<p>Check alienware.com - their laptops are one of the best in the world. Also Dell XPS is good too, though both of them are expensive</p>
<p>Irbis, only if they intend to game on it..... besides whats the point of staying indoors playing pc games!?!?! Go out have some fun and buy a $1,000 dollar laptop that is functional, cheap and practical....</p>
<p>I am gonna buy laptop for $3,000. That's my personal decision</p>
<p>i think i'm going to make the apple switch. they're just so goddamn pretty.</p>
<p>i opted for an hp because of a VERY bad experience a good friend had with dell and their 'wonderful customer service'. basically the computer was a lemon and they refused to do anything about it, despite the fact it was under warranty. my family has always had hps and i absolutely love them. no complaints here! apples ARE pretty, but they just irk me when I have to use them at school. I really don't know why.</p>
<p>I bought my laptop through our school's computer store. It came with a four year protection plan, free case and an ipod shuffle. I'm currently living in a dorm and haven't heard of one stolen laptop yet. Between the laptop lock, your door lock, your dorm's locks, I think it'd be pretty difficult to have it stolen. ALWAYS lock your dorm door when you're not home and at night.</p>
<p>(i don't mind others asking laptop questions, don't worry)</p>
<p>one more question...what size screen (14" or 15") does everyone suggest?
i've mostly been looking at 14"s because they just seem more compact and well laid out, whereas the 15"s seem big and bulky and awkward. but the 15 would probably be better for the eyes, and just have more space in general...thoughts?</p>
<p>17"</p>
<p>The bigger, the better.</p>
<p>I don't mind the extra weight.</p>
<p>Get a Macbook Pro. You can dual boot OSX and WINXP.</p>
<p>I agree that a Dell would be best as far as PCs go.
Also, a lock would be advisable to prevent theft. Laptop locks are about $20, I believe, and often come with laptop packages. The one I have uses a butterfly screw-like design made of steel that is inserted into the computer case (on the side) and has wings that come out like a barbed thorn and prevent the lock from being removed from the computer. It is then secured to a desk or anything else the chord can be wrapped around. The lock works because it is actually stronger than the computer's motherboard (which is what it actually connects to on the inside of the computer), so if someone were to manage to pull the computer away from the lock, it would leave a gaping hole in my laptop and be quite obviously stolen. Getting an older or less expensive laptop to prevent theft may or may not really lower your risk simply because a thief probably isn't going to actually look the laptop over before walking off with it. Usually it happens when a student (or their roommate) leaves their room door open and someone sees an empty room and walks in and grabs the laptop and walks off. I would hope it'd not be one of your son's friends, so it's unlikely to be a jealousy issue.</p>
<p>anyone have opinions about the screen size? at this point it's the only thing that will determine which laptop i buy...</p>
<p>At the beggining I though about getting 17'' one, but recently I went to Office Depot just to look at screen sizes, 17'' is HUGE, too big, heave and eats a lot of battery, but for me 12'' or 14'' are too small. So go with 15.4'', they are nice</p>
<p>I love the size of the macbook pro- 15.4. I like anything in the 15'' range. 17 inches just are a lot harder to lug around and they're just too big for most people. Sure, 17'' is the best for dvd watching, graphic editing, and such, but I'd rather spring for a desktop rather than have a laptop that loses portability.</p>
<p>As for the question about the Dell XPS M140 - it's pretty good, but prone to weirdness sometimes. I left it in hibernate mode once for a bit longer than usual and I came back to a completely warped screen. It also makes an incessant humming sound when uploading CDs and sometimes won't connect to the Internet properly, but overall it's nice and light and good for the average computer user.</p>