Hmmm, well if anything hardware related had actually 'broken' it wouldn't work at all, I think with an absolutely clean Windows install, not an OEM image restore job, it would be fine.
and I would rather her save her money but if I cant get her laptop to run nicely for her I rather her have a mac than getting a call all the time saying I am fed up with it etc etc...
). Otherwise the old white plastic one will do her dandy.