I was looking to get a computer to do exactly what you are looking for: basically surf the net and do word processing and stuff. My brother, who knows a whole lot more about computers than I did, said that for about the $700-800 price point the Gateway 310XL was the best deal (between the Dell and some other off-the-shelf computers from local companies that built them).

Armed with this knowledge, I went off to my local Gateway store, planning on purchasing what my brother had recommended. I walked out spending about $1000 more than I had anticipated. Not that they pushed me into anything I didn't want, but with 90 days same as cash and everything I wanted in stock, how could I refuse to upgrade a bit . This is what I ended up with:

Gateway 510S ($1000)
Pentium 4, 2.8 ghz, hyperthreading
120 Gig hard drive
DVD burner

Upgrade to 17" Flat screen monitor ($300)

Gateway DC-T50 5.25 mega pixel digital camera ($350 with $50 mail in rebate)

Logitech Pro 4000 Web Cam ($80)

I had the whole thing set up in about 10 minutes. I haven't done any comparison shopping with the computer that I ended up with, but it's great so far (although I am fully aware that it's much more than I need: I just thought there might be something that I want to do, and the 510 can be upgraded more easily than the 310).

The digital cam, though is great: I have shopped around a little for cameras, and I think it's a great value for the $. Finally I can start cataloguing (sp?) my chips!

Anyway, good luck with your search. These are my thoughts, and ramblings

Brent J. Jensen
R-6335
orbis non sufficit