Originally Posted by oli
I would get a good netbook, you can get one with quite a good size memory. My coworker recently bought him one to use for work (EeePC). He is very happy with it, he does programming, uses matlab, imaging softwares etc on it. The 160GB memory is enough for most of stuff and you should keep everything back upped anyway. 160GB word fits quite a many word files smile If he is doing something needing more storage space get him a external harddrive at that point. I would get one too if I would not have such a bad luck with pcs.
That 160GB is storage not memory in computer jargon. Memory is the stuff your programs use while they run, so not enough of that means you can't use your applications or they run very slowly. Storage is the stuff you keep your stuff in when you're not looking at it, so not enough of that means you run out of space to put your word documents and photos in. Both are important, but for most people most of the time, memory is what they're most likely to be short of. As you say, external drives (you can get USB sticks that hold gigabytes these days) can solve the storage problem. You can upgrade memory after you buy the machine but it's a lot easier to get that right up front.

Email: my username, followed by 2, at google's mail