Congrats, again, on getting into grad school! I'm no computer expert, but I've had two laptops and seen others go through far more. I'd advise you to avoid Dell and HP if possible. HP's tend to run a little hot in my opinion; my last hp needed a cooler under it almost constantly. The keyword with hp is "bloatware," so you can expect to spend hours taking that off your machine. Moreover, the hp laptops sometimes get a power source issue after a couple of years that prevents the charger from charging your battery. It's not an easy (or cheap) fix, and that's why I currently have my Dell. This laptop has caused me even more grief; it bsod'd in seven months, and I had to get the hard drive replaced. Now, it runs smoothly...if I don't keep too many files on it. Dells run cooler than hp, and they're slightly better about the bloatware. Dell also has a better battery life than hp. I'm guessing that these things would most likely carry over to the netbooks, too, since they seem to be pretty ubiquitous issues for both brands.
I'd probably recommend Asus over the three "core" suppliers (i.e Dell, Toshiba, and HP). If you look at the other brands, you're pretty much paying for the casing and brand name. The guy whom Dell sent to fix my computer said that at the "inexpensive" level, those three brands pretty much use the same hardware. Despite this, one of my peers has absolutely no complaints or issues with her Toshiba laptop, and my dad, who has the same model, has never had an issue with his. So, Toshiba seems to last the longest of the three despite the computer guy's claim. My office mate has an Asus netbook that has treated him wonderfully. Don't expect too much power out of it; my office mate, for example, struggles to get his netbook to handle a full-screen Youtube video. It's fine with word processors and the lot.
Well, I wasn't expecting that much to come out of my brain. Take of this what you will; this is simply my personal experience, and I don't claim to be an expert. Good luck! I hope you're a lot happier with your machine than I am with mine.
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I'd probably recommend Asus over the three "core" suppliers (i.e Dell, Toshiba, and HP). If you look at the other brands, you're pretty much paying for the casing and brand name. The guy whom Dell sent to fix my computer said that at the "inexpensive" level, those three brands pretty much use the same hardware. Despite this, one of my peers has absolutely no complaints or issues with her Toshiba laptop, and my dad, who has the same model, has never had an issue with his. So, Toshiba seems to last the longest of the three despite the computer guy's claim. My office mate has an Asus netbook that has treated him wonderfully. Don't expect too much power out of it; my office mate, for example, struggles to get his netbook to handle a full-screen Youtube video. It's fine with word processors and the lot.
Well, I wasn't expecting that much to come out of my brain. Take of this what you will; this is simply my personal experience, and I don't claim to be an expert. Good luck! I hope you're a lot happier with your machine than I am with mine.