Computer tips for college students

Published September 2, 2009 4:00am ET



If your student is heading to college, contact the university before you buy anything. The university may have special deals on PCs, it may have a PC that all students are required to purchase or it may have suggested configurations.

If money is tight, consider a budget laptop from a first-rate company like Dell or HP and load it with RAM after you buy it.

Also keep in mind that software such as Microsoft Office is usually sold to students for just a few dollars after they enroll, so you can often save hundreds of dollars by sending them to school without that software and telling them to buy a copy at the bookstore. — SHNS