What is the best computer you can recommend for a first year computer science student?

My son is taking up computer science and he says he needs a new laptop. The specs he gives me are quite over the top and very expensive! Should I follow him and buy what he needs or is there another alternative? What do you recommend? What does a student ( he eventually wants to create software for games) in his age range need?





Other parents suggest different things and I am thoroughly confused at this point.





Please give me a specific brand of computer and its specifications. This will help me greatly!!!





Thank you so much!!

What is the best computer you can recommend for a first year computer science student?
If he is doing computer science and what to learn about computing, I'd suggest a Dell laptop running Ubuntu Linux.





http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segto...





Great for programming too - you get a whole Gnu C++ development environment, plus perl, python etc... :)
Reply:You don't need a Ferrari to teach a guy how to drive





I don't know about the others, but i took computer science. I did all the programming courses, graphics courses, also tried multiple operating systems beyond mac, linux, unix and windows. I did all this without a powerful computer. Honestly for the first year, he doesn't really need a powerful computer. He'll be stuck doing the basics first and it usually doesn't take much processing power.





Besides, if he's a computer major, I'm sure most of their lessons Will be conducted in computer labs. In my university, computer science students have the least number of laptops because normally everything is provided for by the school. We only needed laptops for additional paperwork when having study groups.





Laptops for computer science majors are used mostly like other laptops are.... for surfing the internet and word processing..





If he's really serious about having lots of computing power, get him a cheap laptop, and a powerful desktop he can practice on at home. You still end up saving rather than buying a really expensive high end laptop which will become obsolete in a year.





If he does end up creating games, he'll probably need a more powerful computer. With computers, its always best to invest at the last minute because prices will always drop. So get it later of when he really needs it.
Reply:Toshiba makes the best laptops. I would highly recommend a Toshiba Satellite M65-S9092.
Reply:Macs are becoming increasingly popular..they are my favorite computer, and in the long run pay for themselves.





You can get a MacBook with 1GB RAM, 120GB Hard Drive, CD %26amp; DVD Burner, Remote, and the entertainment apps for $1,299. Plus there is a discount for college students (and they get a free iPod nano too if you order before..i think mid september)..





http://store.apple.com





...Vista sucks








Also, like the first person said, you can get a good Dell with Ubuntu Linux. If he's taking a very "techie" road in comp. science it is perfect. Or if you have a computer already you can download it for free at http://www.ubuntu.com