Best computer for MBA/MSA program?

I'll be starting an accounting grad program soon, and I'm going to need a new computer (my Dell laptop is so wrecked that I'm typing this using the on-screen program). Can anyone make any suggestions? I had been leaning toward the iPad, with the plan to use a bluetooth keyboard along with it, but it's been suggested to me that I may not be able to run some of the programs I may need. Has anyone found this to be the case?

Thanks!