Technology colleagues,

What are the best choices for a really inexpensive new home computer  
which has Internet access capability?

It could be a desktop or laptop.  It would be for a very low-income  
adult learner who has little or no experience using computers.  It  
would be used in many ways, but would would need to be able to access  
the Web for distance learning instruction sites, including wireless  
access.

One example is a $300 computer, described in my July posting here

	http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Cheap_Computers

The M.I.T. laptop (under $100) might be another -- someday -- but I  
am looking for currently available models.  Can anyone point us to  
one for under $300?

I am raising this in the context of helping adult learners in North  
America to buy a home computer, so I am also interested in hearing  
about your experiences in helping learners do this.  What do you find  
works and what doesn't?  Are there ways that students help each other  
to buy a computer?  Do you, as a teacher, help students to figure out  
how to buy a computer?  To you cover this in class? (Should you?) Do  
you have lessons on this you could share?

Here's a Web resource, on E-square (an electronic square for adult  
learners in the Boston area) which is designed for adult students  
exploring buying a home computer:  "How to Buy and Use a Computer"
	
	http://www.sabes.org/technology/buycomputer/

David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net