Well the old POS that I had to fix/clean up every time I went home to the in-laws place finally died the other day (good riddance). So now I am in charge of getting a new one for them. They really don't do anything other than email and web surfing (watch some videos on web), so I don't need anything fast at all really.

I keep looking around and am basically looking at some of the cheapest computers that people sell new. Its killing me that most of them only have 2GB of ram in them. Anyone tried windows 7 with only 2gb of ram? Is it ok?

I've been looking at the little net tops like a Zotac ZBox kind of thing or Asus EEE Box. Does anyone have experience with these little boxes? They have about the same gear as a netbook which should serve them fine.



Its really hard for me not to go overboard whenever I am shopping for PC stuff..

I find my Atom based HTPC is a little slow when it comes to browsing some sites. You may want to move up to a X2 or i3.

Yeah I just figured out they may want a CD drive for whatever reason so the little net tops are kind of out. They are quite pricey when you get a dvd drive with them (generally they are blue-ray).

2GB of RAM with 7 for general use is perfectly fine.
also, something with an X2 or an i3 will be great as the Doc mentioned.

My atom as well is a little too slow as well. So a suggestion to avoid them.

I'm still using 2GB's of RAM with Windows 7 in my main machine.

I ended up ordering an Inspiron 570 for them just a little while ago. 4gb RAM athlon x2 245. Nothing fancy, but it'll get the job done I guess.

I was going to suggest get them a couple of

Unfortunately they are smarter than that...

Etch-A-Sketch, now with Twitter support!

I seriously doubt anyone would have a problem with the Twitter post character limit using an Etch-A-Sketch!