Today is July 23. That means that most school systems have roughly 5 weeks before that first Autumn bell rings. For many of us that means nothing. Our school days have given way to 9 hour work days, 30-minute lunch breaks, hour-long commutes, paid vacation (of 10 business days or less per year) and a future of middle management. But to students that means it is time to check out the latest, greatest batch of PCs; desktop and laptop.

2007 was the first year that laptops outdid desktops with 57% of computer purchases being for the former. The lives of todays tech generation is one that is constantly on the go and somehow lugging around a monitor, tower and peripheral devices just doesn’t seem attractive any longer. But how does one know what to buy? What will offer the biggest bang for the buck? What is a solid investment and what is junk that will have to be replaced by mid-terms? Allow me, if I may, suggest the seasons two best purchases - 1 Dell and 1 Apple.

Starting at $499 the Dell Inspiron 1525 is a solid computer. Not only can you choose the color you prefer (I would love to have an olive green laptop…just seems extra eco-friendly for some reason) but you can choose from a bevy of extra options. For this exercise though I want to make mention of the standard features.

• Intel® Celeron® 550 (2.0GHz, 533Mhz, 1M L2 Cache)
• Genuine Windows Vista® SP1 Home Basic Edition
• Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280×800)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
• Size: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
• CD Writer / DVD player (Combo Drive)
• Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini-Card
• No Webcam Option
• 6 cell battery
• High Definition Audio 2.0
• McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days
• Microsoft Works
  
• 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service
• Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr
• 6 Months FREE EarthLink Internet Access
• Integrated 10/100 Network Card
• Integrated Modem
• Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1
• Windows Vista™ Basic
• Intel#174; CELERON#174; Processor

For $500 more the stylish student can go for the Macbook by Apple which gives a bit more creative juice to the average computer platform. You can either purchase the PC in black or white and a barebones model boasts:

• MagSafe power port
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• Mini-DVI port
• FireWire 400 port (up to 400 Mbps)
• Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
• Audio line in
• Audio line out
• Kensington cable lock slot
• 2.1GHz or 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
• 800MHz frontside bus
• 1GB (two 512MB SO-DIMMs) or 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GB
• 120GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard disk drive; optional 160GB or 250GB 5400-rpm drive⁴
• 24x slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
• Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking² (based on IEEE 802.11n draft specification); IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)
• Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard (includes Time Machine, Quick Look, Spaces, Spotlight, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Safari, Address Book, QuickTime, iCal, DVD Player, Photo Booth, Front Row, Xcode Developer Tools)
• iLife ’08 (includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb, GarageBand)