Macbook is the Laptop of Choice for College Students

It's that time of year again! Kids are packing up and heading off to college, and they are taking their laptops with them. According to a recent study by Student Monitor, a New Jersey-based research company, the laptop of choice for college students is Apple's Macbook.

The survey consisted of 1,200 college students from 100 different schools and 83% of those surveyed owned laptops. The most popular laptop, by far, was the Macbook. 27% of laptop-owning college students have one. 87% of the students surveyed said they plan to purchase a new laptop in the future and of those, a whopping 47% of those said they planned to purchase a Mac.

Dell laptops came in second place; 24% of the laptop-owners have one. (In 2005, Dell was the top computer brand for college students.) Hewlett-Packard laptops were third-most popular at 15% and Toshiba laptops came in fourth with 10%.

Microsoft has definitely taken notice of the laptop-owning college students' declining interest in Windows-based computers. This week, Microsoft added a new "PC vs Mac" section to its website. It talks about reasons why PCs are better than Macs, with everything from the ability to play Blu-ray discs to the ability to share Microsoft Office documents. Many of the reasons appear to be aimed at young adults.

According to the website, the top reason for choosing a PC over a Mac is "having fun." It goes on to talk about enjoying "movies, games, and HDTV from anywhere in your home," and says "PCs are ready to play." The website also says, "if most of the computers in your office or school run Windows, you may find it harder to get things done with a Mac," another obvious attempt to attract young people.

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HP’s Fourth of July Sales

HP is offering great Fourth of July deals early this year. They are now advertising their Compaq Presario CQ62Z series notebooks starting as low as $379.99. For that amazing price tag you will get Windows 7 Home Premium, 2GB of RAM, 320GB of hard drive, and a 2.2GHz AMD V-series processor. That’s a great deal!

They are also offering their HP Deskjet D2680 printer for merely $59.99 after instant savings. The printer prints 28 black and white pages per minute and 21 color pages per minute, and it features 600 dpi black print resolution.

If you are looking for a laptop or a printer this summer, you should definitely look further into HP’s great Fourth of July savings.

If the Compaq Presario CQ62Z isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, check out HP‘s new line of business laptops.

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Looking for Laptop Rental information? Visit our Tech Travel Agent Laptop Rental Page for a variety of laptop rental solutions for business or personal use. Or call today at 800-736-8772.

The HP Mini 110

The price of netbooks just continues to go further and further down. Each year they offer better parts and lower price tags. The new HP Mini 110 definitely carries on this pattern. It resembles HP’s Mini 1000, but has many improvements and a much lower price point.

On the surface, the HP Mini 110 looks almost identical to the Mini 1000 and the Mini 1000 Mi. It features a glossy black top embellished with chic gray swirls. As you examine the netbook closer though, you are able to distinguish a few external differences. The HP Mini 110 is thicker than its predecessors, measuring more than one inch thick. This added thickness, to make room for the larger feature set and new battery set up, barely adds any extra weight to the netbook though. It manages to weigh in at a very reasonable 2.6 pounds.

The 10.1-inch widescreen is now LED-backlit and comes with 1,204 x 576 resolution. It features speakers that have been built below the screen into the frame in order to keep them hidden behind the hinge. Other important aspects to consider include the Mini’s 92 percent keyboard and mouse buttons. It also has a VGA port, an Ethernet port, a multi card reader, a headphone jack, three USB ports, and a built-in webcam. The Mini has upgraded with a 160GB, 5,400-rpm spinning drive, with the option to upgrade for something even more powerful.

Another interesting fact is that the Mini now includes a third-party software application called Syncables. Syncables allows you to connect different machines on your local network and effortlessly share photos, documents, video, and music. You can even sync e-mail accounts from Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.

HP has definitely made some huge improvements with the Mini 110. It now includes a faster hard drive and a variety of new features. No its not the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 or the Acer Aspire One, but for the reasonable starting price of $329.00 it seems like a pretty good deal to me.

HP ProBook 4510s

A laptop is one of the most important pieces of equipment a person needs, especially if you are always on the road traveling for business reasons. But finding an affordable laptop that has all the features you need for your business is no easy task.

well HP's new laptop, the ProBook 4510s, is perfect for any traveling businessman by offering substance as well as style at a reasonable cost. The ProBook is HP's entry-level computer for business users. The laptop has a black, glossy lid which is prone to fingerprints, a glossy keyboard, a speaker strip lining the top of the laptop as well as a satin palm rest. The ProBook has a thin bezel which is easy to focus. An interesting design feature is the turquoise blue glow that emanates from the QuickLook 2 buttons, the power button, and LED lights on the system and if black isn't your style and you are looking for a hotter look, the ProBook also comes in red, or Merlot, as HP calls it.

The ProBook also has a good size to it. It measures 15.6 inches and weighs about 5.6 pounds. It has a 16:9 display with a wide footprint of 14.6 x 9.8 inches and 1.2 to 1.5 inch thickness. The ProBook is also the first laptop from HP to have island-style keys which makes for a more refined look. The slight texture to the keys, which are also scratch resistant, have a nice finish and are spaced apart comfortably. The touchpad, which measures 3.3 x 1.7 inches, has a rubber-like surface which gives the perfect amount of friction but the buttons on the touchpad are different from traditional ones. The touchpad buttons on the ProBook only depress at the end closest to the user. It kind of gives the feeling of pressing a piano key, which some people may like or dislike.

The 15.6 inch display is bright with an LED backlight and has a matte finish that provides really good viewing angles. The sound system varies depending on what you are listening to. Video clips and movies sound good whereas music was faint, even at max volume.

Considering this is a business computer, the ProBook 4510s has a plethora of ports for all of your needs. It comes with Ethernet and modem jacks, a Kensington Lock slot, headphone and mic ports, one VGA output, one HDMI output, and four USB 2.0 slots. For low-profile broadband cards, the ProBook comes with an Expresscard/34 slot and also has a 5-in-1 memory card reader. Another interesting design feature is that none of these ports are located on the back of the laptop, aside from the memory card reader, mic ports, and headphone ports which are located on the front, all the ports are located on the sides. The ProBook also comes with a good battery life. The six0cell battery lasts you around four and a half hours which is longer lasting than the average laptop by about 70 mins. There is also an optional eight-cell battery upgrade which claims to add 34% more battery life at a $10 fee.

All in all this computer is perfect for anybody on the road constantly for business trips, meetings, or one who is just in the habit of traveling. A definite recommendation for anyone looking for an affordable business laptop.