A few years ago, buying a new computer for students was simple. Get a fast processor, a huge hard disk drive and make sure enough cash remained to buy software.

For today's student, there are new priorities. Now, it is about how quickly you can access information that is outside the PC, namely the Web. So, the main ingredient for your new home PC should be a fast Internet connection in the form of a cable modem or DSL arrangement from your local telephone company. Prices vary across the country but expect to pay about $35 to $40 per month for a connection.

The absolute minimum processor size for your new desktop PC should be an Intel Celeron running at 500-MHz. A 667 or 733-MHz Pentium III model would be nice, but more expensive. While most applications only require 64 MB of RAM, you will be far better off to get at least 128 MB of memory and storage-wise, a 10 GB hard disk drive is becoming standard. While a 40GB HDD would be nice, I've found you rarely use up the space - unless, of course, you have downloaded every MP3 song ever made. Speaking of music, a decent set of speakers ($60) and a good sound card are other essentials.

One last note on the PC itself - make sure it has at least 2 USB ports. Printers, game adapters, mice and ZIP drive are all using the USB (Universal Serial Bus) method to communicate. Operating systems like Windows 9.x recognize USB devices better through plug and play (PNP) technology.

Your monitor should be at least a 17" model (about $300). While a 19" model is great, they are often simply too huge for your workspace. Conversely, a 15" flat panel screen is great for a small desk but at a cost of approximately $1,300, is often more expensive than a new PC.

For your high speed Internet connection, a network interface card (NIC) is also important. NICs from D-Link and 3Com are the best selling brands in Canada and are priced anywhere from $45 to $150. A 10-MB Ethernet card may be adequate for most cable modem users since that is the fastest speed most cable connections allow today. Although a 10/100 MB card or a 100-MB card will cost you more and be useful for a longer time, they won't increase the speed of your Web connection today. You can install the NIC yourself or the person installing the connection will configure it for you.

While some will disagree, I feel a CD Burner/Writer should now be part of a standard system. Costs of a good burner are less than $300 and blank CDs are now around $1. It is surprisingly useful and one of those peripherals that you'll wonder why you didn't get sooner. The same does not apply to a DVD-ROM. While it is a nice-to-have on your PC, I've found the DVD-ROM movies are still too pricey and besides, I would rather watch them on my TV set as opposed to a 17" monitor. Get the DVD-ROM with your next PC.

The one thing you should not spend a lot of money on is software. If you buy a brand name PC, you generally get an "office" productivity suite thrown in. IBM, for example, usually gives a copy of Lotus SmartSuite with each PC sold. Other deals include Microsoft Office 2000. However, if you purchase a clone PC with nothing more than an operating system and browser, it is worthwhile downloading a copy of StarOffice, a free, Office 2000 clone from Sun Microsystems available at http://www.sun.com/ With this program, word pro documents and spreadsheets can be saved and read in most popular formats including MS-Office.

An example of the ultimate home PC for the whole family is the Hewlett-Packard Pavilion 9790. It is reasonably pricey at $3,899 without monitor but comes with an AMD 1-GHz processor, a 60 GB(!) HDD, 128 MB RAM, plus both a DVDROM and HP's CD-Writer Plus. The optional monitor has clips on both sides where you can hang the speakers. If you want a Cadillac Computer, this is it. With the huge hard disk drive, there is plenty of room for storage for the entire family. Making use of the Windows Family Logon ensures that each member's desktop, screen savers, downloaded Internet files and email settings are unique for each person.

While the Brother HL-1240 won a recent PC World Magazine award as top home printer, you may want to look at a Lexmark Z11, mainly because its price of $106 makes it the least expensive colour inkjet around. Remember that many homes now have more than one computer - meaning you will want the printer to be accessible from more than one PC. You may want to look at buying a 4-port 3Com hub (around $100) and a few network interface cards to have the PC's talk to each other

Finally, Microsoft's successor to Windows 98, Windows ME (for Millennium Edition) comes with a Home Networking Wizard, a Movie Maker and an AutoUpdate feature, meaning you will always get the latest fixes. The upgrade price from Windows 9.x will be less than $100.

Laptops - define your use

Several university and tech school programs have been requiring the use of a laptop computer for years. Even if a notebook computer isn't mandatory, many students still pack them around.

The key to your new portable is to first define what it is to be used for. Performing data modeling or complicated floating-point calculations in a calculus class requires a much more demanding PC than one used for taking notes in sociology.

For the power user student, one of the better deals around comes from IBM, who are hawking the IBM ThinkPad i Series 1230. ThinkPads, which have been hard to get lately, are near the top of the class in terms of quality but are usually priced for the corporate exec. (Read: Expensive.) Not this one. For the price you get a 500MHz Celeron PC with a built-in CDROM, a 6 GB HDD and 64 MB of RAM, a built-in fax modem and carrying case. You also get the usual load of software, including Microsoft Windows 98 SE, Lotus SmartSuite Millennium, Norton AntiVirus, Quicken 2000, Acrobat Reader and both Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers. Naturally, you can get an optional Ethernet PC card for network accessibility. For PC cards, I recommend the Xircom RealPort because it does not require those easily breakable and ridiculously expensive "dongles."

A second option to consider, especially if all you require is a note-taking machine, is a Windows CE device. The handheld, keyboard equipped models like the NEC 780 or 880. Both are smaller and easier to take notes with, have 10-hour battery life and are instant on. However, you will need a home computer to synchronize and exchange files with. Remember too, that the included software - Pocket Word, Pocket Excel and so on, offers limited functionality.

The newer Windows CE models - called Pocket PC devices - try to match the flexibility of the Palm Pilot. Two models from Compaq include the color iPaq and its black and white kid brother, the Aero 1500. Naturally, Palm units are available - the curvy, new entry-level Palm m100, was released last week for US $149 and at long last, the Palm clone, called the Visor and made by Handspring, is finally available in Canada. Expect to pay anywhere from $200 to $700 for the small handheld devices like the Visor, Palm or iPaq.

Downside for Pocket PC devices? Tapping in notes during class may be too slow.