yourmom25 said:
if you want a truly high-quality laptop, get an ibm. those are the best in terms of quality and power.
You do mean Lenovo, right? Yes, they are great workhorse machines, but does the OP need it? He's looking at a $1300 computer. Lenovo/think pad cost a premium, right? And I think if you want a reliable computer, get a powerbook. I've never had problems with mine, and they slip in and out of a bag so well. Industrial design like that is worth something. Ok, a comparably priced PC laptop is way more powerful than an Apple, and powerbooks are REALLY hard to upgrade (there's no way I'm going to be able to upgrade anything but the HD) but wait till the Mactels arrive and get one. Load XP or Vista on it in addition to OS X and you'll be set. They are built Tonka Tuff.
Oh, and Yourmom25 said not to get the DVD burner, I totally disagree. Get 10 movies off of bittorrent and that DVD burner has already paid for itself. Plus, it's just an easy way to archive data. Get an ipod for $270 with the student discount and use that as your external drive. (A backup hard drive is a really important purchase. It's not if you'll lose something, it's when.)