Which leads me to yet another concern - word processing software and internet/email access. Will the included airport card be able to talk to today's wifi networks, or is there some other sorcery I'd have to do to get online? Also, what is the oldest version of Word that's compatible with the current version? Or what's the newest version that will run on OS 9.x, and is that compatible? I want to be able to do my schoolwork with as little hassle as possible. Which is part of the reason I want to do it on a classic Mac, that's my happy place.
I never did address
the Office problem, didn't want to dominate this thread.
2001 is the latest that runs on OS 9, 2004 is the best for a PPC OS X computer, 2008 is the last version that will run on a PPC OS X computer but it was a not well optimized rewrite with some breaking changes from 2004.
If you want a writing companion, 2001 and 2004 are best for the machine.
Compatibility with modern Office is messy unless you have another machine to save to pre-docx/xlsx/etc formats. Even then, the conversion can be lossy for fonts and advanced formatting. It's something you'll have to strongly consider if you're serious about using the clamshell for school work.
You might have better luck with Google Docs on a Chromebook for docx/etc compatibility. Really, I've filled out docx forms with sensitive info while riding on a train using that setup. Docs has come a long, long way from when it was a slightly janky word processor called "Writely".
Disclaimer: I do work for Google, where a "work Chromebook" works extremely well for perhaps obvious reasons.
But then, if you ever need to use a more obscure software package, a cheap generic PC laptop or an early Macbook running some Windows might work even better. It all depends on what the campus will support.
