<p>If you are going to go with a laptop (which i suggest) Check into Toshiba’s. They are very very nice and decently priced… definatley MUCH better laptops than dell and any of the others in their price range. their quality is just awesome. if you check around christmas time you can usually find a really good deal on one. i got like 500 dollars off in rebates on my laptop, and its great. mine ended up being about 800 dollars and it’s a 2.4 ghz, 512 ram, 40 gig hard drive, wireless internet, 64mb video, 15 inch screen, and lots of other little goodies. my roommate has a new sony vaio and she likes hers a lot, i dont know much about them but i’m sure theyre still better than a dell.</p>
<p>If you have the money and like mac’s, powerbooks are wonderful toys :)</p>
<p>Is theft a major issue with laptops on campuses? Should it be a major deterrant from choosing to lap.? How do you best avoid/deal with this problem?</p>
<p>As emsibdn mentioned above, I go to a school where all the students are given laptops. I suppose that each of us having our own limits theft on campus. I’ve heard that laptop theft is a bigger issue on other campuses, though. But it’s really easy to protect your computer. As I’ve already mentioned, I lock my computer whenever it’s sitting in my room. Laptop locks are relatively inexpensive and easy to work; mine was about $35 (from my ridiculously overpriced college bookstore), and it’s the type with a combination that you can set rather than the type with a key to lock and unlock it. Whenever I take my computer somewhere, I don’t let it out of my sight. If it’s in my bookbag, my bookbag goes everywhere with me, and I don’t take my computer anywhere that I know I’m going to have to leave somewhere. I feel like I’m pretty safe with my computer, and I’ve never really felt like I was in any danger of having it stolen. My constant vigilance (to use a term from Harry Potter) is more of a result of my knowing just how much my computer is worth rather than a real fear that it will be stolen.</p>
<p>USC thought it was an important enough issue last year to invite 4 companies to participate in a student safe pilot program. University safe co was the overwhelming choice. the offered to install one of these for each student at $105.00 per year. the safe can be seen at notebooksafe.com
they have these in cardinal gardens in E and F</p>
<p>Go with a laptop. However, they are often stolen by other students so make sure you have yours locked up even when it’s just hanging out in your dorm room. You can get a Kensington lock or something like it for about 30 bucks.</p>