Factors to consider when buying a Laptop

There are so many types of computers available at the moment its hard to know where to start when trying to purchase one. However there are many factors to consider which will help make your decision easier. 
As a student of any kind, cost is the first thing to consider! While some laptops carry an a thousand euro pricetag its not necessary to pay this and a couple of hundred should do!
When looking to buy a laptop an important thing to consider is its physical aspects, and i dont mean just the colour! The weight is a very important factor, as it needs to be light enough to carry into and around college all day.The same goes of the size of the laptop. While a big screen is great for programmes such as photoshop, the laptop should be a comfortable size for transport.
Brand is a huge aspect and probably the first to consider. Personally I like PC's and find that Windows is much easier to use for our course as everything is laid out and easy to find. I have also become comfortable using it with the likes of sideshowbob and storing documents and its easy to customize to exact specifications.
A very important issue is the speed of a laptop! As students we are often rushing to get essays done and are, in general, quite impatient! Average processor speed is between 2-2.9ghz so make sure to check the speed of the laptop before purchasing.
Also important is the memory of the laptop, for the Applied Psychology course we do alot of reseach so it is esential to have enough memory to store it, take notes, keep the countless essay drafts we have and store the sneaky music we've downloaded!
Don't forget about software either! For this course a good word processing programme is essentail. Powerpoint is also needed to download from Blackboard and to make up our own presentations. As for the technology side of the course the likes of photoshop and illustrator are extremely useful.
Another thing to consider is the battery life, it may not be possible to charge the laptop often, as it would be needed all day for college and then later to type up notes, do research etc. For this reason a long lasting battery is essentail.
Other aspects to check over before purchasing are the number of USB ports (needed to save and backup work), the internet connection (speed!!!) and and what kind of warrenty it comes with...(we are students afterall!!)