i concur with the whole laptop thing
NO YOU DO NOT NEED A LAPTOP IN HIGHSCHOOL
fucking ridicious
yes, i understand you are damn rich mr pachter, but you are spoiling your kids with ipod, ipod touch, all the game systems with nice looking hdtvs, etc etc
(i hope your kids arent going to grow up to be spoiled d-bags)
i'm in university ECE, and you :could: get by without bringing a laptop, hell, 98% of people here dont bring their laptops to class because we write in pen + paper
yes, having a laptop would be convenient, between breaks, checking email, etc but it is not an essential item, let alone a highschool kid using it
highschool kids are just going to play games and surf the internet with it
(if you're curious, there is 2 people i've ever seen with laptop to take notes and they use a tablet /w pen to take notes)
and a note about ipad, i was in summer school for a art-sci credit, and there was a girl with a ipad trying to take notes
let's just say it is retarded and slow and inaccurate
the thing needs pen/tablet support, right now as it is, the thing is a joke for school