one. Computer "generations" are three years, so depending on how old yours is, it may be an antique.

There are "easy" fixes you can make to your existing system to increase its performance, like updating all drivers, clearing out all the crap and bit rot that builds up over the years, and blanking and reloading system software. These may be a pain for someone who is not computer savvy, though, and again, if your computer is more than five years old, may not be worth your time.

My experience is that most big electronics and office supply stores will have a good selection of notebooks. In the $500 range, you are looking at entry level machines, all of which will do everything you need them to. Processor speed is irrelevant for your use... all the new ones are fine... hard drive size may be important to you... you can always buy a bigger external drive, but the internal drive is the fastest way to access your data.

My suggestion would be to check Best Buy, Office Depot, Staples, etc., and check what they have in the price range you're looking at.

Here are some reviews from CNET. Take them for what they are worth.

http://reviews.cnet.com/laptop-reviews/?filter=100021_10194779_&tag=columnSpan.0

Here's a guide from them:
http://reviews.cnet.com/laptop-buying-guide/?tag=column2.0;buyAdvice

If your computer is really slow because it is hardware limited, it is probably because it doesn't have enough ram. A lot of low end computers don't come with enough ram, because the manufacturers are in a price race with other manufacturers. The people that buy them don't know what minimum specifications they need to ask for, so they buy based on price alone and they receive marginal hardware. Sort of like going into the gun show and buying the absolutely cheapest handgun you can find on a table and then wondering why it doesn't operate and you can't hit anything with it.

If your current computer has at least 2GB of ram, then it should not be slow. You could reinstall the operating system and it will probably run fast again. OR you are like me and your problem is your internet provider and not your computer at all. I can notice that at some times of the day everything is fine but other times of the day the computer won't do anything at all. Computer speed is really not all that necessary to browse the internet, I can do pretty well browing with my phone and it has a pretty slow processor in it.

Last year I took the plunge. The old Toshiba had served faithfully for five years before it took a shot. The even older Compaq that replaced it was wheezing. So I started looking around. Even drifted over to Toshiba Direct and took at look at what they had. Compared with Best Buy, Amazon, NewEgg.com, etc. They had a special deal going on TD that I simply couldn't beat elsewhere. Shucks, couldn't even meet it. So I ended up with a Quad Core AMD machine with 6 gigs of RAM. I spent $100 more than your ceiling, but ended up with a nice machine that should last me another five years. Oh, and it has a nice 17" screen on it. My wife's desktop has a 20 or 21" screen and she was impressed to see how the new one looks. It's not bad for a laptop.

Anyway, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread - don't skimp on RAM. My personal minimum is 4 gigs of RAM. Hard drive size is subject to your needs and wants. I prefer to keep old files and pics on an external hard drive so my laptop doesn't need a huge HD. This one is around 640 gigs, IIRC. I just went over to Toshiba Direct and clicked the "17 and up", "$400-$600" and the "Prebuilt" choices in the left column. They have two similar machines for $559 and $599 each. The difference is the processor. One's Intel and the other is AMD. The AMD is the one I got, and it's been lightening fast (compared to my old core duo machine). As also mentioned, a lot of your browsing speed has to do with your internet company. Ours has been upgrading and I can't believe how fast email comes down and files go up, etc. Still, a reasonably decent machine helps out a lot as well.

They are a reseller of both new and used machines. Take your wallet and the advice on specs from here and go shopping. I have never had a problem with a machine from them and the customer service is decent. I think there are several in various nooks in the abode Doing their things..the Compaq is nearly a decade old and its still soldiering along...gets used now just to do reloading bench stuff and archives material. New-faster machines do the rest of the duties including being movie players for streaming Netflix and DVD movies.

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Reheating pizza – sheesh. Totally destroys the delicate flavor.

A Smith and Wesson beats 5 aces...

Woodswalker AKA AaronE