Hi! I have just begun my studies - in 5 years, I will hopefully become an "engineer of data-technology"

My fellow students inform us, that a laptop would be a wise investment - so I have been browsing the net for the last couple of days. The new Asus M2N looks appetizing =)
We will be using it over the next 5 years, for lots and lots of programming (Java mostly, but other stuff too), complex mathematics (a prog called Mathematica), physics, electronics (among other things an HC11 emulator, which is supposedly cpu-taxing). Quite possibly some graphics too, not 3D CAD though 8(

I am very interested in the centrino technology, because I dread (dred?) the notebooks my parents have, I can't even work like 1.5 hours, before I need to find an electrical outlet again! The wireless 802.11b is also interesting, as we will be getting a wireless broadband connection soon - but I am afraid that in a year's time or so, the 802.11a/g technology will be the standard, or something even better - and then I would be lost with my fossil-like 802.11b card

I would have gone for a radeon9600 solution, but I already have a stationary 1.5ghz XP computer, that I use for games, so I guess I don't really need that, and besides - notebooks are too small for serious gaming (right?), at least if you're not on a no-limits budget!

Can anyone recommend me any models, or tell me if there are new breakthroughs lurking just around the corner, that I should wait for? Thx in advance.

PS: Is 14 inches sufficient for all that compiler-java-editing program juggling I'm going to be doing?

Futureproof? impossible, not even life itself is futureproof. Now if you want ur laptop only for programming and math stuff, get a dell. I dont care what people say about OEM brands and that dell suck and their support sucks blah blah blah... its the most decent brand out there. They build pretty good systems and arent very expensive. now i dont know your budget but go to dell's website and choose from the home section laptops. i would have recommended a hypersonic-pc.com laptop because they are cheap and use good stuff but you dont seem to want the ultimate of everything. maybe an IBM thinkpad would be good too or a toshiba but i dont know much about them. i would go for dell if i were you, but i am me, im thinkin about buying a hypersonic-pc laptop since i dont care about weight, battery, heat, etc.

good luck at college.

--------------------------------------------------
My computer is so fast it proves the theory of relativity wrong...