looking to buy laptop, advice plz

Hi,

I'm something of a computer philistine, so I was hoping you guys could advise me on a laptop. Looking for a cheap/older model one, not much more than $500. I only really want it for word processing, so programs like open office and final draft. And possibly playing movies. I basically want it to sit out in the garden and work without being distracted by all that other crap that is on my desktops (games, internet).

side questions
- do you need a decent graphics card to run all the latest codecs and such?
- for a laptop of this price, how long could you expect the battery to last, when fully charged (how many hours) and in the long term (how many years before it burns out)?
- can you generally buy replacement batteries for older laptops?

>>8

Thanks man. I have heard good things about the Thinkpad, but I'm wary about buying second hand because of that whole battery thing. But if I want a cheaper laptop, wouldn't they be the older ones? And if they were the older models, wouldn't I have to get them second hand? Do they still sell them retail? I don't really know how fast laptops become obsolete but I assume it's really really fast.