Hi Ron if the laptop is for college work I wouldn't spend much money on it as it's going to get a lot of knocking around. There're many ultra thin ones being sold at the moment and they flex in the lower half of the laptop and to get one that will last 3 or 4 years you need to spend over $1000. I would go cheap and they're some good ones kicking around with OK processor and H/disc like the Acer Aspire E 15 at around $330. You wont know the demands of your grandsons course till he gets well into his area of study and he might will be handling 3D files which will need a bit more grunt. So why spend a huge amount now when you don't know what's in the future for your grandson. Another one that I use a lot in the college that I now work in is the old fashion looking Lenovo ThinkPad 13 at $700 it's built like a tank and has great battery life.