Acer 660, $400

During a lunch with relatives it was revealed that I used a Pentium II personal computer at home. Everyone was aghast and my aunt turned to my younger brother, who is considered to be the upwardly mobile one of the family, and said: "For God's sake, buy your sister a better computer!" After lunch, my brother and I duly went round the corner to a store selling second-hand computers and at the counter my brother pulled out his wallet. "You don't have to buy me a computer just because Aunt Sabrina says so," I pointed out, and he nodded and put his wallet away. He did, however, ask the sales assistant a few pertinent questions on my behalf and tested out all the letters on the keyboard before I bought this laptop.