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Will I want a laptop for college?
Faynor
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi there!
So, I'm approaching my first semester at college at the end of the summer, and I'm not sure what to do with my graduation money. My major is liberal arts because I don't really know what I want to be (which is also why I'm only going to a 2 year community college, and then a 4 year university).
That said, do I want a laptop? I have a perfectly good desktop at home. I mean, it's not like my major is graphic design or whatever, and I've heard people say laptops can be overrated for college.
Thoughts?
So, I'm approaching my first semester at college at the end of the summer, and I'm not sure what to do with my graduation money. My major is liberal arts because I don't really know what I want to be (which is also why I'm only going to a 2 year community college, and then a 4 year university).
That said, do I want a laptop? I have a perfectly good desktop at home. I mean, it's not like my major is graphic design or whatever, and I've heard people say laptops can be overrated for college.
Thoughts?
do you wanna see me eat a hotdog
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None the less I didn't have a computer till I was a senior. Notebooks were just fine for my majority of time in school.
I'd say if you're a PC gamer, bring the desktop. If you must take notes digitally, AND are a pc gamer, get a netbook for the portability and bring the desktop. If you can do without the PC games, just grab a decent laptop.
Having a laptop makes working on projects so much easier. For notes, they can be very nice, but just writing them out works just as well. Especially when you write them out, and then copy them over from the notebook to your computer. It's a rather nice method for retaining the information mentally.
You'll probably miss having the laptop with you at some point, either in class or in between classes, and being able to work anywhere is fantastic. Plus, laptops are super-cheap now.
It may be something to consider when you transfer later on.
If you're interested, but don't want to spend a whole lot, look at a netbook. God I wish netbooks were around when I was in college.
I'd just wait and buy a nice one in two years when you go away.
Look into the 1000HE.
I didn't get a netbook untill my last semester and it was fucking awesome. I wish they existed for years before.
Nothing, really. Netbooks are smaller/lighter.
Netbooks are small, light, on the cheaper end, and don't have an optical drive.
They kinda rock.
They also have mad battery life. I recommend one.
But yea, if you think you will be taking a lot of notes in class and would like to type them (so you can print them whenever, because your handwriting sucks, its faster, you will want to keep them for years, etc), check out the 1000HE.
It pretty much just sits in my dorm room, unless I'm studying in a group or have a group project to work on.
Really you're just better off bringing a (paper) notebook to class to take notes because it gets awkward typing notes out (especially for math and science courses) and the battery life will probably become an issue.
Also as Zoolander says the only reason anyone brings a laptop to class is to screw off, I've only seen two people ever in my two years of college so far take notes consistently on their laptop in class and one of them was writing on a tablet PC.
Plus it could be a pain in the ass to carry around if you have to carry books to class.
Furthermore, I would really hold off on buying a laptop until you know what you want to be, because might get one that is underpowered for the software you might need to run.
Otherwise desktops are much cheaper. The only factor here is if you really plan on working out and about like at a library or something, and in that case a flash drive would do fine for bringing data place to place.
1) It can get stolen if you have it out somewhere. You'll see threads on PA about this periodically.
2) They're expensive or not very feature rich, and will have problems significantly more often than a desktop of a similar price.
3) They're heavier than you think, and have less battery life than you think. If you pay more you can solve one of these problems but will usually make the other one worse.
4) You will not pay attention in class. This is perhaps the best reason not to get one. H/A is also littered with threads about people failing out of college (usually w/o any explanation as to why). I think one of the reasons is that people here are specially succeptible to getting distracted by games and the web when they should be doing other things; I know I am.
5) You don't need one for class - I have yet to see an undergraduate class that requires note-taking in the speed, depth and detail that fast-typing on a laptop requires. Writing things down is better.
6) Any university is going to be up to its neck in computer labs - as long as they keep long hours, you shoudn't even need to buy a desktop, though i'm sure you will.
The only time in college I really used my laptop productively was when I was doing 8 hr+ flights for my job/extracurriculars. Even then, I probably could have done just fine writing outlines of papers w/pen + paper and writing it when I got back home.
That said the netbook is pretty unnecessary.
In my own experience, I'm an economics student. Any note taking I'm going to take requires randomly interjecting complex graphs. Yes, a more expensive computer could do this, but so can my hand. Furthermore, my lab notebook won't spontaneously catch fire or have all the ink/graphite suddenly fall out. On the flipside, my laptop has had several HDD failures.
They're also really nice for bringing over to a friend's room and having something there while socializing. Projects are also much more organized and smoother.
If you have a nice desktop, though, it'd be better to just get the netbook. Just make sure you have a good case for the desktop that doesn't make too much noise.
I use my laptop every day at school. I rarely use it for taking notes in class, I like to doodle and make graphs and whatnot and that's much easier to do with pen & paper. And when writing papers, I usually go to my school's Mac lab, because 25-inch iMacs = yesplease.
Here's a list of things I do with my MacBook at school...
-Run my shows at the campus radio station
-Make bitchin' presentations with KeyNote
-Able to work wherever, nice when roomie's getting some play, etc.
-Able to plop down in the library with a coffee and Google Reader between classes
-Able to work in different spots to change up the scenery a bit
I recommend it, but if you're strapped for cash, a laptop's not a dire necessity in college.
My advice would be get the laptop but don't install any games on it and don't connect it to the campus wireless, thats what i do, that way i don't have the temptation to dick about in class.
I'll add that this past semester, none of my classes allowed laptops. A lot of teachers are honestly getting tired of them, in the sense that people will just play games/surf the web. I can't count the number of people I seen playing WOW as a teacher lectures.
However, just about every commuter student has a laptop to make use of time between classes and not suffer a) boredom or b) opportunity cost. If you're going to have a lot of down time on campus, I would get a laptop. From your first post, not sure if you're a commuter but the "at home" makes me think you are. I live in Chicago so commuters are usually held hostage by train schedules, etc.
As a freshman, I absolutely recommend that you do not bring a laptop to class. You're going to have about a billion distractions as it is and a laptop in class isn't going to make your life any easier.
The only situation I can think of where you might want/need one is if you're doing some kind of project where it's handy to have a computer away from the computer lab, and if you're a freshman you probably won't be getting into that stuff for a year or two. Don't waste your money.
I'm starting law school in the fall as well and I'm anxious to find see how note taking will be. I know that you're the weird kid if you *don't* have a laptop in class, but I'm curious about the actual necessity of having one.
Suggestions:
The aforementioned Asus 1000HE EEPC. Those things are awesome.
Macbook, if you like Macs and hate money like I do.
As for not getting yourself into trouble playing games, thats kind of the tradeoff you are willing to make. I never take my new laptop (or my old one) to class, since that is a surefire way not to pay attention. Just use a laptop outside of class and you'll be fine.
I also like being able to work in any room of my house. Beautiful day outside? Write your paper in the hammock out back. Roommate playing halo again? Go in your room. You can work in the kitchen, spread out all of you sources on the dining table and go to town. Got a hangover? Work from bed.
Other than that, I plan to hand write my notes and then retype them if time permits. My retention will be much higher that way I believe.
I really wish I was able to save the notes I took in a number of my classes, but alas, I suck with pen and paper.
But it works and its wow cheap.