Any laptop will do these days, but if she wants portability I'd suggest a tablet instead

A bunch of email and spreadsheets/documents.
AKA typing.

More or less, lol. Longevity would be good, she doesn't really know anything about computers.

I'm not sure about how well it handles Netflix but get her a Chromebook. If all she's gonna be doing is office stuff and some minor recreational stuff like Netflix, invest. Bunch of guys I know from CS here and some other students in my english classes have Chromebooks amongst the waves of Macs and they love their Chromebooks. I'm thinking about getting one myself to replace my aging netbook.

http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromebooks.html

Samsung ultrabook

Don't get a chromebook if you're actually going to be using it for business/productivity, a chromebook would limit some of your software options there. There's a lot of windows 8 convertibles hitting the shelves now for sub 500, but i'd probably get a traditional one with a docking station if she is actually going to be dealing with spreadsheets. She should be using a second external monitor + full keyboard + mouse as her normal working environment if she wants to get anything done.

If she doesn't know much about computers she most likely isn't going to need the plethora of useless features that comes with office. I'm sure Google Docs would be enough. I wouldn't get a chromebook if she does need office specific features though.

she also likely wouldn't want to pay $200 for something that inevitably will have some compatibility issue down the road

after getting a budgety laptop i'm convinced ultrabooks are actually worth it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hviXL2bha8Q

but for a pleb just find any i3 laptop that doesn't look like it will snap in two if you bend it

How the hell does this guy think an "acceptable" amount battery life is 7-8 hours LOL. Sure, I could get an extra hour out of my laptop, but everything would take an hour longer too.

I've heard the thinkpad series are good for businesses.

For purely business purposes I suggest using Dell. Highly customizable hardware and software offerings, solid machines and very good warrantee.

Agreed with fog, tablets are great. The surface is pretty fucking slick.

One company that I worked for (IT dept.) and another where I currently work at both used Lenovo laptops. From my personal experience they make very sturdy and reliable business laptops. There's even some ultra light ones. :) Hope that it adds to your pool of choices!

2nds on the Lenovo. Both my kids have one and have been trouble free for 2 years excepting one broken headphone jack. If I had to buy one now i might go w/ this one. office depot

is your name referring to an enema that belongs to you
or is it a bomb that is inserted rectally

this is an important question, please respond

Hola. It's the porno name for the movie Enemy Mine as well as the bomb thing.

Both versions of the Surface Pro can do anything a normal laptop or desktop can do, as it runs Windows 8 Pro. Windows RT (which the normal Surface and most Windows 8 tablets use) doesn't support most desktop programs.