5 Best Laptops for Students of All Ages

As summer nears its end and July turns to August, it's once again time for school and the back to school sells that usher in the new school year. When I was a kid, back to school sales meant stocking up on pencils, paper and getting a new pair of shoes. In today's technology driven world, back to school sales are as much about computers as books. Here is a list of the top five laptops for students of all ages.

Sony VAIO E-Series 14" Core i3 2.53 GHz

My personal favorite laptop from this year's lineup is the Sony VAIO E-Series 14" Core i3 2.53 GHz. I just purchased one of these, and am very pleased with its performance. Intel's hyper-threading technology takes multitasking capability to a new level. The feel of the keyboard and physical design features make the new VAIOs look and feel like far superior devices. They are a little pricey at $598.99 (Wal-Mart), but I knew I wouldn't be satisfied with a lesser computer. This particular model comes with 4GB of RAM, and I get over 5 hours of battery life.

Toshiba - Mini Netbook Intel Atom Processor 10.1"

The most efficacious practice for buying portable computers is to buy small, cheap, and often. All computers suffer from degradation of performance over time that is proportionate to their workload. At $229.99 from Best Buy, the Toshiba Mini Netbook is almost as disposable as a Bic razor. The Mini's 8 hours of battery life will keep you charged during an entire day of classes, and the 1GB DDR3 memory is expandable if you find the computing power lacking. The 10.1 inch screen keeps its overall size small but adequate, perfect for cramped desks. There is no optical drive, but a netbook will cover the student's basic needs of completing school work and accessing the internet. It does it surprisingly well at such a low price.

Apple MacBook Air 13" 1.7GHz Intel Core i5

For years I have recommended only computers that operate on the Windows OS. Apple has made some major advances in support and compatibility, finally making their devices a viable alternative to PCs running a Windows OS. Coming in at $1299 for the standard 13", Apple's MacBook Air is slightly lighter than Toshiba's Mini, half as thick and has 3" more screen size. The i5 processor, 128GB flash storage hard drive and Apple's OS X Lion leaves little room for dissatisfaction. This particular model gets 7 hours of battery time, and can be put on standby for 30 days. Remember that using a Mac seems foreign if you are used to Windows (for instance using additional fingers on the touch pad executes different commands). You may want to test one before you spend $1,300.

Lenovo - AMD E-Series Processor 15.6" 4GB

This year's best more for your money full sized laptop is the Lenovo running an AMD E-Series dual core processor. Other comparably priced PCs only have 2GB RAM. Lenovo's machine gives you twice as much computing ability, a 15.6" screen, and even includes a built in finger print reader, a feature normally reserved for high end laptops. This laptop is priced to sell at $299.99, however the camera is of low quality and the sound could be better. This model comes with a 320GB hard drive, 1.6GHz processor and does include a DVD±RW/CD-RW drive. Lenovo computers have been known to have hardware issues in rare cases, but Best Buy is good about replacing faulty devices.

Dell XPS Intel Core i7 17.3" 8GB

While I recommend buying a reasonably priced computer and upgrading the RAM, some students are going to want the newest and fastest right off the shelf. The Dell XPS with a Core i7 processor is one of the fastest computers I have ever laid eyes on. Every feature of this laptop is top of the line, but the price is a cool $1,049.99 at Best Buy. Coming in $250 cheaper and containing infinitely superior hardware than the MacBook Air, you have to be a pretty big Apple fan boy to pass this device up. Battery time is ample at 3-5 hours, and the 8GB RAM is expendable to 16GB if you really want to speed on the information superhighway. The XPS includes a 9 in 1 media card reader, 1 TB hard drive and Wireless-N networking. The 2.0MP hi-def camera and 17.3" WLED high definition display lend themselves well to video chat and all sorts of multimedia.