HARTFORD, Conn. -- When most people think of back-to-school shopping, images of piles of clothes, pencils and notebooks fill their heads.

However, the big ticket item on many lists this fall is a computer.

Q&A with computer expert Erik Semmel

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Mike Hydeck asked Erik Semmel of Tab Computer Systems for advice in buying a computer for a high-school or college-aged student.

"Basically you want to look for a computer that has at least 4 gigabytes of RAM for college kids and for high school kids because the operating system will be Vista and Vista requires a lot of RAM," he said.

If the computer is for college, Semmel said that you should make sure it will interface well with the college's computer network.

"They'll have a requirement that you'll need to fill, so if you match those specs, the specifications on processor, RAM, operating system and then call those mail-order type companies or buy it through the college, you'll be fine," he said.

Semmel said parents should definitely look into buy the system at the college.

"Take into consideration the deals at college. You're going to get a good deal and local support," he said. "Many of the colleges will have arrangements with local support to get you up and running or at least a deal that gets the support quickly to you."

Semmel said that having support in case something goes wrong with the system is important.

"You don't want to be on your own dealing with computers. You might be pretty good at it, nowadays, these kids are much more computer savvy than maybe five or 10 years ago, but you want to have local support when that thing crashes on you -- and it will," he said.

Semmel said that it's also important to make sure that all of the student's work is backed up.

"If you don't have a backup, you're in big trouble. DVD burning, using thumb drives, external hard drives. Consider a backup as the second most important thing that you buy," he said.

Semmel said that students are also eligible for good deals on software.

"Students get access to student pricing on software. They get so much stuff for practically nothing, so it's a great deal. Use the co-op and take advantage of your student pricing," he said.

Semmel said that while college students will fare better with a laptop, he said it might not be the best idea for a high-schooler.

"There is no reason that I can see yet that a high school student should be dragging around a laptop. A PC is going to last longer, it's going to be able to take a licking and keep on ticking," he said.