Need new Laptop - can you helkp with spec?

Hi, I am in the martket for a new laptop to replace my aging Acer Aspire 1400XC. Due to my dog colliding with a car, my cash is now limitied, as dog comes first, of course. My pal tells me she buys on Ebay - Dell reconditioned and they are ok. I am not good at second-hand. First - any advice of this? I want a comp for music,movies, photos, and general "home" stuff,and Skype. (No games).
My current spec is: 14.1" XGA TFT LCD, Intel Pen 4, 1.7GHZ. 256mb SD RAM, 20gb iLYTA ata/100 hdd.dvd/cd-rw.

So, can anyone advise just WHAT I need to be looking at it all seems such a minefield. Thanks, in hope. :wave

 

If you are short on cash, why not just upgrade your current one? I believe your model can run 1G of RAM, so why not upgrade the RAM and get a larger, higher RPM hard drive. For casual use, a 1.7GHz should be fast enough.

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Although , if you really do want a new one , the cheapest place to buy it - if your from the UK is PC Specialist.

It is the cheapest place to buy fully customisable fully working PCs/Laptops from. Well , from all the websites i've researched.