It depends on what you plan to study at college as to what kind of computer you will want. I certanly recommend buying a pc though and not a laptop for the work involved. Dual core seems to be pretty much the way forward, maybe the 4400+ seems to be pretty good performance / value wise. If you are not planning to overclock, asus do good mobo's. Do not buy a case that comes with a psu, make sure you buy a seperate one, all the general stuff.