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Hi everyone i'm new. I don't know if I am posting this in the correct section so please redirect me if not!

Basically I know nothing about computers. We have one at home. It works. Thats all I know about it. It is owned and organised by my housemate who is knowledgeable about such things.

Now all I want to know is this. If I buy myself a laptop so I can use it in my room instead of in his lounge, what sort should I get? I dont have a huge amount of money to spend on it, and to be honest will probably have to get a second hand one (ebay?). All I want to do with it is go on the internet, maybe watch DVD's and possibly have some music on it, although I don't know how to do that either so depends if I can work it out!!! I don't need to do work on it or anything like that, and I don't want the internet to be too slow.

I have tried asking knowledgeable housemate but he blinds me with technical terms and I end up none the wiser. Is there an idiot proof guide to what to buy?

[KanoakaVirus]

For simple surfing like you said something like:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...&category_oid=
or
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151772
Should do you fine, you want to buy new to receive warranty, and more importantly peace of mind.
If money is a real big issue could you tell us your limit?

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I was thinking a top spend of £300 so either of those would be ok. Thanks very much!!

[Carbon]

You should probably look into netbooks as well - these are small, portable laptops that are meant for web browsing, are extremely cheap and light, and are generally pretty good at what you plan to do. I like my NC10 but it's £330 or so in the UK, so that would probably be a no go, but something like the Acer One here might be a better deal. You would have to get an external DVD reader for it though, as it doesn't come with one. You'll also get significantly longer battery life (the ones linked only have around 1.5h), but I don't think that's a concern if you're using it only in your room. Still, it's worth a look. Can't go wrong with the ones kanoaka linked either.