Buying used laptop help...

i’m pretty sure my dad is getting me a used laptop for christmas. what brand should he get that is most conducive for upgrading and being repaired (ie dell being proprietary?) i dont do any gaming (yet?), but I HATE waiting for a computer… ive been looking on ebay and a (seems decent to me) refurbed computer goes for like 300

please advise on what i should give him for specs, he kind of knows computers but i’m sure he could use some direction

all i necessarily care about is that it has a dvd read/cd write drive, internal wireless card, and the little nub in the middle of the keyboard for the mouse.

right now my desktop has a 190 gig hard drive and i am using about 11, and the only thing that slows it down is itunes, and my gf is getting me an itouch for x mas…

thanks

pm sent…

349 vostros from dell. 2.13 gig processor, gig of ram, 120gigs of space, and a brand new computer.

arent dells no good for upgrading?