<p>Can anyone recommend a good, reasonably priced laptop? I'd like to keep it under $1,000. Those advertised in the college catalog seemed overpriced.</p>
<p>I liked my HP a lot when I was in high school and it was under $1000. Keep in mind, however, that a sub $1000 laptop probably won't last you all 4 years of college without some serious upgrades. Also, I can guarantee you that the Duke computers are <em>not</em> overpriced, especially when you factor in the 4 year insurance coverage. No doubt it's an investment, but one that I feel has been more than worth it so far. The Lenovos, Dells, and Macs they sell are all very solid models that you can't really go wrong with.</p>
<p>I comparison priced some of the laptops from the Duke Blue Devil catalog -- exact same models -- against the internet and it appears the four year warranty is adding about $400 to the price of the computers. Do you think it's still worth it to buy a computer through the university? I'd like to hear from people who ordered theirs online through other sources. What did you buy? Are you satisified with your laptop?</p>
<p>I got mine online through Dell and it was like $700. Towards the end of the summer they have a ton of rebates so you can get one for pretty cheap. I didn't go for the 4 year warranty because I figure I'll want a new laptop by junior or senior year so I won't really care if mine breaks.</p>
<p>the $400 warranty that Duke tacks on is worth it if you have bad luck and your computer breaks a lot. That way, you can always bring it to Duke and they'll fix it for you for all 4 years that you'll use it at Duke.</p>
<p>On the other hand, these warranties are generally not worth it if you are not using it for business. the thing is, if you buy a laptop using a premium credit card (Visa Platinum, AmEx Platinum, etc) or even through a store like Costco, many of have added benefits like doubling manufacturer's warranty up to a year. So you actually get a 2 year standard warranty on a laptop rather than the 1 year that it usually comes with. The downside is that you have to go through the customer service and usually don't deal directly with a technician face to face like if you bought it from Duke.</p>