Tower is the actual computer for a desktop. I personally have a Laptop. My first one I bought under 1,000 and it served me well. It's great for presentations and the like as previously explained above. See, the thing is I am a guy on the go, and need my computer where I go. I need a laptop, not a desktop. You have to think about what you are going to be doing. And if you have a ways to go before you are in college, then wait. Technology is going to change. I bought my old laptop 2 years ago that had 1gb of RAM. I bought my new one for half the price and it came with 3gb of RAM. Oh how technology advances...