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Thursday July 23, 2009
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 Best Buy today introduced its second series of customized laptops called Next Class, all designed in response to student feedback. The four-unit line was manufactured in partnership with HP, Toshiba, Sony, and Dell, and is priced between $649.99 and $799.99.
Next Class laptops offer the following features for the college student who needs to keep up with his workload:
- 3 to 6 hours of battery life
- Weighing between 5 to 6 pounds, the laptops don 14 to 15.5-inch screens
- Each laptop comes preloaded with a full version of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and One Note) and 12 to 15 months of free antivirus protection
Get a full list of Best Buy's exclusive laptops specifically designed for the college student, after the jump.
Students can choose from the following models:
Toshiba Satellite M505-S4940 - $649
- Intel Pentium T4200 processor
- 4GB DDR2 memory
- 14-inch widescreen
- 320GB hard drive
- 5.2 pounds
 HP Pavilion DV4-1465DX - $746
- 14.1-inch widescreen
- Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 processor
- 4GB DDR2
- 320GB hard drive
- 5.1 pounds
 Dell Studio 1440-022B - $749
- 14-inch widescreen
- 4.7 pounds
- 3GB DDR3
- Intel Core 2 Duo T6500
 Sony VGN-NW125J/T - $799
- 15.5-inch widescreen
- 6 pounds
- 4GB DDR2
- Intel Core 2 Duo T6500
The Next Class laptop line is available exclusively at Best Buy stores nationwide and online at www.bestbuy.com/nextclass now through fall.
Since last year, a team of Best Buy employees have been working with students to identify the most desirable features when it comes to a laptop for school. These students identified six key features: extended battery life; low weight and portable design; personalized design, yet professional; full virus protection; preloaded with necessary software (specifically a full version of Office Home and Student); and an affordable price point.
The Best Buy team then gathered this information and worked with a select group of PC manufacturers to create a new line of laptops to meet students' expectations. In October 2008, Best Buy launched its first consumer-inspired laptops, the Blue Label series.
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July 27, 2009 4:33 PM
I think a simple comparison table would have saved the reader a bit of effort, with little effort on the part of the author. However, the real curiosity question would be how much extra Toshiba contributed to get their machine listed before the cut, with the sexier photo at the top of the page, leaving the specs and photos for the other three machines only to the subgroup who would click through to the full article. Of course HP didn't even rate a photo at all. Balance in presentation would be nice in this sort of article.
July 28, 2009 9:29 AM
Hi Gardoglee - the reason I didn't put a photo of HP in the post was because, as you can see from the Best Buy Web site, there isn't a large enough image to really get a sense of what that model looks like. Toshiba did not ask that I put a photo of its laptop front and center--I chose to use it as the primary image because I thought it was eye-catching and would appeal to students who favor unique casings. And it doesn't take too much effort to read about each laptop; there are only a few key specs mentioned.
July 30, 2009 2:44 PM
Update 7/30/09: I contacted Best Buy PR and they gladly sent me a better photo of the HP Pavilion DV4-1465DX laptop. I've added it to this post. Thanks!