desktop or labtop?

[impostal22]

Originally posted by PyRo
I was planning on getting a laptop for school. After being here for a semester though I see no need. I have yet to see one person take a laptop to class, and yes we have wireless internet and they are allowed to take them.
I personally think I am better off hand writting notes then typing them. It helps me to remember them better

same here.
laptop = twice the money for half the performance
laptop = lack of upgradeability
laptop = easily stolen, easily broken
laptop = rumored to be good for the college setting

so far at college..people who have laptops tend to complain about them more than anything.

the ONLY reason i ever wish i had gotten a laptop is transportability when going HOME. not intracampus moving...there's no real point in moving my computer..ever.

IMHO, it's a big waste of moola.

[UltimatePaintballer]

get a desktop, you can do alot more with them and i think it would be better for when your board and want to play games


but you can take your laptop from class to class, so thats cool

[PyRo]

You will find as a college student that nomatter how much money you have, you very quickly go broke. I would save the money. I bought my computer used on ebay for $600 shipped, at the time it was pretty damn fast, I probably paid a bit too much for it just because it was a dell but I needed it fast, I never had a problem with it that wasn't somthing that normally happens. The very nice monitors I have came out of someones garbage
A $1000 desktop will probably cost you atleast $2200 to get in laptop form, not worth it in my opinion.
Have you visited the school, does it look like your going to need a lap top, are alot of students carrying them around, or did any professors say they were helpfull?
In my school the only ones hauling around laptops are the professors.

[Ironmag]

I got my PowerBook G4 earlier this year and I just love it. I sometimes take it to class and do my note taking that way. I also use it at work (I work at a Campus Computer Lab) with no problems and the WiFi internet is usually fast on Campus. This PowerBook G4 does pretty much everything for me and running out of storage space is not an issue for me since it has the SuperDrive. As far as gaming is concerned, I'm not too much into the PC gaming market, but more titles are being released for Mac. Most of the other software is the same or similar and sometimes better than what's out there for PC's.

[FreshmanBob]

Originally posted by FragTek
There is no better college computing solution than getting a laptop. The ease of taking a computer to class to take down notes, type reports, do research, or whatever... Mobile computing is key for college IMHO.

Actually most(well all that I've seen) kids find it way too distracting to bring laptops to lectures and ressitations. It's too easy to play games, surf the net, ect. when your bored, instead of paying attention. Beleive me, its worth paying attention at a place your paying in excess of 20 grand a year to go to.

As a freshman, my PC works great, i take notes with pen an paper during classes, and use my pc to type essays, or do lab stuff on excel. That's about all you need a pc for in most majors. Also, I could never stand to type a 6 or 10 page essay on a labtops keyboard, they annoy the hell outa me.

[bornl33t]

IMO laptops were never meant to be. They CRAM a buncha stuff in a case and call it portable. Since my dadd travels ALOT that's all he uses. But guess what, he spends a good 1/4 of the year without a comp cause the dang things burn up, die of static shock, incompatibility issues and so on. Now alot of you are going to say that's just miss-use, but let me tell you my dad is the most anal retentive computer guy in the world. I think working on air Force electronics messed him up or something cause seriously, he refuses to use a laptop on anything but a flat table, cause they all have exaust fans on the bottom.


Anyway, let's disguss pros and cons.

Pro's: Storable, portable, COOL,

Con's: expensive, non-upgradeable ( in the sence that upgrades will soon cost you the price of a new laptop ), they are lacking, you NEVER see a p4 with a 200 gig HS the latest ATI-all in wonder and the rest of the works, you NEVER get the really neat things like 5.1 and a 21" screen.
I've yet to see a laptop with a built in printer not even talking about a scanner. Batteries are always an issue and I'm sure there's more.

Anyone that says that a laptop will play games is a liar or likes solitare too much. Maybe initially they will, but once you load them up, let them get about a year old and try to play the latest vers of Unreal I doubt you are still enjoying the experiance.

Now with the advent of all the hotspots poping up ALL OVER I can see them being VERY useful in a buisness scene. Some ppl can't do without them, like my dad who by the way is currently in Germany fighting with his toshiba satelite over and upgradability issue. While be purchased an extended warrenty and service contract just to be safe, since it was purchased in the US ALL the upgrades have to come from the US the toshiba store in Germany CANNOT upgrade it. So he sent it to the US to fix the failing HD (common with any laptop) got it back sent out for the upgrade CD, got the wrong one, sent out for the new one and 6 weeks later he finally was able to put the ghost image of his HD back on the thing. And this is the BEST working laptop he's had yet.

I recomend that unless your company pays for one to stay away from them

[beam]

I used to take notes on a laPtop in college....and I gradutated in 1998!

Plus, if a college campus has good wireless coverage, you could be browsing AO during the boring classes. I did something like this when I was at TechEd in Dallas last spring. Microsoft (sparing no expense) had wireless access points setup all over. So, I got a wireless card for my laPtop and between that and the handheld pc I was testing out for the week, had an awesome time! I think I even posted a thread about it while I was down there...I'll have to look.

***Edit*** Here is the thread http://www.automags.org/forums/showt...ghlight=TechEd

Anyway, with all that said, I think you did the right thing in sticking with a desktop. You will get more bang for the buck over a laPtop.

[PyRo]

Browsing AO during a class is one of the reasons I woulnd't get one.

[UltimatePaintballer]

pyro, already one reason why i don't get some of my hw done, and i just started hs