Laptop

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She plans on using it for internet including playing video clips and typing up essays.

She doesn't play games, has little interest in DVDs or graphics programmes, video editing and such like.

The laptop he has chosen is the Acer TravelMate 2702LCi
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Acer-TravelMate-2702LCi-LX.T6006.169/version-1.asp

a p4 3ghz is just overkill for any laptop. it will run hot as hell and deplete the battery quickly. And she doesn't need that processing power anyway. Try to find something which has a pentium M processor. That's cooler and very adequate for her needs (but little bit more expensive I guess). iBooks are also nice.