My daughter needs a netbook for college. However, she needs to be quiet enough so as not to annoy the teachers (and other students) who will be in close proximity in small classrooms. So, not only would fan noise be unacceptable but keyboard noise would also be a problem.
I had thought that the iPAD would be the solution using the onscreen keyboard (virtually silent) but I'm afraid that when she tried one out she found it rather difficult to type reliably on the touch screen. So I think that we are looking at notebooks so that she gets a proper keyboard. BUT if the teacher can hear her typing then I can imagine that she would no longer be able to use it.

We don't need the thing to have super high specification. She just needs to be able to type (quietly) and browse.

Would you be kind enough to point me in the right direction. I don't mind buying second-hand if that will help. In fact, it could save me a few bob.

Is it possible to buy a silent mini keyboard that would work with a tablet? That would be a good solution too.

Thank you

I haven't been to college/university for decades but I would assume today many/most profs have their lessons in some digital form.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if students can actually sit and listen to entire lectures without the distraction to themselves and others of clicking keyboards, by having their profs make their notes available for download.

Maybe I'm dreaming of a sci-fi situation 50 or 100 years down the road?
Can anyone confirm if this actually happens today in 2011?

That was the case for me in 2008. Not all professors provided their lectures in a digital format though, some insisted on taking notes during the lecture.

On another note, I got through a 2 year IT program without the need of a laptop. Well, almost anyway. I needed it once for half of a semester to run a mySQL database every once in awhile. I saw laptops as more of a hindrance and distraction than anything else really, especially considering how campuses have wi-fi available everywhere now.

I think a tablet PC like an iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab is what fits your daughter's needs the best. They are more portable, lighter, absolutely silent, and provide intuitive navigation through their touch input screens.
If you want a silent physical qwerty keyboard, you can always plug an Apple aluminium usb keyboard (won't be as silent as the touch screen) or a wireless Apple keyboard (if the school does not consider the radiation unhealthy). These keyboards are overpriced, as any other Apple product, but unfortunately I don't know of any other manufacturer selling this kind of low profile keyboards.

Bear in mind also that a notebook needs of a mouse or mousepad. Both are noisy. Personally, I think mouse pads are incredibly unefficient and will surely be deprecated soon when Notebooks converge into Tablet PC's. That will be when Windows 8 arrives and every Notebook will have a touch screen.
The standard keyboard and multi-button mouse will remain as the most efficient control tools for power users, also the preferred choice for controlling PC with screens placed far for ergonomic reasons.
Since your daughter will always use her computer at short distances during class, a touch screen is indeed the most appropriate choice.

I think the biggest noise and most annoying is the keyboard. I would go to a large computer store and try all the keyboards out. I know my Macbook Pro chiclet keyboard is noisy. I haven't tried the newer Apple bluetooth keyboard yet. My iPad is really silent and I think if she could get used to the touchscreen keyboard, it would be a good bet. Otherwise, I would just go and test all the laptops out and see which one has the quietest keyboard and hopefully it will also have a fairly quiet fan too. You might also find some deals online for a notebook.