I knew that the following attributes were non-negotiable: After all, I have my huge beast of a PC in the basement to use, and with the advent of the iPad and iPhone, there really are very few day to day things I can't do from my mobile devices. I personally have never had a laptop all to myself, it usually been my husband's laptop that I borrowed occasionally.
I began a search for the perfect laptop for me.
My husband has a laptop, but I didn't want to encroach on his tech, and I have a work laptop, but ethics and all, no personal stuff on work device, etc. Now really, I could've gotten by with my old desktop, custom built by me in 2009 and still running strong, but that would've meant I was doing most of my studying either in the basement or on my iPad (which wouldn't work for practical IT courses). For my new adventure, I naturally needed a new laptop.