Whats the best laptop for a senior in highschool?

What will you be using the laptop for and how much do you want to spend?

Find out what the school uses, and get one that is compatible with their system.

iPads are really bad for school. While you can get a keyboard to plug it into, why would you when you can get a regular laptop for the same price? iPads are great for reading and playing around, but for serious work they’re just awful.

Are you looking for a Mac or a PC? You don’t really need to get one that’s compatible with the schools system, since once you have your own computer you don’t need to use the school’s.

Macs and reasonable prices don’t go together. I mean, some people love them, but they are by no means cheap.

I bought a refurbished MacBook before my Junior year started, and I’ve loved every minute of the two years I’ve owned it. Also, I agree with @papayalily‘s view on the iPad. It’s a great accompaniment to the MacBook however, but it shouldn’t replace it.

@Vortico I just don’t understand how anyone would take notes or write a paper on it…

Exactly. It could be done, but it’s not as optimal as an actual laptop.

I really like Asus’ series for students. 10 hours battery life – really light and stylish – sold. You can probably get one used 700 or new around 800.

I just looked on Dealnews.com and there are a ton of laptop deals for various companies (not Mac, though). http://dealnews.com/Computers/PC-Computers/PC-Laptop-Deals-49.html

Like I said, it’s all about how much you want it to do and how much you want to spend. A high powered gaming laptop will give you very different performance than a cheap netbook, and you pay for it.

Are you planning on going to College. If so, check the colleges you are likely to attend and make sure whatever you get at least meets the minimum standards of the college(s) you are looking at.

If you’re going to take it to college and use it for notes, I’d look into the battery life – at least 4 hours. Weight is also important if you’re going to be lugging it around.

If you tell us what you want, don’t want, and need then we can help you a lot.

If you’re going to college, you will need to be able to run Microsoft Office. An iPad isn’t suited for that. You will need a laptop, either windows or mac.

Also, this would be a more school friendly tablet:

http://www.notionink.com/

It let’s you plug in a keyboard and flash drives. It can handle .doc, .ppt and excel files.

Macbook Pro

@hungerforpizza The part about the iPad that isn’t school friendly isn’t that it’s a Mac, but its tablet design.