It’s almost that time of year again, it’s time to pick out the computer that’s going to (hopefully) serve your student faithfully for the next few years. Retailers will be preparing for the upcoming back-to-school drive and now is the time to start doing some research so you can choose the machine that’s going to give you the best combination of performance and reliability.

Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way first, get a notebook. There isn’t a single tangible reason to go with a non-portable system such as a desktop or all-in-one. Your student is going to benefit greatly from being able to bring the computer with them throughout the day and if they find themselves living in cramped quarters they’ll appreciate the small footprint and lack of cables. That isn’t to say that notebooks don’t have their own disadvantages, we’ll address those later on.

In recent years Apple has made some serious gains in market share and their computers have become very popular with the student population. Thank the brand recognition associated with that iPod you got them for Christmas or Microsoft’s failure to please with Vista’s release, an Apple notebook is the trendy thing to have these days. They aren’t just eye candy either, Apple’s current systems have proven very reliable and it’s true that the OSX operating system is significantly less prone to infection than anything Microsoft offers.

There are a few downsides, the biggest being the cost, to match the features of a standard PC notebook you can expect to pay a hefty sum. Compatibility used to be the big deal breaker but you’ll find that Macs play very well with existing PC networks and printers and have a very respectable software library. The other catch is that Apple has been steadily switching over to sealed batteries which means you won’t be able to pop in a spare if you get low on juice. This may not be an issue as the current Aluminum-clad MacBooks are rated at a minimum (under ideal conditions) of 7 hours.

Let’s throw everything into a fancy table and see if that clears things up a bit. For this comparison we’ll try to keep the machines as close as possible. Representing Apple will be the 13.3” MacBook Pro (2.26ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2gb DDR3 RAM, 160gb hard drive, nVidia GeForce 9400M, $1,199 MSRP) and our choice for PC will be the new 13.3” Dell Studio XPS (2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gb DDR3 RAM, 500gb hard drive, nVidia GeForce 9400M, $899 MSRP.)

I hope that clears things up a bit, although it becomes an even harder decision after you count up the incidentals that a PC purchase will require. Our PC in this case still comes in $130 lower than its MacBook counter-part and packs a significantly bigger hard drive, double the RAM, and a faster processor.

Once you have picked your platform you’ll need to narrow the field a bit more by choosing the properly sized screen. This isn’t too tough, your typical notebook is available with screens that are either 13.3”, 14.1”, or 15.4”. There are a few exceptions with units dipping as low as 12.1” and as high as 19” but the prices begin to get ridiculous and anything above 15.4” is difficult to lug around. You’ll also want to keep in mind that battery life decreases by a noticeable amount as the screens increase in size. I’ve had a few notebooks in a variety of sizes and have always been fond of the 13.3” models for their portability, battery life, and weight.

Keyboards and trackpads should remain roughly the same size on just about every chassis 13.3” and above and the smaller screens are very readable and provide plenty of room to work as long as the screen resolution is at 1280×800 or better. If your student is going to be doing a lot of graphic, design, or CAD work you will want to go to a larger, high resolution screen backed by a dedicated graphics processor. An example of a good model to look into would be the Dell Studio XPS 16” which has an option for a display that will output 1920×1080 (much higher than a standard 15.4/16” unit), has excellent color reproduction capabilities, a dedicated nVidia graphics processor and won’t be too much of a pain to lug around.

Now we’re on the home stretch, once you get to this point you should have just a handful of models to compare. You’ll find that the actual specifications themselves don’t vary much from here on out, some machines may have a little more RAM, a larger hard drive, or a processor that has a little more oomph. Let’s break down the different specifications and what they mean to you.

• Processor – Intel dominates the game in the notebook market, their Core 2 Duo processor is as good as it gets and comes in a variety of variations. The other two options are the Pentium Mobile and AMD Turion 64×2 series. I’d avoid any notebook with either of these two processors, they will severely limit the machine’s performance potential and will negatively affect battery life.
• Memory – 4gb of RAM is the standard and is actually a pretty generous amount. You’ll want to avoid notebooks below this amount as they will most likely be loaded with a 32-bit OS which will limit the amount of RAM you can install to a little over 3gb. The exception to this are the MacBooks, OSX is pretty good with memory management and will make the most of what you can put into it. Keep in mind that RAM is pretty cheap and easy to upgrade in the future.
• Hard Drive – Hard drive capacity will vary from 160gb to 500gb and beyond. As with RAM bigger is better but you will also want to look at the speed of the drive. A decent notebook hard drive will be running at 5400rpm while high-end machines may have 7200rpm drives installed. Avoid cheap machines with 4200rpm drives installed. Storage space can be added externally through USB connected hard drives but is difficult to bolster internally in the future.
• Graphics processing – There are two main types of graphics hardware present in notebooks, your graphics processor will either be integrated into the motherboard or will be a dedicated card in higher-end machines. Sometimes it can be difficult to tell which is which without a bit of research, for certain anything with Intel Media Accelerator graphics is integrated. Integrated graphics aren’t a deal breaker but typically won’t provide the best experience if your student is going to be doing graphic, design, or CAD work. Dedicated graphics also provide a much better gaming experience.
• Battery – This is one of the most overlooked specifications, your typical battery will be a 6-cell lithium ion pack and can provide up to 5 hours of battery life under light use. Some models are available with 9-cell packs that can give up to 8 hours of juice. These aren’t as common and many times will stick out of the bottom of the notebook, make sure to find out where the extra cells sit on the unit.

As a rule students tend to be very hard on their machines, the constant transportation of the unit and sheer hours of use take their toll, you’ll definitely need to get them a well padded notebook carrier to cut down on the number of knocks the unit has to take. These carriers come in a wide variety of sizes and styles (including backpacks with an integrated notebook sleeve,) the most important thing is to get one that fits the notebook snugly and provides plenty of padding.

If you went Apple this isn’t going to matter much, but it is incredibly important to have strong protection software installed. College networks consist of large numbers of student computers connected across campus by a section of the population that’s really good at picking up nasty infections. While not as important, it’s also not a bad idea to have the machine setup and optimized professionally. PC manufacturers are notorious for loading their machines with tons of trialware and useless (sometimes dangerous) OEM gizmos. A professional can clear this junk out , optimized the system to run at its peak and set it up to take care of itself with minimal maintenance.

Lastly we need to cover warranty service, service plans, and how to prepare for the worst. The industry standard warranty will be one year parts and labor but does not cover accidental damage or wear and tear. Depending on the place of purchase you should be able to purchase any number of different service plans, typically I don’t recommend these plans but in the case of student or business machines I highly recommend the purchase of a plan that covers accidental damage. The cost of these plans can be a bit shocking at first glance but there is a much higher chance with a student’s machine that you’ll need to use it. Also keep in mind that no warranty or service plan covers data or software, please check out our Backup Guide after your laptop is in the student’s hands and get them in the habit of keeping regular backups of their data.

I hope this guide helps and hopefully the machine you chose serves your student well for the next few years. Happy notebook hunting!