Have you checked out NeoOffice, which is a stable Aqua-native port of OOo? (I tried running OOo 3.0 and it just wasn’t ready for prime time.)

Brad –

You can still find some Lenovo ThinkPads with XP Pro pre-loaded at NewEgg.com for $650-$750.

The stable version requires you to run X-Windows. The Aqua version has annoying bugs especially when it comes to exporting PDF’s.

Brad,

You might want to consider system76′s line of laptops. They install ubuntu linux, and it’s pretty newbie friendly (I purchased my workstation from them and for the first time since I switched to linux had no hardware issues whatsoever). You can even purchase a VMWare license and run Windows XP as a virtual machine like I do.

My wife has an account on my workstation and is after me to install Linux on her laptop (which I refuse to do – her built in wireless networking card does not play nice with Linux). She is strictly a GUI person and gets along just fine.

Nope… Macs are off the menu. I’m not going to disparage them in any way, because I think on a log of levels, they’re actually better than Windows machines, but I see two problems for what I need:

1) Cost. A mac is a lifestyle statement, and even with a refurb, you pay accordingly. I’m looking in the $300-400 range for a netbook, or sub-$600 for a notebook. $900 isn’t an option.
2) Familiarity. If it were for myself, I’d look at a Mac or Linux machine, as I’m a geek and can stand to learn a new OS. My wife, on the other hand, is comfortable with Windows, and I’d rather stick with that. Especially since I won’t use the PC regularly. If she needs Windows help, I can always do so. If she needs MacOS help, I’m friggin’ clueless.

Those refurbs are a good price – if you can catch it, starting under $900, and you get so much more for personal things than with a PC. Not to mention the lack of problems with 150,000+ viruses…

Just sayin’.