Sister's looking for a new laptop

[Dr. Roboto]

My sister's looking for a new computer, not used. She's not a nerd, so all she's looking for is Microsoft Office-compatibility and Wifi. I'm thinking that she should get a basic, stock model, like a Dell Latitude or an HP Pavilion or somesuch. Battery life isn't important, and she doesn't want to spend much money. It would be used primarily for her job as an accountant.

Anyone have much experience using these kinds of laptops? Which would you recommend? What would you say to look out for?

[Traab]

Go to costco, they have a lot of cheapish laptops there with decent specs.

[Force]

If she doesn't mind replacing it every 3-5 years, any cheapie laptop you buy at your local computer store (Best Buy, etc) will do. Newegg has some deals, but you're unlikely to find a full-size laptop for under $350.

[Lady Moreta]

I would probably avoid a HP myself... my first laptop was an HP-bottom-of-the-range and it was a piece of crap. It never ran properly, it was always incredibly slow. Now your sister might not really care about having good speed or things like that, but neither did I went I got that laptop... it got very annoying very quickly.

I'd be more inclined to go with Dell rather than HP.

edit: Force makes a good point too... has your sister considered how often she's willing to get a new laptop... because she may find it's worth getting something a little better to avoid having to replace her laptop in 3-5 years. It depends on how much she wants to sacrifice for getting something cheap. She may not care, but it's worth at least putting the question to her.