buying a laptop?

What I recommend for a low cost laptop is to at least have these features PLUS many good purchaser reviews/ratings

- at least a 650gig hard disk, better is at least 750gig

- at least 4gig of RAM expandable to 8

- a CD/DVD drive

- Not a "starter" edition of Windows. You want at least a full home or premium version of Windows, preferably 64-bit

- non-motherboard graphics - instead look for a laptop with geoforce or radeon graphics (you may be able to get by with motherboard graphics if you don't play any games)

- As far as Microsoft Office goes, starter is worthless and I won't pay for full. I use the free Open Office or Libre office - you have to "Export" to save to a real Windows office format if you need an MS Office compatible file

Best Buy has laptop deals every week and there are usually a couple under $400 - sometimes one has great reviews from lots of people - look at those. And you can usually go tot he store and see if you like the keyboard and screen.

And a tip, if your laptop runs hot, try a USB fan cooling fan. I recommend the ones with one big fan (moves the most air).

I also recommend next thing you get is an external backup drive so you can back up your important files occasionally.

I would stick with a PC over Mac especially if that's what your use to, no point in paying extra for something that will not benefit you. Macs have their place but someone who just checks email, browses the web and watches movies does not need to pay for a Mac. Windows 8 is not buggy as David stated, it is a very stable and efficient OS however it is a huge change from windows xp or 7. If you don't mind learning a new operating system then windows 8 is a great one but it does take time to learn it, if you check out youtube and type in windows 8 tutorial you can learn all that you need. If you want something more familiar like windows 7 look for a refurbished windows 7 machine, they can usually be picked up for between $150-$250, anything with a decent dual core and at least 2Gb of ram will work fine for basic use, 4Gb of Ram would be optimal. Just stay away from certain AMD processors, any of the C70 or C100 and the E1000 series are pretty slow for what they are, anything above that will be fine for basic use.

I'd recommend a Dell laptop. Good enough price and not very impressive specs, but they sure get the job done for the average person. I'd think that a mac would be too large an investment for your needs. You may also want to look into the Surface tablet, my friend bought one a couple months back and loves it. Despite what people say about Windows 8, Windows 8.1 is fine for me (and that's after coming from a Windows 7 upgrade). It runs pretty smoothly and the only real difference is that the Start menu is replaced with Tiles. You should especially get a Windows PC if your current desktop is a Windows PC, because you're already familiar with Windows.

I'd recommend a used macbook pro from the past year or two. They're still plenty fast and they usually just work. Mine is going on 5 years and it still works fine. Normally I'd recommend a Windows laptop too but right now they all have Windows 8 which is buggy and not very good. Windows 9 will come out in a couple years and make everything better. Macs also hold their value very well if you keep it in good shape.

My recommendation would be Tablet as you didn't mention any reason for getting a bulky laptop over the tablet as all what you mentioned can be done on a tablet also with better and fun features. The best part would be the battery life of over 10 hours, which you cant get from the cheap laptop. You are asking my recommendation and for all what you require from your device, I would certainly have gone for a tablet instead. Unless you have a good reason to buy laptop, like some game you really like or some app that you find yourself comfortable with, there is no good reason to buy a laptop other than these reasons.

MacBook Air

Its' an amazing Computer , I only open it to see if works still I didn't run properly because is a present for my daughter but has a very good design very light compare others product and is very fast I think my daughter will be very happy with this MacBook Air

from amazon customer reviews

You can get some good decent laptops for less than $300. It has Windows 8.1 preinstalled which you can use to use the internet, email, watch movies, music, and do your homework or work files. It does not come with Microsoft Office. If you want Microsoft Office with it you would have to pay extra for it. Check the ads on Best Buy on Sundays, you will see laptops for less than $300.00.

Everyone has different taste. I brought one with the same things you desire in mind. I got a HP I get the movie planet a free down load full of movies. I have speed for games and e-mail works great. I got a bigger screen for the movies I watch. All of this at Wal-Mart for around 300.00 however it was on sale at the time. Never order online you do not know if it was tossed around.

Try buying the MacBook Air.

I recommended HP