Laptops have become an important part of our everyday lives over the years. The laptop has found its way into the lives of stay at home moms, salesmen, corporate America and even more so, students. College students rely heavily on the use of laptops for their school research, term papers, classes, online classes and even leisure time.

There are a few important features that one should look for when buying a college student laptop. Generally looks start out being important, but soon end up getting replaced with essentials, such as memory capacity, and wireless capabilities that are integrated into the laptop. This is very important. There is no point in having a laptop if it can't leave your desk.

Many college campuses today have wireless access points in all the dorm rooms and several locations throughout the campus. Ample USB ports is a definite plus when considering a college student laptop. You would be amazed at just how many things you will want to plug in and hook up to a loaded computer. Wireless offers so much more convenience for a student who may need to access printer sharing for those endless essays or term papers.

Another important feature to look for is a CD/DVD drive. The very best are the combo drives that offer CD/DVD burning capabilities as well as standard video and audio. Colleges use quite a bit of study material that is available in DVD format. Generally, professors will require a student install or download software needed for that particular class, so actually a DVD player is not only a great feature to have, it is almost necessary.

Dorm rooms in college are extremely small and space is an issue. Looking for a laptop for college should also include space requirements. Most dorms are a shared room and having only one corner to house your computer, bigger is not always better in this case. There are plenty of smaller, more compact laptops available on the market that are just as functional as their larger competitors.

A 60GB hard drive is a good start. This amount of space will be plenty of room for media storage, software, and that occasional music download, or photos of that last toga party; remember that? Well you would if you had enough memory in your laptop! Consider a minimum of 512MB if you plan on running multiple applications at once, as this will help speed up applications.

No matter which model or make, remember that a great college student laptop is one that has everything right at your fingertips. Media features plenty of memory space, wonderful sound and graphics are a definite plus and wireless integrated into the laptop. Watch for specials in your weekend paper to find a great price on laptops. Another great idea is to check for specials that state "no tax"; you could actually save hundreds of dollars on a laptop of your choice just by finding a store that offers no sales tax incentive.