[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by Unleash_the_Phury

600 bucks for a laptop, you better spend the required money to get the best anti-virus on earth, and don't download a thing onto it, because within 8 months you'll be seeing blue-screens like they were pigeons; everywhere, all the time, and accompanied by shit.

I myself am going into my third year, and I had my previous laptop (799 at Future Shop) for maybe half that time. The rest of the time it was in Surrey or Toronto or God knows where getting fixed for the same damn issues over and over. With laptops especially, you get what you pay for, and with a 600 dollar computer, you're not getting too much.

I've since bought a Macbook, and it's been the most incredible machine I've ever owned. Despite it's admittedly steep price, I think the benefit of having my own computer throughout the course of a full academic year makes up for it. If you're in your first year, I'd hold onto your money and save to buy a Mac as soon as you can; not only is everyone at your school going to be telling you this within a week of you having been there, but in all honesty you won't likely need to write more than seven or eight papers anyway, depending on your major, which can most likely be done in your library. And as a first year, familiarizing yourself with the library's inner workings is going to be an invaluable skill as you progress. Trust me on this.

Not really. There are some good laptops that are very inexpensive right now. As far as the virus, as long as you have protection software, and aren't dumb, you shouldn't have trouble.