Hi Linda,

All machines can have a slow moment (like most people, actually!), but pretty much any new machine that you look after and don't fill up with rubbish will remain responsive, boot quickly and won't have you hanging around if you're just surfing the net or browsing through photos. CD burning still takes a few minutes though I'm afraid and the speed of the Internet will depend on the connection.

The goods news is that even a low-end machine will comfortably suit your requirements. Realistically, you don't need much more than an Intel Celeron 347 or even a an AMD Sempron 3400+. In terms of RAM, you could get away with 512MB, and I don't see why you'd fill much more than about 120GB of hard drive space (Go SATA if possible as it's quicker). I would invest on a reasonable DVD/CD burner if you intend to burn discs regularly, though if it is only the odd one and you don't mind waiting a few extra minutes, you can look at a cheaper model. As for graphics, if you want to keep costs down, you can get away with those on board, as well as the network card and sound card. They won't be as good as dedicated devices, but depending on your budget, may be your best option.

Now, if you can afford to stretch the purse strings a little more and go for something with expansion potential that will last you a bit longer, consider this:

- A P4 or AMD Athlon 64 CPU
- At least 1GB RAM
- 250GB hard drive
- Motherboard with two or more PCI and at least one PCI-E expansion slot (This will allow you to add a dedicated graphics card amongst other things)

Low-end graphics cards will comfortably handle anything you seem to do on a daily basis and may just make that odd game run a bit more smoothly. If you want recommendations on those, just ask and I'll run by a few reasonably priced cards that will get you by.

Any questions, feel free to ask, hope I've been of some assistance.

John