LCD TV for college...?

There's tons of great sites and places to buy LCD HDTVs. CostCo, FRYS, even FRED MEYER if you have those near you. Avoid Best Buy since they'll push a dozen warranty options on you. Online you can try BUY.com for recently discontinued products, brand new but sharply discounted.

At work we use JR.com and ALMO.com for consumer electronics, mostly Philips / Magnavox but that's a premiere quality brand that is usually more expensive then similar sized models.

Stick with a tier one brand, Philips, Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, and avoid the johnny come latelys as they haven't yet proven themselves in the CE world.

Also, wall mount your LCD - most dorms will allow warn you about damaging the walls; however you'll most likely need to patch / spackle / paint the walls at year end anyway and a wall mount saves desk space, improves viewability, and prevents the snatch and grab theives.

Sad, but you'll find that even some of your new friends may feel inclined to help themselves to anything from food and books to spare change. Do NOT allow yourself or roomie to fall into the open door policy. Restrict access to your room and you'll stay safe and ultimately have a lot more fun. If you're using a communal bathroom, get a laundry bag and/or key on a bracelet - do not leave the door unlocked or worse, propped open.

You didn't give a desired budget though. So is $100 cheap or $400 cheap for you? That makes a HUGE difference.

In $400-$500 you could get a great 32" set. That would be a very good size for a dorm room, and even a small apartment main room if you move into such later on. So it would serve you well throughout college. Here are some examples from Amazon (but you can find these sets at major retailers, and places like Best Buy or WalMart will price match),

32"

Panasonic VIERA X1 Series TC-L32X1 720p - $400

Panasonic VIERA G1 Series TC-L32G1 720p 120Hz LCD - $550

- I think the G1 is perhaps the best 32" set you can own

Sony Bravia L-Series KDL-32L5000 32-Inch 720p LCD - $500

LG 32LH40 32-Inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV - $650

- full featured 32" set, which is overkill frankly, but if you want it..,

LG 32LH20 32-Inch 720p LCD - $430

Or you could go down a size, if you think you'll be just using this in the bedroom mainly for the foreseeable future,

26"

Panasonic VIERA X1 Series TC-L26X1 26-Inch 720p LCD - $400

Samsung LN26B360 26-Inch 720p - $386

Sony Bravia L-Series KDL-26L5000 26-Inch 720p - $440

As you can see though the better bang for the buck is at 32".

If you really want to drive the price down though, then perhaps look to Walmart. Go with a 2nd tier brand. Vizio can deliver good (just not great) results, and save you a fair bit. Right now at Walmart,

Vizio VW32LHDTV30A 32" 720p LCD - $378

Vizio VA26LHDTV10T 26" 720p LCD - $328

Hope you don't get it stolen. I lived in on-campus apartments and I had TWO laptops stolen from me, my roommate got a laptop stolen from her, my other roommate had her laptop and tv stolen from her. Don't get nothing too expensive people steal like crazy at them colleges.