[John Rogers]

Since I just retired from teaching, web design, databases and business apps most all the students have their laptop by the time I get them. Most all are happy except the Apple folks when they find out they have to run an Oracle database which means a "modern" version of Windows. The Oracle database is free but software like "Parallels" which is $80 and many schools will expel a student for running pirate software. So I tell them to use their tax refund or a chunk of their VA payment and buy the most powerful graphics or gaming laptop they can find and if it is one of Dell's super laptop's they can be several thousand. As noted try eBay but try to be able to see it run.


For an external monitor I say to buy a flat screen maybe 36 inch or so but to make sure it will run with a PC and fill the screen as some can not handle the high resolution. I use a 36 inch Vizio I bought two years ago during a sale at Walmart for $129. As noted he needs a mouse and Logitech is pretty much the standard and their wireless models work great.