Alice Said:

what's a good, cheap laptop for a college student?

We Answered:

www.deals2buy.com has great deals on laptops (click 'computer deals' near the top), they find the cheapest ones so you don't have to check a bunch of different sites.

Things to look for - 4gigs of ram, you probably want a 320 gig hard drive, most have a webcam, you probably want wireless n (it will say wireless b/g/n), and you definitely want a processor that's at least a 2.0 ghz dual core. If you can find all that for under 500, you're good to go. Brand's these days aren't as important as specs. Oh, and check the warrantys, most are 1 year, but more is a bonus.

Dora Said:

Does tax software pickup hidden discounts?

We Answered:

Based on your student status and annual income, I assume you can be claimed as a dependent on your parents' tax return. If this is the case, the only reason to file a federal tax return is to get whatever income tax was withheld refunded to you. You will receive no further benefit. Whether you do it by paper or through tax software, the result will be the same.