[jyl]

My daughter wants a notebook computer for XMas. She does need one, much of her homework requires a computer and there's often a queue to use our iMac.

I'm thinking of getting her a netbook. I figure these are light and small (her book bag is pretty full), cheap, and powerful enough for her needs which are basically just productivity apps and the web. She doesn't need to watch HD video or play high-graphics-content games, this is for schoolwork.

But I'm having trouble finding anything to choose between the various netbooks out there. There are a couple flavours of Atom processor, but they are all wimpy. There's either Intel or nVidia chipset/graphics, I'd prefer the nVidia. Either 10" or 11" screens. Otherwise, they seem very generic. I guess for $300-500, hard to be otherwise? The only "different" one I've found is the Dell netbook that has a touchscreen, but I can't say I've thought of a big reason to want a touchscreen.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

(Not getting her a MacBook because my Apple budget is waiting for the 27" iMac display bugs to be worked out, and for the mythical "tablet". Anyway she prefers Windows because that's what they have at school.)