Something like this should have no problem with a modern browser like Chrome with 50-60 tabs open, especially once it had a new disk and was brought up to 4 gigs of ram.
Buying good machines from the tail end of "modern" (things that'll realistically do just as well as some new machines for most tasks, especially if you can swing an upgrade to a solid state disk in the next few years) can be pretty inexpensive. Here is a machine that already has a fast processor and a discrete graphics processor. Each of those will run Windows NT 6.x (Vista/7/8) or linux/bsd quite well.
Incidentally, Dell Latitudes are generally some of the most physically reliable laptops you can buy. (They're up there with ThinkPads and HPQ's NC-Series and Elite notebooks.) A Latitude E6400 built in late 2008 or early 2009 and bought today in early 2013 will probably last until 2016 or so, at least.
Buying good machines from the tail end of "modern" (things that'll realistically do just as well as some new machines for most tasks, especially if you can swing an upgrade to a solid state disk in the next few years) can be pretty inexpensive. Here is a machine that already has a fast processor and a discrete graphics processor. Each of those will run Windows NT 6.x (Vista/7/8) or linux/bsd quite well.
Incidentally, Dell Latitudes are generally some of the most physically reliable laptops you can buy. (They're up there with ThinkPads and HPQ's NC-Series and Elite notebooks.) A Latitude E6400 built in late 2008 or early 2009 and bought today in early 2013 will probably last until 2016 or so, at least.