sean882

Laptop (Lenovo T500). Powerful enough, versatile, and reliable. I love mine, over a year old now. Still runs excellent. Also, pick up a second monitor off craigslist. Probably find one free or for 10 dollars... Its an amazing aid to be able to have two fullsize windows at once when transfering information, or reading and analyzing things.

realoptimism

You can find good free monitors on craigslist?....

Kamera

Do you need a laptop? Absolutely not.

I moved in to college with my trusty desktop computer, which I had constructed myself more than three years prior.

It broke the day I moved in, and I didn't have the money to repair it for THE ENTIRE FIRST SEMESTER. It sucked, a lot. I had to do all of my work on school computers in librarys and dorm labs for my whole first semester. Which, admittedly, had a lot of downsides.

On the other hand, I met a lot of awesome people by NOT doing what my roommates did, which was sit with their laptops by themselves. I also learned to be a bit more efficient with my work and time. When I fixed my computer, it promptly got a virus and was then no longer able to use the internet. So I STILL had to use school computers for most of the second semester.

Now, I'm an engineering concentrator at Harvard, taking basic science and math classes. So I can vouch for the fact that you definitely DON'T need a computer, much less a laptop.

If you need bang for your buck, get a desktop. That way, you have a kickass computer, a nice big monitor, and a far smaller likelihood that you'll get distracted by facebook during lecture.

LordMango

I'm thinking of building a decent desktop for around 300-400 (should net a decent athlon X2/3-4 gb ram), & then buying a netbook. Best of both worlds

Lergnom

The decision really depends on the availability of computers around school. Do they some computer labs? You can email yourself documents or put them on a flash drive and use one of those.

Second, does the school have a lot of wireless coverage that you might use? If you think you'd actually sit somewhere and work on your computer, then you can use a laptop.

hebrewhammer

Now that computers have gotten so cheap, if you don't need to play intense games you can get a far more than adequate laptop for $500-600 or less; sure, you can get a desktop cheaper or get a more powerful desktop for the same price, but you're really not going to need it unless you're a gamer or doing something processor intensive like video editing.
I have both a laptop and desktop at school (I had built the desktop mid-way through senior year of HS for pretty cheaply, then got a cheap laptop), and while I use both, if I had to pick one to leave home it would definitely be the desktop. The additional mobility of a laptop is definitely well worth it. In fact, I'm sitting on my couch watching the Tour de France and posting on here on my laptop.

pyroza

Desktop and netbook.

yellowismellow

what about the mini ones that cost like $399? they don't have cd/dvd thingies...is that fine?

hebrewhammer

That's what pyroza said - they're called netbooks. And those "thingies" are called drives... You can get them for as cheap as $250. It's smaller than what I'd want for my main computer, but if you have a desktop too then it's fine.

hirako

lolol (10char)

pyroza

Yeah, if you have a desktop the lack of a disc drive in a netbook doesn't matter since you'll only be using it to take notes in class or something.

hitoyzx

A laptop is not essential but MUCH more convenient.
Order of convenience: laptop>desktop>library computers
This list is purely for productivity. Gaming is another story.

Library
Pros: Cheap, as in free. Save ~300 a year (a $900 computer over 3 years)
Cons: Inconvenient. Limited, my school had a 2 hour/day limit on computers. I need to wait sometimes to use their computers. This is crucial, do you value your time or money? If its time over money, DO NOT DO THIS.

Desktops
Pros: Cheaper than a laptop. Same power as a laptop with a bigger screen for 100-300 cheaper.
Cons: You CANNOT take it home with you when you go home for a weekend/holiday/break. Immobile. Less productive than a laptop. Group projects at a friends? Use paper. Presentations? Hope a group mate has a laptop.

Laptop
Pros: Most convenient. Save time by being able to access your digital work from more places. Protect your investment, it's also easier to take home over breaks and such. Cant study at home? Go to the library/starbucks/friend's to study.
Cons: Most expensive but with the deals going on and the drop in the prices of notebooks, you can't refuse. Danger of Theft (ALWAYS secure it).

Lergnom

You can add a separate monitor to most laptops so for a few hundred more you have a laptop plus a desktop with a larger screen.

ThisCouldBeHeavn

The price difference would likely be a lot greater than that for truly equal power. Of course, if you get a low-end laptop (which to be fair would probably suffice for most), there would be a pretty big difference in power compared to the cheapest desktops.

silence_kit

hitoyz,

If you attend a large college, there'll be lab computers all over campus. Waiting for an open computer and having a two hour limit doesn't happen at big schools.

Also, I don't know what you mean when you say that laptops are more productive than desktops. Do you type your papers faster when you have a laptop in front of you as opposed to sitting in front of a desktop monitor?

Sincerely,

silence_kit