I'm gonna take a diff route since cmonkey already pwned the laptop end.
I see MANY kids that bought laptops for college, thinking that they're the coolest thing since sliced bread, and then they never take them ANYWHERE! If you're only going to be taking your computer home every now and then, I'd recommend getting a nice desktop computer for the dorm, then just use a USB drive to transfer stuff back home.
Myself, I built a nice desktop, and then bought a 100$ laptop off of ebay and just take that home to type on. Works great.
Would you consider the above, or are you deadset on a laptop?