Buying a used or refurbished laptop for my daughter

[drumv00d00]

Hello, I am a Linux/Mac guy and have been for years. I am in the position where I need to get a laptop for my daughter as she is going away to school. At first I thought I wanted to get her a new, cheap laptop. But with what I can spend, I am thinking I will be way ahead if i purchased a good, used or refurbished machine. Any intelligent thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Since I haven't purchased a windows machine since 2000, I have lost touch with what is out there, what is good, and most importantly, what Is the most bang for your buck. I need to spend less than $300 if at all possible. What about OS? Should I go with windows 7 or 8? If anyone with enough knowledge could recommend a few specific machines in either the pro or con category I would appreciate it. I will say that this will be her only computer so the more options, the better. I don't want any netbooks, but I don't need more than a 250g drive. My biggest concerns are quality, real world user speed such as how fast apps open etc. Machine must have wi-fi and usb, Thank you very much

 

[popatim]

Whats she going to be doing with her laptop at school?
For instance a $300 laptop probably isnt going to do her any good if shes after a degree in something like graphic arts, computer science, engineering...
For basic web browsing and writing papers & such they would be fine.

 

[popatim]

Whats she going to be doing with her laptop at school?
For instance a $300 laptop probably isnt going to do her any good if shes after a degree in something like graphic arts, computer science, engineering...
For basic web browsing and writing papers & such they would be fine.