<p>Does anybody know which is more common at Wash U. If not, which is better for college in general. I live less than two hours from campus so I’ll probably be coming home occasionally and it would be nice to have a lap top. But if most people have desk tops and they work better at Wash U, then I would be fine with that too.</p>
<p>Unless you have a need for very demanding software, get a laptop. Apple and IBM ThinkPad (owned by Lenovo) are the best laptop brands.</p>
<p>Examples of software that might require a desktop: graphic design in Photoshop, video editing, or high-end games like Doom 3 or World of Warcraft. Most of this software will work on a laptop, but it would be noticeably slower than on an equally priced desktop.</p>
<p>I’m bringing both, mostly because I play a lot of games and have put a ton of money into my desktop that I don’t want to go to waste by not bringing it.</p>
<p>heh, but World of Warcraft is definitely not a “high-end” game in terms of system requirements; most good laptops can play it without a problem.</p>
<p>I think laptops are a good plan. Wash U has put in wireless through most of their campus, which means you can sit outside with your laptop and talk online… i mean do work!</p>
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<p>It depends on how picky you are about draw distance ;)</p>
<p>But yeah, I’m bringing my dual G5 2.7 system and 24" Dell LCD in addition to my mediocre PC laptop. I need all the juice I can get.</p>
<p>Even with all settings maxed in World of Warcraft, I wouldn’t consider it in the high-end ballpark with Half Life 2, Doom 3, etc.</p>
<p>[Gamespot’s</a> feature on WoW graphics performance.](<a href=“http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-x-1304-x-x-x&body_pagenum=2]Gamespot’s”>http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-x-1304-x-x-x&body_pagenum=2)</p>
<p>If a 6800 Ultra can only squeeze out 41 FPS at 1600x1200 with max settings, imagine trying that on a Radeon 7500–the standard for the ThinkPad T-series-- or worse, on the “Intel Integrated Graphics” chips that come with many other notebooks.</p>
<p>[Low-end</a> graphics card performance.](<a href=“http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-x-1304-x-x-x&body_pagenum=4]Low-end”>http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-x-1304-x-x-x&body_pagenum=4)</p>
<p>Anyways, this is a very pointless argument. You agree with the gist of what I was saying before, so there’s no point in fighting over the details.</p>
<p>My point is, I have a 1.8ghz laptop with a Radeon 9600m and it can keep the FPS in WoW above 30 on max settings except in certain situations in cities. If I were to run Doom3 or HL2 on my laptop, I might get 10 FPS at max settings. I hardly consider WoW to be high end considering the quality of the graphics in the game is something I’ve seen two or three years ago. HL2 and Doom3 quality I haven’t seen until this year.</p>
<p>heh, are you going to WashU, btw? I’m going to need someone with whom I can argue about the graphical demands of WoW, lol :)</p>
<p>WUSTL '09, represent.</p>
<p>hahahahahaha</p>
<p>nice to see some gamers going to washu</p>
<p>I don’t play WoW myself, but I do play games like Uru and it is slow even on my desktop. In my opinion, a desktop is a good choice if you need your computer for something other than academic work.</p>