<p>[Newegg.com</a> - PCs & Laptops,Laptops, Notebooks & Netbooks,Laptops / Notebooks,$500 - $750](<a href=“Are you a human?”>Are you a human?)</p>
<p>You can actually get very decent notebooks for $600. Definitely more than sufficient to run matlab/whatever other programs you’ll need. Dedicated memory hog programs (oh god bioinformatics) will probably be run on their own machines. Anything with 2 gigs of memory should be fine and dandy.</p>
<p>I really, really wouldn’t recommend linux unless you’re comfortable with it. You might be apt to spend more time trying to install vernier tools software than anything else.</p>
<p>Windows Vista and XP are the most readily supported (since some of the lab software can be updated infrequently and cobbled together based on the instructor’s preferences), but Windows 7 will probably work out fine.</p>