Dear kgirl2005,

The university where I work provides information about standard or minimal configurations. If you're looking to buy a new machine, most universities maintain arrangment with a number of the vendors for academic pricing which can be a modest or significant savings depending. In addition, you can get the extended warranty (3 years plus or minus) as part of the purchase. While I wouldn't offer up an opinion on a brand etc., I would suggest that you go to you intended university's web site and see what they recommend. Also, contact the accounting department at the school and determine the minimum config. One other thing to consider is support. Check to see whether on-campus support/repair will work on your machine. My institution will, but there's usually a signficant fee and a long wait. Furthermore, institutional help desks may not have the necessary troubleshooting software to evaluate the odd machine.

Best of luck. My daughter is on her way to university in the fall. We've already picked out a nicely configured laptop thanks to my IT person.

Jim