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Julez
Hi satchel02, the good news is that any computer will work for your needs. But I will make one recommendation. For your uses, I would not suggest getting a netbook. Trust me, it's not going to make for a pleasant working experience (I know this because I had to rely on my netbook for a few weeks while my main laptop was in for warranty repairs and I got close to wanting to throw it against a wall - I love it as a secondary computer for when I'm going to Starbucks, but it's just not fast enough or big enough for regular use).
Here are a couple of laptops that you could consider:
Gateway NV5321H - while I'm not generally a fan of the processor in this laptop, for the price, it's a good deal and you likely won't find much better.
If you want something between a laptop and a netbook, this Acer Timeline will give you plenty of battery life and a better computing experience than the Atom processors in netbooks: Acer AS1810TZ-4484. One note though... there is no CD/DVD drive in this one.
If you can afford a little bit more than that, or if you'd like something different, please give us a bit of more info. For ~$700-$750, you can get a much better computer, but there's no use looking at those unless you can afford them. In the lower price range, these are what I would consider to be acceptable computers. Note, they're also both well-rated, meaning that other users also liked them.
Do you really need to buy MS word? There is a free alternative called open office which u can get here - http://www.openoffice.org/ (It is perfectly Legal - I do not advocate Piracy )
The Gateway that Krypto suggested should be more than ample processing power/ overall computer for your needs I am running an HP that features the same processor/similar specs and as a web browsing portable machine works quite well
Considering your financial solution, you could find cheaper alternatives for your Microsoft Word program. Unless you absolutely have to have THAT program, you could consider using WordPad which comes with many laptops as a pre-installed program, or as another user said, use a web-based version. I know that with Google Docs (since we use it at school) that you can save your documents on the internet, so even if you don't have your own laptop with you, you can still access your work as long as you have an internet connection. As for the SD slot requirement, most laptops come with this as a standard nowadays (even the Acer Timeline that another user mentioned earlier has a 5 in 1 memory card reader), so no need to worry much about that, but of course make sure you double check before buying!
As for the laptop itself, Krypto gave some pretty good suggestions (especially the Acer), but if you want to go even cheaper, you could consider a single core laptop if you don't plan to access many high demand websites all at once. From my experience, single core laptops will work fine with multiple text-based websites open.
Last of all, as with all the other users, I would stay away from a netbook as it seems as though you will be doing much typing, which will really cause you pain in the long run on a small netbook keyboard. Netbooks also have much weaker processors, so you are better off with a SINGLE CORE laptop as they are the cheapest on the market and will suit your needs (I had a 1.6GHz Single Core Celeron processor with 1gb RAM and made it through all my research just fine. Also, considering that I had Vista...your Windows 7 will run flawlessly for your purposes). If you need a suggestion, I would look at this Acer Aspire. It will suit all your needs, 2gb RAM, plenty of storage for documents, your wanted SD card slot, and has Microsoft Works on it (which includes a word processor comparable to Microsoft Word), and Windows 7. This laptop has everything I used to have and more so I think you will be just fine with it!
Good luck in your hunt!
I am so long winded...
MayA200, good call.
Another option for university students if they do want Office is to order it via Microsoft. They have a program called "The Ultimate Steal" (completely legal and fully sanctioned by Microsoft ) in which you can get Microsoft Office Ultimate at a "steal." This is actually a really good way for students to get fully legitimate software for a really good price.
EDIT: I should add, I've purchased thousands of dollars in software lately for a few hundred dollars by taking advantage of student pricing. And while both OpenOffice and Google Docs do work, there are advantages to having the actual Microsoft Office program - it integrates quite nicely with referencing software like RefWorks and EndNote which are both incredibly useful when writing papers. I wish I had used them earlier in my education.
Regardless, there are now 3 really good suggestions on how to proceed for writing papers.
