I need to buy a laptop for use at Penn.

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
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<p>Yeah, XP will be fine from a practical standpoint. You may want to get Office 2007 though since it's quickly becoming the standard (and has a really cheap ultimate version student license for 60 bucks .::</a> Microsoft presents :: The Ultimate Steal ::.)</p>

<p>(off topic:)
As a technical standard, if you enter as a freshman in 2008 with XP, that means people are saying they essentially want to use XP into 2012 and I wonder how Microsoft will continue to support it. Vista does have some fundamental changes, but adoption has been slower than they wanted. It'll be interesting to see in a year (or two) what percentage of the population is using what. As for Penn, they (ISC) will continue to support whatever's dominant on campus, and the trend to Linux and Mac only means more diverse support for XP as well.</p>

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<p>If you have questions about purchasing a Dell, please feel free to email me, Davinah- UPenn's Dell Rep. I can be reached by email, <a href="mailto:DChilds@dellrep.com">DChilds@dellrep.com</a></p>

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<p>Also, thanks for asking me questions! I hope it helps...</p>

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<p>And what about Sony laptops?
What do you think about Sony Vaio SZ series?
Is it a good laptop for Wharton freshman?</p>

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<p>College student on a budget? My perpetual recommendation would be to look into Linux. It's sort of like a free Mac. It's even more invulnerable to viruses (I think it's something like .01% of viruses work on it, and even those really suck at doing anything), faster (designed lighterweight), better graphics/effects (for example, you can make have 4 desktops, and have them displayed on a cube. So one face could have your office apps, another games, another email/internet, etc), its more stable (few freezeups and no blue screen) and best of all, again, it's free. Which shaves off 100-400$ on your computer. And because its faster, you can get a cheaper computer with it. All in all, you generally can get a linux computer for half the price of a similar Windows/Mac.
The only reason I would tell you not to get one is that gaming, though possible, is not easy on a Linux computer. Certain games actually work better, such as Unreal Tournament, but unless the game is designed for Linux, there's a chance it might not work at all. But if you don't PC game, then you'll have no problems.
If you have any questions about Linux, you can always pm me!</p>