A computer has become a vital component in a modern students life, so picking the right computer is an important decision which has many important factors that need to be considered when choosing. Laptops are a definite choice as they are light, easy to transport and good for during class, to take notes etc. Looking at the brands is also important as some brands are better than others, i would recommend apple as it has been voted as the best laptop brand by "Laptop Magazine" this year. However apple is quite expensive so if you can't afford a mac there are other good brands to buy.
I have found two laptops, one apple and one Dell inspiron both are good laptops and have a completely different price
1. http://store.apple.com/ie/configure/MD101B/A? Mac 13"
2.http://www.dell.com/ie/p/inspiron-15-3520/pd?oc=n0015m14&model_id=inspiron-15-3520 Dell 15.6"
When looking for a computer what is essential? As a college student there are a few things we need to consider before buying a computer. Firstly RAM, RAM is basically the computers memory and the least amount I think that you should get is 4GB, sometimes you can pay extra to get 8GB, for example with the MAC laptop above it is €100 extra for the extra 4GB. It depends on what course you are in, i'm in applied psychology and at the moment we do a lot of multimedia which means we would go for more RAM on our laptops as we need more. Next is the processor, the speed of the computer, the normal/average speed in 800MHz but with both of these laptops they have a speed of 1600MHz which is good for college as many of the lectures and notes are now all online. Hard drive is also important and this is another which the rule is the more the better, the average is about 500GB. The Rule of the more the betterthis same for most aspects of laptops as the more you have generally the better it is and the longer it lasts i.e RAM+MHz.
There are some things we need to consider when buying a laptop when we are in college, for example the weight of the laptop as we have to carry them around with us, the Mac i have chosen is 2.06kg and the Dell is 2.4kg these are both quite good weights and will benefit from spending a little extra to buy a laptop cover, which can be cheap. Neoprene is a good type of cover as the fabric is very resilient and can be bought on amazon or ebay quite easily and cheaply. Battery power is also important and the time a full battery lasts is important to consider. The Mac has up to 7 hours and the Dell has about a 3 hour battery life.
Something that is also very important for any laptop/computer buyer to consider is anti-virus software, if the computer doesn't have it built in it is essential that you an some anti-virus program me, or some can be free and downloadable which is also fine. With any Mac computer, it is not impossible but it is very very unlikely that a Mac will ever get a virus. Programmes are also important and you should always have or download Microsoft word and the other word programmes (Powerpoint, excel etc.) it is also very useful to get a dropbox or google docs account because you can backup a lot of your work which is very important. You should always back up your work on some sort of network or cloud site.
I personally (possibly with some bias as i am an owner) would choose the Mac because they are very good computers that do not weigh a lot, have a lot of memory, are quick, and generally virus free. But everyone is different and has different needs which they need to consider. I hope this helps people and feel free to comment on this article.
References
http://johnlamansky.com/tech/laptops-for-college-students/
http://www.stateuniversity.com/blog/permalink/Choosing-a-Computer.html
Some interesting points made here
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