I'd go for the 2300c. The 280c can't do what the 2300c can do, but the 2300c can do what the 280c can do ...and much faster! Go with Trash's advice on the 250c screen, so long as you don't mind grayscale. Go with system 7.5.5 or 7.6.1 . Mine runs 8.5 and it is annoyingly slow. In a few days I will probably finally get sick of it and repartition into a 3 way disk: 7.5.5(or 7.6.1 if I can acquire it) 8.5(to upgrade to 8.6 when I get the RAM to try Classilla) and a partition for data and applications. One handy thing is keeping backups of your system folders on your Dock's HD.
For a browser I recommend Netscape 4.8 . My 2300c currently has Netscape 3 and even under 8.5 it flys and with javascript & CSS off renders pages quite nicely in a surprisingly legible manner. Don't bother with IE 5 or iCab 3, they are both un-usably slow on it.(IE 3 & 4 are also pretty slow) iCab 2.9.9 might be better, but I'm not holding my breath.
One other benefit of System 7 is better compatibility with the Third-Party docks. Most of the drivers were written for system 7 68k. They work alright on PPC, but once you go to OS 8 they get glitchy and lock-up prone. (Experience from my Newertech Ethernet Microdock)
For a browser I recommend Netscape 4.8 . My 2300c currently has Netscape 3 and even under 8.5 it flys and with javascript & CSS off renders pages quite nicely in a surprisingly legible manner. Don't bother with IE 5 or iCab 3, they are both un-usably slow on it.(IE 3 & 4 are also pretty slow) iCab 2.9.9 might be better, but I'm not holding my breath.
One other benefit of System 7 is better compatibility with the Third-Party docks. Most of the drivers were written for system 7 68k. They work alright on PPC, but once you go to OS 8 they get glitchy and lock-up prone. (Experience from my Newertech Ethernet Microdock)