She asked the difference between the 1.6 and the 1.8 and the Senior Buyer told her the 1.6 processor is faster. That seems counterintuitive to me, but I know next to nothing about the innards of a computer. "
Everything else equal and assuming that 1.6 and 1.8 refer to processor speed, and, further assuming that the senior buyer said that the 1.6
processor (not the 1.6 computer) is faster than the 1.8
processor, it's not only counterintuitive, but wrong. Having said that, my hunch is that the story got twisted in the re-tellings and HP shipped 1.6 processors and sold them as 1.8.
Seems to me that the question is: "Does this laptop do everything that I want it to do and quickly enough that I am satisfied with it?" If the answer is, "Yes," I would take the money and run! The speed difference between the 1.6 and 1.8 will be almost imperceptible doing most tasks.
Best of luck to your friend's daughter!