Hmm, I need to work on handling line-breaks on non-Javascript enabled clients...

But as to yours and your sister's peril, I'm sorry that happened. I have a number of options (unfortunately, not a lot of *great* ones):

• IBM Thinkpad A31 laptop. Single-core, 1.8Ghz, 512MB RAM, 30GB hard drive. It was my college laptop, served me well for 8 years both as my daily driver and a low-power server, and has been living out its retirement on my shelf. At some point in mishandling the laptop I cracked what I assume is the motherboard, disabling one of the memory modules such that its memory can't be upgraded. If its processor goes above 50% utilization for more than 10 minutes, the laptop fan can't keep up, and it overheats and shuts itself down.
• Gateway 4026 laptop, circa 2005. This was my sister's laptop for a number of years. When I got it, it was rendered completely useless as a result of my sister's refusal to maintain it. Despite my efforts, it is the worst computer that has ever graced my office, as due to poor hardware design and quality it shuts down randomly and without reason. I would wish this on no person.
• Recently, I acquired a number of retired, dumpster-destined desktop workstations from another office at AT&T. They are decent, workhorse types of computers. They include a Optiplex GX280 and a Optiplex 755 (I think). Both have around ~80GB hard drives, and one has an interesting dual-screen video card (the reason why I picked it out of the pile).
• I also have a number of circa-2002 era computers/cases built with very, very old parts. These were computers I had originally built, abandoned, and then rebuilt as I found need for them in later years. They're currently unused now, and in a state of somewhat disrepair, but still run, even if they sound like a jet-engine when running.
• Also, my sister informed me that the laptop I gave her after the Gateway does not correctly display/run the lessons she needs for her online classes. My parents recently upgraded their computers, and might be giving my sister one of the laptops they replaced. No clue on a timeline, but it was implied I might be getting that laptop back. It was an HP, circa 2006-2007, with slight overheating problems. Also, if I recall, one of its bottom panels is loose, such that it has exposed circuit boards unless you tape the panel shut. I have no idea what damage might have occurred between the open panel and my sister's children.

If you're not getting a good feeling from these descriptions, I understand. Most of the computers I take in are discarded because they have issues, not because they're sought-after high technology. I keep them around for technical reasons, and for the frequent situation where people's computers die, and I need parts (specifically, parts that may be hard to find because they're old).

While these machines are available (if you really, really want one), they aren't exactly something I would recommend. You may find that newer hardware, particularly used hardware, is fairly affordable if you aren't after the cutting edge. I can't speak to the effective life-span to the computers above, but other than the workstations I picked up, I've been expecting critical failure from most of them, and have been frankly surprised at their insistence to live on. I would be nervous as to their reliability after going through any sort of shipping.

I would say peruse Craigslist/eBay for used netbooks/laptops. If you're feeling brave, consider finding ones without an OS. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution that is extremely user-friendly and well supported. They also publish their listing of "certified" hardware, which gives you an idea what types of hardware would be compatible (I'm a fan of Dell (www.ubuntu.com) or Lenovo (www.ubuntu.com) when it comes to reliable non-Apple hardware).

If you find something within budget, I'm happy to field any questions you have about a particular make/model.