[Thinkpad] NEED NEW COMPUTER FOR DAUGHTER

[David Ross]

> Once caution.  The university this fall is requiring Office 2007
> Professional, which I didn't expect I would have to buy.

The newest version of Word can save files in a format unreadable by
older versions, and for which there is no freely available reader.  This
is a problem we have run into with my son (with documents created by his
teachers).

> The printer is the real trick.

I would suggest both an inexpensive inkjet (for the occasional color
need, and for printing photos) and a laser printer (for everything
else).  Some Canon inkjets have separate cartridges for all colors; this
keeps consumable costs lower.  Places like Staples and buy.com
periodically sell refurbished Brother laser printers for well under
$100; we've been running the heck out of one of these for almost 2
years, and it hasn't let us down once.

David