Less than $1100

Notebooks are nice. The only thing he needs it for is college. This isn't going to be used for gaming, so it doesn't have to be super powerful.

dodooo

 

$1100 is a lotta money for just a "college work" computer. Be a little more specific in what he needs.

What kind apps do he plan on using?

 

have to be a notebook? i helped my friend get a computer at fry's a couple of weeks ago for under 600. computer, printer, and 19" monitor was under 900.

 

Go to Dell Home and take a look at the Dimension 3000.

 

If it's a notebook, how often is he actually going to tote it around and use it on the road?

Given how most students such as myself use their notebook computers, I'd go with something that is not too big and has lots of battery life. A Dell Inspiron 600m would meet those requirements and your price level. The Gateway M320 and M405 would also be worth looking at; the M405 is a bit chunkier but has similarly long battery life.

In general you want to find something with a Celeron-M or Pentium-M processor. Anything else is going to be pretty big and not so great on the battery.

 

I think...Dell Inspiron 1150 woo woo

 

That's one chunky notebook. Minimum 7.17 lbs.

From my experience that's heavier than you want to be toting around in a backpack with other stuff like paper notebooks and textbooks. My computer is also about that size and it definitely makes my bag heavier than I'd prefer.

Try and get one that's more like 5 lbs.

 

He's going to Geneseo...they're not a huge college so he won't have to tote it far, and he won't [need] it for classes.

 

Far schmar, it still makes for a heavy backpack. I would definitely take my computer around more with me if it weighed 2 lbs less.

 

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1625652,00.asp