Although Dell may be cheap, do you really want to loose that paper you were working on all night? Didn’t think so.

And if you’re forced to get Vista, make sure you get Home Premium, its faster and better than the standards.

Hope this helps.

Also, keep this in mind when you’re buying your laptop: the smaller laptop the more convenient it is. When I bought my laptop I wanted a laptop with a big screen, because I thought that would be better for watching movies and such… BUT its soooo inconvenient when I’m carrying my laptop from place to place (like for classes). Having a big screened laptop defeats the main purpose of having a laptop which is being able to comfortably carry your computer to places like work and school.

talk to advisers etc and figure out what you need to do with the computer based on your major. then shop for a computer with those capabilities.

Also, you need to decide what you want to do with it, if you want to watch movies, play games, store music etc, you will need more power than if you only need something for typing up reports and checking email.

-shannon