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I'll be leaving for college in a month and I want to know what any current students or grads would recommend that I get, a desktop or a laptop? I'll be an engineering major and my school says that it has no preference for either X-top. So what would you recommend?

I perfer a desktop. Much less irritating to work on for long periods, and ASU has computers all the hell over campus anyway.

I'd say it depends largely on whether or not you'll be playing a lot of games. If you're a gamer (or think you may become one, many a LAN-games there are in university dorms), you can get a much beefier desktop for much less cash than the laptop route.

If you're not a gamer, then the laptop is the way to go. You can even take it to class and take notes on it (unless your prof's a real dick).

Shadow WarChief wrote:I'll be leaving for college in a month and I want to know what any current students or grads would recommend that I get, a desktop or a laptop? I'll be an engineering major and my school says that it has no preference for either X-top. So what would you recommend?

Okay, here's the question you have to ask yourself:


Do you prefer doing your work "on the run" so to speak, like between classes in the library or whatever? Do you go around a lot and may not stay in your dorm or apartment most of the day?

In that case, laptop might be more suited for you.


If you do not need access to your own personal computer while out, and would rather do all that stuff in your dorm or apartment and are content with using school comps when outside, then you should get a desktop.


Also keep in mind that games, and other such relatively high-stress programs are always more suited on a desktop, so you have to take that into consideration as well.

Portability, or maybe even lack of desk space (mini-PCs are just as good if this is the issue), are the only two reasons I can come up to justify the need for a laptop. If you need any kind of power, whether for games or math-intensive programs (like AutoCAD), I'd suggest a good desktop.

It really depends on you. I had a NX7000 forced upon me (full specs, only 512 ram though) last year when I started college. And I have to say, as a gamer the laptop is very two faced. On the one hand, mobility is a great quality. The mobiliy has given me much more game time, between certain, dull classes, hanging out in friend's rooms, and going home every other weekend it has added many added hours of gaming, even reaquainting me with some of my less played single player games. On the other hand, as a gaming computer; it's nearly at the end of it's life. Evening being comparable to average desktop processors, it would say it's lifespan/dollar ratio is about half that of a desktop. So, if you move around a lot and like playing games, I'd invest in a solid laptop. For your dollar, Compaq acutally makes the best laptop, but be warned, you are buying a laptop. And don't go for a crazy expensive alienware, a friend of mine got a top of the line one less than a month ago and the machine keeps locking up while playing most newer games (though I suspect this is a driver issue that will eventually be resolved). All in all, if money is tight, go desktop; if you have about 2.5 grand to blow and plan on moving around a lot, the laptop might be right up your alley.

From the lawschool IT guy:

Laptops are far better for research. You can take them into the library and take all of your notes, do your research, and access all of the databases from the same computer that you'll work on and do papers on.

At this school we have electronic exams and actually allow students to do their essays on their laptops when they use the proper exam software which we provide.

Of course they're easier to steal, and with wireless and such they can be more difficult to configure and keep configured. Then of course they kinda suck for games. But when one of my faculty heads for another school to do research or give presentations (yeah, don't foget that in a high-tech o mid-tech classroom you can use your ppt configured how you like to give a presentation) they go with a laptop.

LP

Laptop is much more convenient.

There are a number of concerns:

1. Price
2. high end processing power: aka gaming (you can probably crunch #s on a school comp)
3. portability

I luv my laptop because I can use it why lying down on bed (not for that, you sickos).....gah I'm lazy :p

Keep in mind that if you actually plan on lugging the laptop around for any significant periods of time, you might be interested in selecting a lightweight model.

I say desktop, but then, I game a lot. I find laptops highly annoying, particularly when there's nowhere to effectively use a mouse and you have to go with the blasted touchpad thing.

Rogue 9 wrote:I say desktop, but then, I game a lot. I find laptops highly annoying, particularly when there's nowhere to effectively use a mouse and you have to go with the blasted touchpad thing.

That's annoying, but can be worked around.

Anyway, like said above, it all depends on the needs. Of course, if your campus has wireless internet all over campus (more or less, like USF), then a laptop is a good bet. Plus, depending on the time and stuff, there may be lines to get on school computers; your laptop is always there.

My only real beef is that it takes up most of the case when I have it. Which normally doesn't matter, except when I wear my uniform, because I can't bring my backpack and wear it on my back those days. And if I don't need it I have nowhere to put it except my truck, which means I have to carry it around all day. Used to have lockers in the wardroom but those are going bye bye...supposedly.

Just my two cents.

Get a Mac!!!

Okay, had to say that, now with that out of the way...

Either get a laptop with a big bright screen, or a desktop. A small laptop is nice, but the small screen gets frustrating if its your only computer. So if you go laptop only, get a big screen laptop. If you get a desktop, its not portable. If possible, get a small laptop and a good desktop.

Do you expect the computer to get you through all 4 years of college?

A desktop has a greater chance of doing that.

A laptop is more convienient but USB keychain drives make transfering files much simpler than 4 years ago.

If you wanna play games go with a desktop.

If space in your room is a premium go with a laptop.

If it's in your budget, a $2000 laptop will play any game except Warcry or Doom3 just fine. However, it's more difficult to upgrade, so you'll never be able to play those games.

I debated getting a laptop for about 18 months. Once I got it, I never looked back. It's great for taking notes in class, I'm not chained to a chair in a windowless room, it's easier to collaborate with other students, and perhaps most importantly I'm more likely to stay on campus between classes. Hence, I'm more likely to actually go to the late day classes.

What about PDA+keyboard for notes, and PC for everything else?

I found trying to take electronic notes not very practical.
A notebook and pencil work best. That's just my personal opinion.
Something about the action of writing it down, helps it stick.

Though I never experienced laptop theft, I believe it only happens when you're really careless with it (ie leaving it on and walking away from your table for a minute, leaving your bag on a chair while getting food...). If you always keep it close, then you should be fine.

In any case, my university requires us all to have laptops, so I had no choice here. But I'd say laptop anyway. A good laptop should be able to last you for more than 4 years, and I can definitely say HP/Compaq don't make those. Few friends a week ago had them and one already had to reformat two days after it shipped.

And since I'm already talking of laptops, I'll just throw in a shameless plug here and suggest IBM. Their laptops may be as expensive as Apple laptops, but god damn the quality makes up for it. The chassis is not plastic or "tri-metal" (fancy word for hard plastic), but rather some sort of magnesium alloy. Which for some odd reason makes it much lighter and stronger than a normal chassis. You'd have to feel it for yourself to believe it, but I'm dead serious. Be careful with IBM's sales department though, it doesn't seem to be the most important thing in their minds.

What about Toshiba?

Pu-239 wrote:What about Toshiba?

Worked okay for me so far. I only reformated because I ran afoul of spyware, and my experience with spyware removal programs has been negative; they don't do the job and just end up fucking things over in the end.

Other than that, haven't had any complaints yet.

No comment on Toshibas, except a friend says they weigh alot. Though that's what he says..

Dell is also another brand, if you can get around all the extra unneeded software they load. They look "pretty", but the plastic around my laptop looked ready to cave in. My previous 8600 also had a motherboard flaw that I'm not sure they had corrected yet, and also the keyboard was reported to have a side that wasn't as well protected.

GoldenFalcon wrote:No comment on Toshibas, except a friend says they weigh alot. Though that's what he says..

They do.

Dell is also another brand, if you can get around all the extra unneeded software they load. They look "pretty", but the plastic around my laptop looked ready to cave in. My previous 8600 also had a motherboard flaw that I'm not sure they had corrected yet, and also the keyboard was reported to have a side that wasn't as well protected.

My sister had a Dell. Had some seemingly useless shit. And was screwed up too. Finally the LCD just went fucked up and it's useless now.

I never liked it beyond the fact that, at the time, it had better power than my desktop.

You could buy an used, cheap, IBM laptop, for word processing in the library and small gaming (Starcraft and such), just enough to get your homework done (if it get's stolen you only loose a culple hundread and chances are no one would want to steal it in the first place), and use the rest of the money to get a decent desktop for serious gaming, that what a friend does and it's an excellent combination if you are on a budget, and a desktop would also make it easier for you get into things like 3d animation. Try to build your own if you are up to it, once you build your own you won't feel like buying retail anymore.

Someone just bought an IBM Thinkpad 760 ED for $76 on ebay, i say you could use a good deal like that for the lap, maybe get some more memory and a new HD, and use the rest to get a kick ass desktop. If the lap breaks down in a year and a half or so, hey, it's only $76 and you could recycle the new stuff you added.

Dell is...evil.

I've heard hideous stories about their tech support, and I even KNOW someone who was ripped off by them (I can't remember the whole story, but it had something to do with not giving her the rebate form or any mention of it, not telling her the expiration date, and continuing to charge interest even after the computer was paid off).

Not to mention that the computers are *insanely* overpriced, even for cheap slapped together Windows PCs.