My son may go into a 4/1 computer science program, but at the moment, we want to get him a reasonably priced laptop that he can use for physics. We have been seriously considering Levona Thinkpads. I contacted Del and thought their customer service was absolutely terrible, so I wanted to steer clear from then, though their computers are well recommended. I could potentially get a deal on an HP, but would like to know if there are any specific models people would recommend. I’m open to other suggestions. His department didn’t have any recommendations, except to be able to run the Mathematika program, which would fit the specifications of any computer I’ve looked at.
Don’t get an HP, I’d say to stick with a Thinkpad.
I have a Thinkpad, and it’s great. They have a reputation of durability, which is nice if your son is hard on his electronics. They also have some of the past laptop keyboards - a big bonus for CS where you spend a lot of time typing code.