what do we need in a laptop for a college student that won"t have to be replaced each year?

Question

my child an upcoming senior in hs will be taking an english course in community college this year. She'll need a laptop but we want her to be able to use it when she actually leaves for college next year. What features do we need to have on alaptop we buy now?

Answer 1

you should contact the college and see if they have wireless networking and what kind...they probably will recommend one for you as well...and/or sell them in their college store....may even be able to get a discount..(student discount etc)

Answer 2

the longer you intend to keep the computer without replacing it, the more youll have to spend now on an "above the curve" machine.

When I started college, I bought my current laptop (now four years old) for about $2,100, and its still very comparable to the $1,200 range computers.

I suggest Dell.. most of the premade setups you see at Best Buy, CompUSA, etc. are some good with some bad. Dell lets you customize the setup according to your needs, which is great.

I do suggest that you do a lot of research into this one, especially as far as which processor to get.

Lastly, keep in mind that if this is strictly a SCHOOL computer, it doesnt need to be a supercomputer. All he needs to run is Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, and his school's email program. If he needs a computer for anything besides that, let him pick up the tab ;)

Answer 3

most kids these days like to take their computers to class, so definitly a wireless-g card (check with the school to make sure its g compatible, it might be b)
also, itd probably be better if the computer was very light, like the dell 700m or 710m.
Good specifications are pentium M processors (which conserve battary life) anywhere from 1.5mhz+. This is important because college students are away from their homes a lot of the time, and with a longer battary life, they wont be inconvenianced by having to carry around the charger and charge it up.
Always splurge on RAM, 1gb would be the minimum to run all processes efficiantly.
Aside from that, you get to choose on brand, make and model.
Good Luck!

Answer 4

The most important feature for a laptop is a good sized screen (with detailed resolution). Then you may worry about RAM, hard disk size, and optical drive features.

Decide how much you want to spend. As long as it is wireless-ready (almost all laptops are these days) and has a large, easy to read monitor, a laptop can last fro years if well maintained.

Answer 5

If you're going with Windows instead of Mac, I would check with the college she's planning on attending to see if they have a campus agreement with MS Office. If they do, then that would save you about $100 from not having to have that added when you customize your laptop. You can find out by contacting the school's library.

Answer 6

I am also in University!

so..... if u need a laptop that wont have to be replaced...

just get a good speed processor.... and have a minimum of 1GB RAM! + the HDD according to the requirements...

for the processor.... i would suggest Intel pentium DUO core or CentrinO...

u will have to spend money once... and will last long..... and will run all kindz of programmeS!

take CarEz!

Answer 7

Just make sure that the laptop has a physical network connection and is Wireless network compatible. I would also reccomend that it has MS OFFICE. Other than that...just a basic laptop.

My daughter just bought a Dell B130 laptop...had everything she needed on it hardware wise...and am going to put MS office on it this week....then she will be done.

Answer 8

it should contain the best cutting edge technology so it will not be obsolete for a while. i would say a core duo processor. memory, at least one gb. hard disk, 80gb min. wireless card. video card, either nvidia or radeon. dvd/cd burner. at least 15" monitor size.