I was thinking of getting a Toshiba for $299 from walmart. But im not sure.

I have a 5 year old Pavilion that has a 20 minute battery life, makes noises loud enough to disturb the class.

Anything you guys recommend?

I remember this one dude had a tablet (this was back when these were novel) and he used it to take notes in class. He used it the whole 4 years and then onto grad school. I think he had a super-organized file system for his class notes that he probably printed and put in a binder. How he entered equations is beyond me though.

Something that can run matlab, and maybe maple should be sufficient.  I use on old Dell inspiron 1720.

You might inquire at the institution you're going to attend if they have a recommended (or required) computer "spec" (memory, hd size, etc) for incoming students to ensure that the student can run all the stuff that will be coming their way. Some very good institutions even require that students procure a certain machine from them as part of their enrollment process.  For daly hauling around, a tablet or lightweight laptop with solid state memory would probably suffice, but for real engineering computing, you're probably gonna need something with some muscle--or spend a lot of time in the college's computer lab.

Keep whatever you got, or get a reasonable new computer. My laptop no longer has a battery, and doesn't need one, as it never leaves my desk. The assumption that you'll need a computer capable of running all sorts of different software packages is incorrect, in my experience. I've spent quite a bit of time in the computer labs, but not so much that I was bothered by it, or even wanted to do it at home. My laptop basically functions as a desktop. At least at my university, very, very few people use electronics to take notes and such. I see a few tablets here and there, but zero laptops. Some professors even forbid them. I've found I'm much better off with pen and paper, anyway.

Here's my take: Get a reliable computer that's reasonably priced. College is expensive enough, as you'll soon find out. The classes that use those behemoth software suites don't come until junior and senior year, in my experience. In 3 years, when you have NX CAD drawings, several MATLAB assignments, a few Labview homeworks, etc, and it really bugs you to be in the computer lab, then get something you can work on at home. Keep in mind, each software package is different, and even being able to grab a license via VPN to the campus network may not work with all of them.

I've survived mechanical engineering with an old laptop that would have a heart attack if I tried to install NX7. I just do all that work on campus.

Don't let the bookstore emails tell you what you need, and you don't need everything your first day. Don't spend a fortune on school supplies, or dorm room or apartment stuff. You don't need it. Move in with the bare basics, go to class with the bare basics. If you need something else, you'll figure it out shortly, and it won't be a waste of money.

ETA: Read the original post again, it doesn't sound like you're an incoming freshman. Sorry bout that

Yeah, I live at home, in the comfort of my Room, and I come home to the family dog everyday, go to a local college. transferring to a 4 year after my AS.

For most of the stuff you don't need much computing power.   My laptop was bottom of the line in 2006, and I just finished my masters in aero using matlab and maple.  I also was able to remote in to the computer lab when necessary.  Did everything at home.  The code and software required is minimal, it is academic and very much wavetop type stuff.  I even used command line stuff for profile which could probably run on a 386.

Matlab you cruel bastard. /why Because the engineer told me to do it.

I just noticed you said you are going to get your two-year degree first before transferring to a four-year.  In that case, go cheap, because your 4-year will likely require you to buy something newer when you get there.  At your 2-year, you will probably only briefly study material requiring Matlab and your classroom and/or library and/or computer lab will have it installed for you to use there.  Ditto for Maple.  Both are expensive programs anyway, and will have new versions out by the time you finish your first two years.  

As for taking notes on a laptop in class, I would check out the statistics on this before deciding to do it.  A few guys in my program (Engineering) did this and failed miserably.

Here's the problem:  lectures in science, math and especially engineering classes have two parts--short descriptions of theory and long, worked examples.  The long, worked examples are the most helpful--you will need these when you get home to do your homework.  So, the fellas who typed their notes had to write out the worked examples by hand anyway and had to shuffle things around to take theory notes on the computer and example notes on paper and ended up missing some material in the shuffle.  Additionally, they couldn't put the two together once they got home and therefore couldn't relate their examples to the theory effectively.  I can't count the number of times I got phone calls from these guys complaining that they couldn't understand their own notes (and asking to copy mine).  As far as I know, none of them are continuing on to the next course with me.  

Back to computers, if you use your computer for coursework only, you will need enough memory for the following:

Microsoft Office (student) Professors take it for granted that you have access to Excel, Word and Powerpoint
Internet browser (I use Firefox because my job requires it)
Freemind (a really useful mind-mapping program)

You won't need spectacular graphics or sound.  Save your money for your textbooks.

Good luck!

found it much easier than Fortran (what I used in my undergrad).

I still say he can get something cheap now, it will run maple and matlab (get the student versions), and he'll be fine.  My dell is old, still works.

I spent $3K on my laptop back in 2002. Got me through college and still used it for a few more years.

Now though you can get decent laptops for chump change.

We didn't use Matlab we used MathCad. I tried Matlab, but preferred MathCad by far.