College Laptop Program vs. Bring Your Own?

EyeVeee
Wed, 03 May 2017 12:22:09 +0000

@GoRedhead a few quick thoughts. I would be surprised if there is much of an admin function over the PC’s at a school. I would actually be concerned if you couldn’t use your own machine in favor of a required machine with mandatory software. Sounds more like a corporate infrastructure.

As for the desktop / laptop issue, I would suggest you not overthink it before you get there. If you need something you don’t have, you might have to spend some time in a computer lab using more powerful school machines, but you’ll be able to get your stuff done.

I would assume a 2 year old laptop is probably able to handle most issues, but you might want to look into upgrading the memory or installing a SSD. Those would get you noticeable improvements in many cases. I just “inherited” a 2010 MBPro from my daughter that had a slow HD and 4GB of RAM. For $300, it runs amazingly fast now with an SSD and 16GB of RAM. I’ve stopped using a desktop from the same era…it’s just so slow compared to this machine. If you’re worried about making those kinds of upgrades…don’t be. There are videos for everything, and many computers are built so that repairs/ upgrades are easily accessible.

Last comment…I looked at the 2017 laptops on the link, and they are good, solid machines, but they aren’t super-charged. It would be nice if the lighter machines had more RAM (8GB)…but it should do. Good luck