looking for a back up laptop

[Cindy]

I'm looking for a used laptop (Mac of course) mostly as a back up. I'm afraid my main computer might go out and I really need a back up just in case.
What should I be looking for as far as specs? I can't spend alot of money on one and I'm looking for one that will do email, and message board surfing.
Nothing special.
I was looking on ebay yesterday and saw a few.
Thanks for any info.
Cindy

[leftbanke7]

If all you want to do is e-mail and websurf, pretty much anything with a modem/ethernet port will meet your needs. A couple of questions though: do you have/use wireless internet? If so, you'll probably want something that is Airport compatible or has an expansion slot for a third party wireless card. If it were me in the situation, I would probably go with a first gen G4 or Apple Refurbed iBook, Titanium PowerBook or a PowerBook Pismo. If you have any questions as to the specs of these (or others), a good reference site is http://www.lowendmac.com . Go half way down the first page on the right side and click on the PowerBook/iBook link under the Computer Profiles heading.