<p>Dear Parents, I have posted this question in the summer program thread as well. I am looking for some help from many experience parents here. My S is going to attend Northwestern University’s College Prep program this summer. I am wondering if a laptop is required or a good idea. I am hoping some of the former College Prep students’ parents might be able to share their experience. Thank you.</p>
<p>Can anyone help. Thanks</p>
<p>Call the school and ask.</p>
<p>My d did Cornell’s summer program. Everyone had a laptop (at least everyone she met).</p>
<p>One of my daughters went to Columbia summer program last year, and she took an old laptop. She said almost everyone had one, but not everyone. She had papers to write, and she found it much easier to work in her own room. They print into a central system, so a printer was not necessary. (She also was able to continue her facebook/myspace/livejournal addiction without feeling guilty that she was using someone else’s computer time.)</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot to mention that my d did take a printer, even though there was a central printing area. She became very popular at 2 in the morning, when kids didn’t want to run across the quad to the printing center!</p>
<p>my daughter is going to Exeter summer program and is bringing a laptop though not a printer. I think it will be useful in one of her classes (psych), but also for email etc. I HOPE she won’t be printing at 2am, but if she is that is her own time management experience that she is gaining :-0 We also have a laptop lock and have very strongly encouraged her to keep it locked in her room for the most part and that it probably won’t be necessary to bring to classes. I hope she agrees this is the best solution.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for all the good information. Looks like a laptop is good idea. Any suggestion for a good one for this summer and may be college later. Thank you again.</p>
<p>Any suggestion of laptop computer choice? Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>@ leungpy1 (#9): Get your Sunday paper as soon as it’s delivered – or find a Saturday evening release of Sunday’s paper at a street vendor. Then check out the sale circulars from the stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA and other retailers that sell computers (office supply stores and some of the big boxes). For $350-$450 (after rebates, of course), you can find a laptop that will be awesome. Maybe – and that’s a big maybe – you will want to get a memory upgrade. Otherwise (excluding software) it will have everything and more that a student needs, probably everything that a student wants, and more. </p>
<p>Whatever laptop they feature on the cover of the circular will totally rock for a high school kid, so don’t spend lots of effort learning about RAM, ethernet, etc., as you’ll get more than enough. Do spend $10-20 more for a computer with a hard drive that’s 40GB larger or double the RAM – but you’ll be getting a good deal even if you miss out on the best possible deal of the day.</p>
<p>Oh, and once you see the sales, try to grab the item on-line. The best deals tend to fly out the stores. You can save yourself some bouncing around and even “cut ahead” of someone who goes to a store by going on-line and requesting “in-store pickup” for your product. Some sales only work if you show up, but try on-line even if you see this because that sometimes means that you have to use “in-store pickup” and can’t order the product from the central warehouse.</p>
<p>Now here’s the catch. The computers are all Vista. Vista doesn’t work – from what I hear – with MS Office 2003 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). So you have to buy MS Office 2007. (Get the Teacher and Student edition…which is cheap, contains 3 licenses, but no upgrade privileges, and sold by Amazon for $122 and many brick-and-mortar retailers for $149 or less.) You do get a 30-day trial version of MS Office 2007 installed with the laptop, so – in theory – that can get your child through a month-long summer program. If that’s possible, I’d consider waiting to see if Microsoft addresses some compatibility issues before buying MS Office 2007. For that matter, if you can figure out how to do this, I would hold off on buying a Vista computer until after the summer in order to let others be the guinea pigs to work through Vista’s bugs. But if you gotta get a computer, do it on Sunday.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the good information.</p>
<p>It’s information. And it’s copious. But remember this: I never said it was good information. :)</p>
<p>I posted in your other thread in the Summer Programs forum and I have a few more suggestions. I agree with the previous poster about the Sunday circulars. That is where I have found all of my computers. Before you go out and buy it though, check around online for that model, and the store you plan to buy it from. There is usually some type of online special, often saving you between 5 and 30%. The front page specials are usually bloated, and not necessarily whate you would need, but if you find an excellent deal, go out an get it as soon as you can. Here are some minimal, yet comfortable specs:</p>
<p>1GB RAM
80GB HD
802.11g Wireless
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive
*size of the computer varies, although it is harder to pack and find cheap cases for 17" computers. A small computer, like 14.5" is a nice size, but again, size isn’t most important here</p>
<p>The computer that you end up purchasing will most likely come with Vista and a 60 day Office 2007 trial. For students, word processing software is a must, but there are other free options out there. OpenOffice is free and has the same functionality as the Office suite. You can even save in the Microsoft .doc, .ppt, and .xls formats. There are a few kinks still to be worked out in Vista, but the OS is still comfortably usable. I’m actually using it right now. No problems except for a few software programs that aren’t compatible. It’s pretty easy to get used to, not like switching to a Mac or anything.</p>
<p>Also, make sure you have anti-virus software. There are free options there too, but you may already have lisensces of another program.</p>
<p>Most entertainment or media themed notebooks are perfect for what teenagers plan to use them for. They usually com pre-loaded with music and video software. With a quick search I found this one, which is a pretty good deal, but you can find something a little less powerful for maybe 50-$100 less. This one comes with Vista Home Premium, which is better than Vista Home Basic.
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<p>Depending on dorm security, you may also want to invest in a laptop lock. They are cheap, around 10-$15.</p>