HS Junior?
Precisely, what processor intensive programs is she running?
Why not buy a Boxster too?
Be sensible my friend. Get a used XP machine for $150, max it out with ram and put UBUNTU on it for free. You can run anything you need, mail, web, video etc . . .
Don’t even need that much. Get a broken laptop from the garbage, burn KNOPPIX on a CD and use google docs for your needs.
Hardware is obsolete, the network IS the computer.
That is great as long as you HAVE the network.
I’m not a Linux kind of guy. I will consider following your suggestion for a project of my own. Her old Dell should work just fine for that once I replace it.