Hi! I’m a senior in high school who will probably go to a liberal arts college next year. I will likely major in computer science or international relations.
I own a PC and a Chromebook. The PC is about 4 years old and runs Windows 10. I mostly use it to play games, watch movies/tv shows (on those illegal websites because it came with virus protection for the life of the computer), and to compile and run code. It has a cable problem that is almost getting so bad that I can’t use it. It will cost $125-$150 to fix. I had the same problem before and we got it fixed about a year and a half ago. Other than the cable problem, it starts a little slow, is too big to bring to school or anything comfortably, doesn’t have a great battery life, and the fan is crazy loud when I have games running. However, when the cable isn’t spazzing out on me, it runs fine in my opinion. I got the Chromebook about a year ago because the PC is hard to bring to school and it was pretty cheap. I use the Chromebook to do most of my homework and watch YouTube/Netflix/legal websites.
So, I want to get the PC fixed but my dad thinks we shouldn’t and I can just use one of my family members’ laptops if the PC dies on me and I need to run code or anything. Then, when I go off to college, I can just get a new computer. However, I think if we get the problem fixed I can hold on to this computer for a few more years. I can use the Chromebook to write essays and do research and such and then use the school’s computers if there’s CS work too complex for my PC. However, I’m also biased because I’d need to get new virus protection, re-torrent everything onto my new computer, transfer all of my files, etc… Also getting it fixed is a much more immediate solution for me.
How necessary is a newer computer for a computer science major? (at a LAC, specifically) I’d like to save the money and pay to get it fixed but I also don’t want to regret this later. Would a plan to just use the school’s computers for more advanced stuff be a viable one? I know that at at least one of the LACs I visited there were computer labs specifically for CS majors. What should I do?