Replacing my mom's emachine

You say "brand not important" but it might be if you ever need good manufacturer support on the web for drivers, tech support documents etc. If that's important, I would steer clear of anything with "Emachines" badge as their support is almost non-existent, same with many other obscure brands.

If you don't want to be restricted by a brand-name (you can only use their drivers as those from anywhere else won't work) you should do what I did - had one built for me by a local & independent computer shop. You can then specify exactly what hardware and OS you want putting in it, and you get a "proper" Windows installation disc. Oh, and it also means it doesn't come with loads of useless or trial software installed. Factory-made computers are bursting at the seams with it.

Does your Mom need an optical drive? Do you want something small she can have on her desktop? These days it's pretty easy to build something small but powerful.

E.g. (if she doesn't need the optical drive)
Realan E-i5 mini-itx computer case with 84W power supply $89.99 + shipping
ASUS P8H61-I R2.0 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard $85.99
Intel Pentium G640T 2.4GHz dual-core processor $75.99
Kingston Value 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1066 $21.49 (note: Pentium max memory speed is DDR3-1066)
Crucial m4 64GB SSD $72.99

Total: $346.45 + shipping of the case

Then add the O/S of your choice for Mom. This machine will fly for what she wants to do.

Alternately, if you want to spend less, this motherboard also makes for a good nettop and would give you a completely fanless build:

ASRock AD2700 series mini-itx motherboards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... (with HDMI/DVI)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... (with VGA)

With this memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Laptop Memory Model CT2KIT25664BF1339

I have built both for nettops and they are very nice for the intended tasks. The former will be a lot faster but have the CPU fan. The latter is completely fanless which is very cool. The thing to know about the D2700 boards is they are 32-bit so you need to install 32-but Windows. For a nettop that hardly matters but it's important to know.

If you prefer a barebones, these are available put together as well.

How about this All in one from the Dell outlet http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/Seconda...
You can get an additional 20% off if you use the coupon Z2$JF$PGCBJ53K. (Today is the last day for that discount) looks like a great deal to me. I'd buy it for my mom.

Thanks for advice but not looking to build pc,i need a prebuilt,i was considering an all in one but most of them seem to suck.
Also i'm more in the 600-750 type of range if that helps any.I was considering this but am cautious because of the price,the brand and the specs,1 tb and 8 gb ram in an hp(not my favorite) for 450 with the 100 sale seems to good to be true. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pavilion+Desktop+-+8GB...


She does need an optical drive,was considering the all in one because it takes up less space but i guess size is not to important.