I have a budget of 500$ and a flickering dream

To make a long story short.

-Giving my brother my old laptop
-Starting school again in the fall
-probably going to need a new laptop
-I may just take notes shorthand but then the other children may bully me
-no one likes being bullied
-However, I don't like spending money

Needs
-Word Processor
-Internet connection
-Portable

I care not for your geeky bells and whistles

I would steer you toward one of the AMD Fusion laptops, since they perform normal desktop applications adequately, are usually cheap, and because of their architecture they can do some gaming.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-...h.92264.0.html

You can get free word processors so unless you are getting a viable student discount don't buy M$

agreed. Openoffice 4.02, or even Calligra Office