First year college student

If he's interested in a convertible laptop I want to put in a plug for Gateway convertible tablets. I'm on my second one and find them to be reliable, sturdy and work well. The first one I had ran XP and was a little glitchy with the pen/screen interaction. But now I am running Vista and find it to be superior and satisfactory in that regard. The computer offers a lot of power, features and storage for the a much less price than competitors. I recently tried an HP TX1420us thinking that I wanted more....as it has a large drive and oodles of features. But the pen/screen interaction was beyond HORRIBLE. One could not take a half a page of notes on the screen before getting serious writers cramp. I learned that this was the way they were and not a flaw with the one I had. Awful. Plus, it was basically a cheap piece of crap with a screen/lid with way too much flex and an inferior pivot hinge. The Gateway has a nice study pivot hinge. And depending on the model, a magnesium case. Perhaps a 12" screen would suit a student better. Mine is 14" and I would hate to have to lug it very far as it's on the heavy side. My main complaint.

I would consider buying a Dell Inspiron Notebook from the Dell Outlet Store. The Web Address is www.Dell.com/Outlet

Here you can find refurbished machines that carry the same warranty as new ones at a very low price. Occasionally they also have scratch and dent laptops that work perfect and are new at a good discount. Dell also has excellent tecnical support with experts who can assist you with any problem that may come up.

People will have different opinions, but for price, quality, ease of set up and reliability i would suggest an ACER notebook, they are available with good spec, try ebuyer and your local retailers http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/search/?strSearch=acer+notebook&bolShowAll=true&intMfrID=174&bolShowAll=true