The absolute best laptop for a student in college may well turn out to be Apple’s iPad, but that is just coming out and it’s important to wait for the second generation which gets rid of the problems that always occur with a new computer product. Anyway, it doesn’t really qualify as a laptop. Of the models that have been on the market for a while, which ones are best depends on what you will be using them for, and your budget.
The best laptops for college students who are on an extremely tight budget are the new netbook computers. These are smaller than regular laptops, with a screen less than ten inches wide, and are intended to be used primarily to browse the Internet. The price, as low as $200, is hard to beat. As long as you don’t need too much horsepower and can do without some features such as dvd-burning capability, a netbook such as the Dell Ubuntu, which costs about $250, would be a good purchase. Acer also makes a good netbook for around the same price.
If your budget is not quite that tight, you can buy a full-sized laptop, the Compaq Presario CQ60-422DX, for only $330 at Best Buy. This is an extremely good value for the money. The screen is 15.6 inches, and you can burn dual-layer dvds. This computer will serve the needs of 90% of college students.
The best laptops for college students for whom money is not an issue are the ones that have enough horsepower and memory to do the most complex computer tasks such as video editing. The Dell Studio XPS 16 is exceptionally powerful for its price of about $1000, with a 2.13 GHz processor, 3 gigs of RAM, and a 250 GB drive. The even more powerful Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q850, for about $1900, has a bigger screen and adds a Blu-Ray drive. These two have received excellent reviews from many sources.
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