coot66

I have a E521 Dell PC and was wondering if I'll need to buy a laptop. OS is XP Home Edition for now; considering Vista Ultimate. At Open House, I was told that laptops aren't required, but some students stressed their importance. Can anyone offer any input?

-The PC Coot66

Devilsrule

While it is not absolutely necessary, I would very strongly recommend having a laptop. Much of the work in SMG is teamwork and team meetings. During these meetings, work will be done and discussed. My group and I always prepared our huge presentations in the GSU around a table with our laptops. Whenever I didnt have mine, I would have no method of completing work while in my group. Ideas would be flying and there would always be constant typing and clicking. So I would say get one. Especially with all the wireless around BU, it is very easy to get work done. Plus, a budget-level laptop, which gets the job done fine, isn't anywhere close to as expensive as it used to be.

Lergnom

Practically speaking, you want a laptop. The one you have will be fine for a while. BU has a number of computing centers so you can do work out of your room if you have a desktop computer - and many have specialized software - so you don't strictly need one.

To parents, I suggest you look at buying insurance. BU somewhere on their site lists NSSI. We've used it, had a claim and they paid very quickly. Having this insurance becomes more important if you have a laptop because repairs to screens are expensive (like $600+) and you don't want to claim against your homeowners insurance if you can possibly avoid doing that (if it even covers that loss).

ryanbis

I did not have a laptop freshman year (nor a desktop, for that matter). I got by using the computer labs and using my roommate's laptop. You can definitely get by if you need to. When you're working in teams, you normally do not need more than two people typing at a time, so it's not a huge deal.

I do recommend having one by the time you start Core, however.

Aztec09

lergnom- why do you not want to claim against homeowners insurance?

Lergnom

Because a claim on your homeowner's insurance goes into your "loss run". They may not renew you or they may raise your rate substantially even if the claim is tiny. The loss shows up for years. If you decide to change insurers or if your insurer quits writing in your area, you may have few or no choices other than a government run last resort insurer. Homeowners insurance is not like health insurance; the former is set up to discourage claims while the latter is for claiming everything that fits.

KG974

Im finishing up my freshman year in SMG. And to put it simply. You do need a laptop. It's implied that everyone has one. That's one thing that annoyed me when i came, because i originally didnt have one.
And as someone mentioned before, BU has a lot of wireless networks... its really easy to use.. in fact right now im in warren towers doing my laundry while using wireless...

Get a cheap laptop.... it will be well worth it..