Need advice on a $300-$500 digital camera.

Well, like the title says, I have some money and am looking into buying a digitial camera. The only thing is, I have no idea which ones are good. I'd like to spend $300-$500 dollars, preferably right around $400, but if a much better one can be had for $50-$75, I'd be willing to pop for the extra cash. Anyways, both my mom and I are going to be using is, so there's a list of "requirements" this thing must meet.

-Must be able to take close-up pictures clearly, such as for computer mods and stuff.
-The LCD display on the back must be a bit on the larger side to accomodate "old-people" vision.
-Must have good zoom range, nothing too extreme however.
-Hopefully something with a good range of features.
-Low "noise" and barrel distortion.
-hopefully good pictures in lower light situations.

Anyways, that's about all I can think of. A few things I'd need to know though, what are the diferences between optical zoom and digital zoom? So, yeah if anyone can point me to a site with a good list of reputable camera reviews, or if anyone can offer some personal advice/experience, I'd love the help.

I was just looking into this for christmas. I think that the Canon G series would fit your bill almost perfectly. The G3 is a bit expensive but is a very nice camera and fits all your requirements. Optical zoom is the actual zoom of the camera. Before you take the picture you zoom in with optical zoom. Digital zoom is a manipulation that the camera can do after you have taken the picture. Digital zoom also degrades the quality of the picture so it is completely useless IMHO. www.dpreview.com is a great site for looking up all things digital camera. I spent weeks on that forum and finally made my decision and got the Canon G2. The G2 is a few years old but is still one of the better camera's around. If you can find one of those they sell for around 400. Good luck and happy snapping.

2 words..
Canon EOS

Pro film camera's now gone digital aswell.. great cameras.. very pro n easy (ish) to use

that is twice as much as he wanted to spend and then you also have to get lenses.