Update - I started second guessing myself on a used machine (no warranty = all issues are my problem) so I walked into Best Buy to see what they had and walked out 20 minutes later with a
Sony VAIO T2310 , wireless mouse, sales tax, for a grand total $636.00. That beats the online (now sold out) price by $150.
I fired it up on the kitchen counter, setup my wireless network, and started installing latest updates from MS and Sony. 30 minutes later I rebooted, configured the wireless mouse, and deleted all the trial software. I installed AVG and OpenOffice, and ran the disk defrag, then created a limited user account for the MIL.
So far it runs really well, the screen is beautiful and bright. I'll upgrade to 2 GB of RAM sometime this month. I'll keep my fingers crossed that Vista does not ruin the party but given she won't be installing any software w/o my knowledge I hope the system gives her a couple years of happy computing.