Novice, mobile broadband?

Firstly hi,
Right, I need a laptop in order to pick up E-mail & browse forums when I'm away on holiday.

I bought recently a power PC G3 with which I was hoping to use either a vodafone or o2 broadband dongle
(both of which are advertised erroneously, as requiring OS 10.3.9)
neither of them actually do in reality as despite the advertising on their respective web-sites, when you try to actually connect, both of them announce they need '10.4 or higher'

I've been told subsequently I shall have to buy later, with 10.4 (and needs to be an intel based as the dongle devices don't like power PC can anyone confirm this,
and are all G4 intel based

How much should I pay
Only need it for browse/mail
(maybe add pictures from camera while away)

thanks in advance

Err... your post is a little disjointed, but you could probably find a first-generation Macbook for a few hundred dollars on craigslist.

Hmm doesn't read too well how about this.
I have a powerbook (lombard) g3 333mhz
10.3.9 (panther)
my broadband dongle says it should work but doesn't,
says it requires 10.4.1 or higher,

Been since told I need a later machine with that OS and need to be intel based rather than power PC.

hope this is a bit clearer, could really do with some advice from you enthusiasts

regards

If your broadband dongle will only work with an Intel machine then that's what you need. As far as the version of OS X is concerned, Tiger or higher seems to be what they're stating.

Which broadband dongle do you have? Will it work with Windows? If you only need a notebook computer while away on vacation why not consider purchasing a less expensive netbook computer? Of course the netbook machines while inexpensive only come loaded with Windows. I have no idea of cost (you didn't mention where you're posting from) but here in the US a nice netbook machine can be had for around $300 - $400.

If you really want a Mac, then probably a low end MacBook would suffice. US cost is around $999.00 at Apple.

Regards.

Damm,
thats the advice I was dreading actually.
I have a mac mini here at home and quite used to its reliability, where its not the specification of some of your equipment, it always starts up and so far not let me down like the windows based stuff I used to have,

still, fair comment and thanks for pointers