Best laptop for secondary school

[ConstanceSpry]

My kids are doing more and more work on the computer for their homework and I'm toying with the idea of getting them a laptop for Christmas. I am wondering what would be the best option?

I m looking for something cheap, lightweight, with a good (and quite fast) processor and big enough memory (min 4GB), so that it lasts. It also needs to be bombproof and not so flash and funky that it will be hugely attractive to anyone thinking of nicking it.

Does such a product even exist?

[hedwig2001]

Can't recommend anything specific, but when our laptop harddrive, died we replaced it with a solid state harddrive. Much tougher but a little more expensive.