I only just saw this thread (was searching for something else) so probably I'm too late but anyway.....
Suse 10.1 includes 855resolution by default
but you have to set the correct screen resolution during the final config stage of set up and then it will be fine. Of all the distros I've tried (Mandriva, Ubuntu and derivatives, debian, blag, dyne, freespire, dsl, pclinuxos) Suse 10.1 is the
only one which out of the box supports the Intel 855 chips which don't report the correct resolution with widescreen displays. But if you don't do it at the install stage it is something of a frustration....just like when you try to install 855 or 915resolution patches on many other distros, as the readme and install instructions I've seen are mostly extremely inadequate.
Suse linux is far from pathetic and editing config files is no problem. It doesn't resemble Windows any more or less than other distro with kde or gnome desktops. The fact that more things work and are correctly configured out of the box in openSuse than in other distros is hardly a fault. I'm puzzled that some people only like gnu/linux when it's halfway broken......
If your mum doesn't want that old laptop I can think of someone who could happily install openSuse and enjoy it
If you are running ubuntu with Intel 800/900 series and not full resolution
