Three years ago, I bought a perfectly adequate Gateway computer for my collegebound daughter. She has used it since to write papers, chat with friends online, E-mail home, and browse the Web. It cost about $1,500. When her brother heads off for campus in a couple of weeks, he will use his new Dell computer far more ambitiously. Today's college students regard computers not just as educational tools but as their central nervous systems, where they surf the Web, "instant message" one another while playing CDs, or watch TV and movies.

Such multifarious usage places a new set of demands on the computer, requiring far more memory and faster components. Much like their parents at work, students discover that being connected to a high-speed network that is always open for business ushers in a whole new world they are more than happy to explore.

That makes them among the first with cutting-edge technology that the rest of us will soon be using. And here's the bonus: These screaming machines don't cost a penny more than my daughter's now-ancient Gateway did.

That means parents of collegebound kids can spend as little as $1,000 on a name-brand computer that won't freeze when asked to juggle Web browsing, E-mailing, and term-paper writing at the same time. Or they can move up several hundred dollars and buy a real dream machine.

We settled at the start on a brand-name computer. Saving a few bucks by buying a no-name or used computer is often a bad bargain. Campus computer departments can best support the machines they know. It may be best to choose the specific brand a college recommends. That doesn't mean other computers are subpar. It just means the technicians at the other end of the campus hotline stand a better shot at nursing a known model back to health. We chose Dell because that is what James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va., prefers, and JMU will be our son's new home. (Many colleges publish recommendations on their Web sites and in handouts.) With that principal decision made, we began dealing with the nuts and bolts:

Power. Many people think speed-how fast the microprocessor inside the computer crunches data-is synonymous with power. In fact, the processors in even the slowest of today's machines-500 MHz in Windows-based PCs and 300 MHz to 400 MHz in Macintosh computers-are speedy enough for almost any task that doesn't involve intensive graphics or mathematical modeling. To boost power meaningfully, add random access memory (RAM). "Get more memory, as opposed to the fastest machine available," advises Gary Kimminau of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Computer Shop.

The more RAM, the less likely that a computer will stall when asked to handle multiple tasks. Entry-level systems typically come with 64MB of RAM. Doubling that to 128MB, which most colleges advise, usually costs less than $100.

Hard-disk capacity. Supersizing the hard drive is another smart investment. Colleges typically suggest 10 gigabytes as the minimum for a desktop and 6GB for a laptop. But software has become increasingly bloated. Microsoft Office 2000 Professional, the standard suite of programs on many campuses for word processing and other tasks, consumes at least 390MB of space by itself. All those MP3 music files downloaded from the Web, each one several megabytes large, must be stored somewhere. "Kids can and will find lots of junk to put on their hard drive, so it makes sense to get a big one," says Bill Machrone, vice president for technology at PC Magazine. Upgrading to a 15GB drive should cost only $30 to $50.

Many schools have arranged with Compaq, Dell, Gateway, and other national brands to offer prepackaged systems at a discount. The savings may come to $50 or less for a low-end system, where profit margins are thin, but can be more for a higher-priced computer. And the packaging means that the necessary network adapter card (to connect to the high-speed campus network), and often other extras, are already installed. We started at the low end with a $947 Dell OptiPlex GX100 desktop equipped with a 17-inch monitor, 566MHz processor, 64MB of RAM, 10GB hard drive, a Zip drive that offers backup and storage on removable 100MB disks, and two speakers. We first added 64MB of memory ($95) and substituted a 15GB hard drive ($29). The cost was $1,071 ordered from Dell through James Madison. No matter where you buy, keep checking the price and description of the system every few days. They can change quickly.

Some students are perfectly happy with a no-frills machine. Keri-Anne DaCosta, an 18-year-old sophomore at the University of Florida in Gainesville, uses a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion that she bought for $800 with printer "because it was small and cheap." DaCosta, a speech therapy major from Miami, writes papers, exchanges E-mail with friends, and uses the Web to do research-and to surf. "Sometimes I find something interesting and sort of go here and there," she confesses.

Cool extras. We were willing to go a bit further, because our son is awash in music CDs. Adding super sound to the OptiPlex cost $86-$38 for a sound card upgrade and $48 for better speakers, including a subwoofer for head-throbbing bass. We upgraded the video card so that animated graphics and streaming video downloaded from the Web would be displayed smoothly. The upgrade is also necessary for watching DVD movies or turning the computer into a TV. Finally, we added a $125 rewriteable CD drive as a high-school graduation present so that our MP3-obsessed son could "burn" his own CDs. The grand total: $1,377, plus state tax and $65 in shipping charges. We could have spent an additional $96 on a DVD drive; a plug-in card for TV and stereo FM radio would have cost about $90. The price tag, with all options, would have been $1,563.

A laptop saves desk space and offers portability. At Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., laptop users can plug into the campus network from a park bench. But laptops are rarely used for class note-taking-the clicking is annoying. And a laptop costs more than a comparably equipped desktop because the LCD screens and rechargeable batteries are expensive and building them is demanding.

When you're ready to place an order, you'll have to decide where to have the system shipped. Many students have little choice but to have it delivered to school because of limited packing space, and others have no reason not to. Technicians at some colleges, such as the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, will install shipped computers in students' rooms for free. Elsewhere, students (or parents) may have to go across campus, stand in line to get their computers, and cart the boxes to the dorm.

Assembly required. Having a new computer at home offers a chance to kick the tires. "The first time you set it up is no five-minute deal," says Jason Mussman, 20, a junior at Albion (Mich.) College. "You have to register all these programs and make sure everything is working right."

Indeed, getting my son's computer perking proved daunting, even though I have installed countless systems since my first IBM PC in 1983. There are no posters or other friendly aids because this is a business computer rather than a consumer model. James Madison, like many other colleges, prefers business machines because of their proven network credentials. If you have one of these computers sent home you may have to call the company for assistance.

Even after you dutifully purchase a computer with a network adapter card, don't forget to buy a network cable ($10 to $15)-and don't buy one that's too short. You won't know until you get to the dorm room where the network jack is relative to the computer. In some older residence halls, the jack may even be in another room. So get at least a 25-foot cable.

A surge protector is a must-have as a buffer against electricity spikes. But on campuses or in residence halls where power failures are known to happen, an uninterruptable power supply, or UPS, provides an extra measure of insurance. It comes with a rechargeable battery that furnishes a few minutes of power should the electricity fail-enough time to store whatever you're working on and shut down properly. The cost is as low as $60 (for APC's Office 280). And it could prevent an anguished call the night before a paper is due. Believe me, I know.

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BY AVERY COMAROW