with the computer? Are you familiar with Windows? I just spent close to 8 hours researching a new one for me. I went with a Toshiba P305. I looked at features, value and reviews of similar models by the manufacturer. I just got it last week and I'm thrilled with it. You can get more details about it from Amazon. Mine has Vista, 17 inch screen, 3 GIG memory, 250 Gig hard drive, fast processor,web cam, fingerprint reader & Harmon Karmon speakers. It's $899 on Amazon. I think that it's a great value. My network admin brother told me to get 3 gigs if you get vista. The link below is a pcmag article that was very useful to me in deciding what I wanted to get. The Toshiba P305 for multi-media, which I suspect you may be interested in. We've had notebooks since they have come out and have always had great luck with Toshiba or Thinkpads. I can't keep track from year to year if Dells are good, or if it's an off year and they are having quality issues. If you tell us what you want the laptop to do, we can provide better suggestions. If you are browsing the internet, most if not all browsers are free. I like Firefox, because I think it is less prone to hacking. Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: pcmag buying guide for college grads

Snidley gave good advice. I agree with just about all of it. You're not going to tax the performance of any modern machine you buy with the uses you specified. My one recommendation, and what I do every time I buy one or set one up for someone is to max out the RAM as much as possible. Fill open slots at least with highest possible. RAM will do you more good than CPU power in about 90% of all cases I've seen. If you buy from a computer shop they'll usually let you buy enough RAM to max it out and credit you for what's in it. Often there will be, for instance a 2gb when the slot will handle 4 so you have to remove it. Cheaper machines often only have 2 slots. For me, I quit using the tablet, partly because it died but partly because it's just not convenient. I bought a $20 smart phone to use as a mini tablet when I'm out and about. Works fine for me. I much prefer the keyboard and 17" monitor features on a notebook/laptop. It's my primary computer. I'm probably going to get another in the next month or two. I was looking at a refurb Toshiba for about $350. Everything I needed and more. Like I said I'd then add some RAM which I haven't priced but should be less than $100. Occasionally you'll see places that include office in their packages, however it's not "free". Technically, no extra charge, but they charge you a few hundred more for the package so, you still wind up paying for it. Most everything sold now should be compatible for Win10 unless you buy something old. Doubt you will. My needs aren't the same as yours although we do use them similarly! Brand, well other than HP/Compaq I wouldn't object to most any. Dell at the bottom of the barrel. Much depends on luck and how you treat them. Look for the features you want. Number of USB ports, etc. For me, a modem is required and few if any notebooks have them anymore so I have to dedicate a port to the modem. I always use a mouse so there goes a second one. I use an amplified speaker powered by USB so there goes another. Historically I too like Lenovo and I've had great luck with Toshiba but haven't dealt with them now for a long time, except my first one (13-14 y.o.) is still going strong. I had one that died. Still the overall quality of them were far above others. But YMWV. (Second to )Last comment: I do not hesitate to buy refurbs. They're often only slightly used if used and almost always a great value. OH, and DO NOT get misled by some of these places that include "$2000 worth of FREE software!!!" Most of it is available free anyway, such as firewall, anti-virus, anti-malware, etc. NOW, for last comment, check your software that you find absolutely essential and see if it's compatible with the OS you're getting. Probably should check to make sure it will work with Win10 since it will be force loaded on you unless you take action to stop it. I lost use of some essential programs going from Vista to 7 so I keep the XP unit around for when I do desktop publishing which isn't too often but still needed. Good luck in your search.