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Buying a laptop for your high school student is a treacherous endeavor. You want to make an informed purchasing decision, while at the same time getting all the features your child needs. This must be balanced with their requests to add in the latest trendy elements they deem "necessary." And, you have to find one that doesn't make your kid look like a dork. After all, no one wants to walk down the hall carrying a laptop that looks like an airplane control panel.

Why put all that pressure on yourself? By high school age, a child should understand the value concept of money, so let them contribute their mind and energy to the selection process. In the end, your student will have a laptop they love, and they'll have learned a valuable monetary lesson along the way. Here's a couple tips on how this can be done, followed by the major decision points you'll encounter.

Setting the budget
Decide how much you're willing to contribute to this purchase, and ask your child to do the same. This automatically makes them a stakeholder in the decision, and they should immediately become more interested in the selection process. You can also use your amount as a percentage of the overall price. For example, you could state that you'll donate 75% of the price of the laptop up to $750. If your child chooses to spend more, it's their decision and responsibility.

This approach avoids the trap of continuously adding on "just one more feature", which ultimately leads to you spending much more than you had budgeted at the beginning. It also forces your child to think about features in terms of added value. Perhaps they really don't need a 17" wide screen if it would cost them an extra $250.

Try before you buy
There's roughly 6 trillion websites to read before buying a laptop. Do as much research here as you'd like, but you really need to get your hands dirty, since the right laptop must feel good in the hands of the user. I recommend visiting a Best Buy, as they have an adequate selection of both PCs and Macs, and knowledgeable sales people who can point out the pros and cons of each model.

Have your child spend a lot of time typing, clicking, picking up, holding, caressing (OK, maybe not caressing) the different models. This will provide a good touch-and-feel test, and most likely will begin to lead you in a particular brand and model direction.

PC vs. Mac
We've all seen the commercials. The Mac representative is the young, cool, hip, trendy, hot (did I say hot?) guy which Apple hopes will

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