<p>A cheap laptop costs about $400 to $500. A high end laptop costs $1200 or more.</p>
<p>Two years from now, a $700 to $800 laptop will probably be about as good as or better than a $1200 laptop bought now. (And if you find then that your ray tracing program is not too slow on your cheap laptop, or you don’t take the computer graphics course at all, then you don’t have to spend the money.)</p>