1.  Start by contacting the IT(Information Technology) Resource Department at the College or University your freshman student will be attending.  The College or University will offer minimum standards for notebook computer hardware, including the size of the hard drive, processor speed, size of Random Access Memory (RAM), graphics card, as well as other minimum specifications the institution requires.  Remember the minimum standards for the notebook computer will differ from the Tablet PC; Each preferred vendor's equipment will have different minimum standards.

2.  Your student's college or university may have preferred providers from which computer equipment may be purchased.  (Check with the IT Resource Department or Admissions Office)  Why is this important?  Hardware Warranty/Non-warranty Services are often offered on campus for these preferred provider's equipment.  If your freshman student has an off-brand computer, having to send the computer away for three to four weeks waiting on a repair may not be a healthy option for the student's academic career.

3.  Once you have the minimum specifications, you are now ready to begin the process of selecting a notebook computer or tablet pc for your student.  Before making that decision, you may want to check with the IT Resource Department to determine if the college or university has any policy decisions pending pertaining to the use of a specific type of computer hardware platform such as a notebook or laptop computer versus a tablet pc.  Compare prices of the computer you select between the preferred vendor and a retail outlet.  There may be other advantages to consider such as insurance on the computer, repair service on campus, etc. 

4.  Once you make  your decision and purchase the computer notebook, consider buying insurance that will cover damage and theft  to the computer.  You may be able to buy a seperate policy through your home owner's insurance.  If you purchase the computer through a preferred University vendor, insurance may be offered for purchase to cover the computer for theft and damage.  Premiums are reasonable, with estimates ranging between $70 to $125 range per year, with no deductibles. 

5.  Congratulations! You are finished with the whole thing, right?  Not so fast.  There is just one more thing that you are encouraged to do.  Instill in your freshman student's vocabulary the word "Back Up"!!!  It is paramount  to back up all important school information, work, research, research papers, class notes, and completed assignments.  If the notebook is stolen and the information has not been backed up to a portable external drive, all of the information will be lost.  Likewise, if the computer is damaged, the school information may not be able to be recovered if the hard drive is damaged.  Investing in an external portable drive is well worth the money and you can make this purchase with ease at most retail outlet stores. (estimates range between $75 to $150)  This will avoid the frantic late night call explaining to you that "it was just an accident that soda was spilled all over the computer's keyboard."

Taking the time to do just a little investigating with the college or university's IT Resource Department or Admissions Office will save you both TIME and MONEY!! 

1. Make sure you have enough RAM to handle the programs you want to run. If you are into editing photos or video files, you'll want to have at least 1GB or RAM installed on your computer, while making sure that it is upgradeable should you need more RAM at a later time. If you're a gamer, or are buying a computer for someone who plays a lot of computer games, you might want to get double the recommended amount of Ram that the game says it needs. When the time comes to install more RAM on your PC, see if someone at your IT department at work can help before you go to Bestbuy or Circuit City, as they will overcharge for a simple service that a friend who is slightly tech savvy can accomplish.
2. Be sure to install a full version of an anti virus program after you get the computer home.Many times when you buy a new PC, the company who sold it will only provide a trial version of the anti virus software and charge you to upgrade it when time runs out. There are many free anti virus programs out there but the ones I suggest are AVG anti virus and Avast. Both of these are free to use for home use and are fairly straightforward when it comes to installing them.
3. After setting up your anti virus, your next step should be to get a good anti spyware program. These will protect your computer from nasty pop ups and malicious programs that try to steal your private data. Ad-Aware 2007, and Spybot Search and Destroy are excellent programs that don't cost a cent to have as long as they're used for home use. Installing these programs should be a breeze and shouldn't take more than an hour.
4. Speaking of pop ups, you'll want to browse the internet as unobstructed as possible. For this you'll want to get FireFox installed on your computer. This internet browser is free as well and is continually being updated and cleaned up to make your browsing faster and more secure.
5. Most computers now come with built in graphics which will make general computer use ok. But if you are going to be doing any photo editing or gaming, you'll want to have a pretty decent video car installed. Video card prices continually fall as new models come out, and you can find a pretty powerful card for under $200 if you look hard enough. Nvidia makes excellent graphics cards and anything from the 6800 series and up will serve its purpose just fine.
6. What's the point of having nice graphics if you can't see it? Your monitor should be 17 inches or wider and it should be a flat panel. If you can afford it, get a bigger size because we all know bigger is better.
7. Almost any printer will do for your basic needs. Technology has advanced enough to where you can print high quality photos from photo capable printers so if you want to print them yourself instead of going to the store, consider picking up a printer that is designed for photo printing.
8. VoIP is taking strides and becoming a very reliable way of communicating over the internet, so you'll want to get yourself a decent headset / microphone combo. Plantronics are a very good brand of USB headsets.
9. If you work from home, you might consider downloading Thunderbird. It's an email client developed by the same community that works on FireFox, and has better capabilities than Microsoft's Outlook. You'll be able to set up multiple email accounts and RSS feeds to be read right from Thunderbird, instead of logging in to multiple sites to read them all.
10. Lastly, you'll need some software to type up your documents and spreadsheets with, and for this I recommend Open Office or even Google Documents. It's free to download and comes with all the tools you need to rival Microsoft's office suite. It is also open source, which allows community members to have their hand at fixing code issues and bugs to make the software better and more secure.

So there you have it, free software and all the information you need to know before you buy your next computer. Don't let the sales person lead you on and make you buy software that you don't need, just read through this list and you'll find all the software you need to get by. And don't forget to research your purchase online, as there are many reviews out there for most products.