Best college for international business major?

What laptop would be best for a business major (accounting) in college?

• I am going to be in college next year and am beginning to take a look at different laptops. I am pretty sure I am going to major in accounting and need help deciding what computer would be best. I really like the MacBook but I can't due to compatibility issues (quickbooks, peachtree are not supported by mac, etc). For PC's I really like the ThinkPads and Dell. Any business/accounting majors have any advice? What laptop do you recommend for me? I'm looking in the $800-$1200 range and i would hope for at least 120gb and 2 gb ram. Thanks!!

• Answer:

  I'm not a business/accounting major, but I've bought a few notebook computers in my life. I need to make a few assumptions before making a recommendation: most students like lighter notebooks, and a larger screen which is viewable outside seems desirable. Given this, I recommend the Thinkpad T61. I like the Thinkpad brand, and the T61 is a good fit. You can customize it and still be within your budget. I suggest that you get the 2G as a single DIMM, leaving one slot free for later. You might want to add another 2G down the line. I recommend selecting the WSXGA+ display, since it is easier to read if you take your computer outside to work. For another $23, I recommend upgrading to the 160GB 7200RPM drive. I like applications to open quickly, and disk speed is a big factor. (So is RAM if you have a lot of applications open at once). You also have the option of using a MacBook and running quickbooks et.al. under VMWare. I doubt you could do this within your budget, but I'll mention it for completeness. I poked around on the Lenovo web site, and this configuration would be around $1000.