Suggestions for best college laptops from cnet.com:

The macbook/”>best laptops for college students and any others who may be on a tight budget should be looking for a laptop that will deliver the most bang for their buck. In particular, students typically want and need a notebook that is light enough for them to take back and forth all around campus but still be tough enough to take the everyday abuse it will receive being in their bag or backpack.
Key Features:

• AMD Turion 64, AMD Turion 64 X2, Intel Core Duo, or Intel Core 2 Duo

• At least 1GB of memory

• Big hard drive to hold all those MP3s

• DVD burner for backups and class projects

• Wireless and wired networking for classrooms and dorm rooms that are network-equipped

• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium or Apple Mac OS X