Overview

the 1st one is faster. max out the RAM when you can get the chance. RAM isn't too expensive, and it gives noticeable speed improvements.

college folks may want a swivel display, if they can afford it. HP is one of the few manufacturers who makes those.

I suggest that people avoid purchasing the Microsoft Office Product Key only and using their starter edition to upgrade. I recommend unbinstalling the starter eddition and removing all vestiges of it, getting the full retail version of microsoft office (not product key, not upgrade, not starter edition).

starter edition of 2010 is not always going to be around to upgrade from when years go by. just look at 2007 and 2003.... if something goes wrong, like a virus or filesystem corruption or other need for a system restore from the system, restore partition, or a hard drive replacement, you will want system recovery/restore discs (purchase those separately or generate your own immediately using the app provided) and official office install media. uninstall the starter edition before installing the FULL version of microsoft office.

an alternative is to get the free microsoft-office 2007-compatible OpenOffice.org or LibreOffice (you must specifically save as ms formats). those free versions do not have publisher. The industry uses Adobe InDesign.

as for laptop, acer timeline or timelinex has the longest battery life of any laptop (8 hours). The Sony F series has a 14-hour battery yuou can tack on. this could be useful for college during study hall & meetings or group stuff when power plugs may not be available.

Li-Ion batteries don't have a memory, so you can charge and discharge them as much or as little as you need. replacing a battery costs $150 should you need to do it, (you may or may not have to within the lifespan of your computer).

acer is generally a good brand, and sony makes the top-end consumer laptop. but if you are looking to do heavy CAD or rendering or Adobe stuff, get a GoBoxx.

Laptops have a high repair and maintenance cost compared to desktops, and are much harder to work on - rats nest of wires to open up (IF you can open it up).

• replacement of a keyboard is about $200-$229. typically required with age or liquid spillage.
• cost to replace screen $600 (cost of new laptop: $600),except on toshiba, which is $329
• cost to replace motherboard $800 (cost of new laptop: $600), excepet on toshiba which is $329.
• $75 to clean laptop cpu cooler - this is one of the basic necessities every 2-3 years more frequently if you have cats - the fine hair gets in the cpu cooler fins, builds up, and stops the fan eventually, which causes thermal cpu shutdown. see this article on hp dv laptops. $229 for toshiba.

Getting an Extended Warranty on a laptop or printer is agood thing, as far as you can extend it out - this means support phone calls - ask as many questions as you can, like the steps to do a system recovery, at some point you are going to need to do that, about 1-3 years from the time you get the machine (file corruption can set in). by that time, your warranty may or may not have run out and support will cost $50/call.

If you are going to go for microsoft office 2010, I suggest Pro. it comes with pretty much everything (except project mgmt and diagramming, those are separate, microsoft versions cost lots of money, but the microsoft project is worth it if you need it).

since you are in school, you can buy the academic versions of your programs at your college bookstore using your college ID and get a major discount! (be sure to browse your college bookstore before hand, they get crowded on the first day! if you can visit on an off day, that would be best...) books will be heavy (bookbag?).

you will need a laptop bag as well. If you can find something different for a laptop bag that doesn't look like a laptop bag yet protects the laptop, this would be good.

friendly advice: buy a laptop cooler and a USB hub!

if you would like to spare your USB ports from electrical & physical damage and prevent having to replace the motherboard (about the price of a laptop), get a USB hub. they are $20-$40. saves them from overload, wobble, and wear, and dongles.

get a fan-based laptop cooler with high CFM rating if you want to prevent lockups/hangs, automatic shutdowns in the middle of work, crashes, slowdowns (sweveral things can cause that), flakiness.

make sure you label your usb cords with the device name and wrap the labels with scotch tape so they don't come undone. for instance, you may have multiple USB hubs in the house, so just don't say "USB hub" unless you always buy the same kind. you might say "blue usb hub" or "4-port irocks blue USB hub". I use a Dymo labeller and I've used it a lot.

don't swap out or try different mini usb cables with products or you could end up sparking and smoking something. regular large USB cable ends are fine.

using laptop as a desktop?

If you are intending to use your laptop as a desktop, simply remove the battery. the long term effects of charging all the time are detrimental (most types of batteries I know of don't like that). it depdends upon the laptop. if your laptop manualsays don't remove the battery with the AC adaper plugged in, then don't. it depends upon how the charging circuits are designed.

Desktop Replacements and workstations

laptops with long battery life (hours)

laptops in order of speed

software

accessories