<p>all arguments aside - get whatever laptop you want, it won't make any difference. Just don't let your dad get you a cheapo laptop - it'll be sooo slow by the time you're a senior! (speaking from personal experience here...)</p>
<p>I know I read on NYU's website that Stern recommends Dell Latitude and Lenovo Thinkpad. I think outside of that, it's totally a matter of preference.</p>
<p>I don't think you can buy Latitudes directly from Dell anymore. It's either an Inspiron or XPS.</p>
<p>Doesn't matter what you get as long as you're not using it for art/animation. Otherwise, just get a 1k pc instead of a 2k mac because you're only going to use it for word processing, surfing the web, and watching a couple of videos. No need to go all out and find that the price has dropped after one year.</p>