My wife needs a new laptop. It seems like the kids have slowly torn apart her old Sony and now it barely functions. It won't run without being plugged in, and it is missing a key or two. It is still good enough for my son to play a few games on it, but I want to get something for my wife now. Can anyone recommend a laptop?

Here is what she wants:

  • Doesn't care about games, except the card games that come with Windows. So a nice graphics card isn't important.
  • Doesn't care about screen size. In fact, the smaller the better. (Although she doesn't want one of those tiny machines.)
  • Good battery life. She hates being tethered to the wall now with her current laptop. While it is most likely just the result of a bad battery, I'd like to see something with 3+ hours of usage.
  • All she does is a) check email, b) surf, and c) play a few card games. Therefore processor speed isn't important.
  • I'd love to get her on a Mac, but then I'd probably steal it from her and that wouldn't work. I'd prefer a Dell model since I'm used to them, but I'm willing to consider other models if folks want to suggest it.