<p>^ While that may be true, a laptop is definitely more versatile than a desktop. Emailing has become an important aspect of college for me in terms of communicating with professors and making appointments with them. It’s also great to be able to enjoy wireless internet while leaning under a shady tree while the wind blows.</p>
<p>:P I have mega procrastination problems so a laptop would be a negative investment. Also I feel like the physical action of writing helps things to stick in memory?</p>
<p>My d bought an apple Ibook and was sold an I pod mini with the promise of a rebate, she mailed in the upc label as requested but instead of getting a check this week she was told to call IBM get a reciept. We called her at college, she got a reciept emailed to her (the purchase was on line) and now the rebate center which tells us they are a separate group so cannot recieve email confirmation from Apple, so now we must fax it or mail it in and wait another month.</p>
<p>I think this is a scam, to delay or avoid giving the rebates they promise. Beware of this type of fraud. Has anyone else had this problem with Apple.</p>
<p>They are just hoping your daughter gives up, Mr. B. </p>
<p>I am into about 6 weeks and at least 8 hours of agony with Cingular. Although it is a little different situation than yours, I think it is also a plot to annoy the consumer until he gives up. Here’s the short version: We purchased four Razr cellular phones on a family plan. We also purchased two monthly “media packages” for the kids and have two pay-per-use media packages. Well, at first text messaging didn’t even work, and we STILL have no access to any of the supposed media services. They claim there is a problem and they hoped to have it fixed “soon”. Yeah, right. I rue the day we chose Cingular over Verizon. Their customer service sucks.</p>
<p>my daughter didn’t have any problem with her rebate- but she bought online.
I am looking at new laptops but I can’t decide whether to get a bigger screen or not- I have had three laptops ( over the past 15 years) with a 12" screen but seriously looking at moving up to 14" or 15".
Anybody have experience?
We have had great experience with APPLE
ex
my daughter has a laptop that she has had since 6th grade.( 4 years ago) it has gotten really heavy use- and needed help-but we were waiting till Jan to decide to get a new one.
Anyway- it had logic board issues that were covered under Apple lifetime warranty- we sent it back to be fixed and Apple installed new CD drive- new modem jack- new key board and new logic board & new battery at no cost to her. ( they also gave us update to new system software as the new logic board was dependent on new system software.
Now it is practically a new computer!</p>
<p>The 15.4 inch Dell screen is awesome…more of a difference than the dimentions would imply.</p>
<p>My daughter was required to purchase a Dell laptop for college, at the start of her freshman year. It’s loaded with software and “stuff”, cost came to appx. $2000. After about 18 months, she started needed to have some replacement parts, over the last six months that have cost about $225. Her estimate is that the computer will be good through her four years of undergrad school, not much longer. </p>
<p>These aren’t necessarily faults, but I think people should know what they’re getting into w/ laptops.</p>
<p>you don’t want to know what I paid for my first laptop about 20 years ago- I think it had 19 mB ram and a 180 mb harddrive
It was pretty cool but was almost $5,000</p>
<p>It lasted ( barely) till my oldest graduated from high school.</p>
<p>I’ve gone through my four years of college 2 with desktop, 2 with laptop. I’d say laptop all the way. It saves time (esp if your school has wireless) from going into the library/lab to check email, grades, hw, etc. It also allows for much more portability with your projects. No emailing programs/documents to yourself or saving them on a unix account, you have it all by your side. </p>
<p>Just have a good place to lock it up when on campus (locker in library, student center, etc)</p>
<p>For me, it’s necessary. I don’t live very far from my school, so I do go home at least once a month. Actually this weekend will be my third weekend home since I got here August 26. Our desktop at home runs Windows 98, so it just can’t handle some of the stuff that my laptop can. It’s slow too, so working with my school’s internet “blackboard” is a problem. With a laptop I can bring it home and do my work there.
Someone mentioned sitting on the bed. That is my favorite place to work. I even have a shorter ethernet cord, since the dataport is right next to my bed, so I don’t have to move the cord that’s next to my desk. I have not, and will not take my laptop to class, but I expect my laptop will see the inside of the library very soon. Will probably see the study lounge in my dorm building pretty soon too.
Could I <em>personally</em> survive with a desktop? Sure, as long as you have a computer you’ll be ok in college. But, the laptop works a lot better for me than a desktop would. It saves a lot of room on the desk too, as other’s have mentioned. Means I have more room for the giant printer that my dad passed along to me.
And my laptop is an excellent HP, and was well under $1000.</p>
<p>I have a laptop and I never plan to take it to classes, HOWEVER I really like taking the laptop with me to the library… I work much easier in the library than in the dorm room</p>
<p>Also add the other things people said about it, especially with bringing it home, etc.</p>
<p>I like laptops because I like smaller screens. I grew up with mostly 9-inch monitors on the old Macs from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Now the smallest I can get is 12 inches.</p>
<p>laptop is not necessary. i haven’t seen anyone with one in a class yet. i have a really small desk, so having the laptop is nice, and its of course easier to take home over shorter breaks like thanksgiving. but my roommate has a desktop and she seems fine with that too. if you are getting a desktop, definately get a flat panel monitor, you’ll want the extra space.</p>
<p>Actually I’ve started taking my laptop to class with me and using it for notes. I find that everything comes out much more organized. Also it’s somewhat common to see. However I think a lot of it is going to depend on your major.</p>
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<p>There’s something you don’t hear everyday!</p>
<p>Well then. To answer the the question, no, a laptop is not necessary. However, it is much more convenient.</p>
<p>I just bought a 14 inch screen- really I don’t know how I got along for so many years with a 12 inch. The weight doesn’t seem to be a factor- and it is so much more enjoyable working or watching movies in bed :)</p>
<p>I have a 12" Powerbook that I have used through high school, and I really don’t know what I’d do with a desktop. I take this thing everywhere! We have WiFi at my school, so I can do work there in the halls or in class, whatever I want really. And I’m not confined to my desk, I think I have afternoon ADD where I can’t sit still when I’m supposed to be doing homework (I’m fine the rest of the day, I swear!), but my laptop allows me to move around to change my work environment so that I can actually get something done.</p>
<p>But it is a 12" screen, 1024x768. Hard to work with. Luckily Mac OS X has Expose, an operating system function that lets you press function keys or use hot corners to allow you to view all open windows at once, and then choose the one that you want to be foremost. Hard to explain, but very much worth it. Go to an Apple Store and press F9 to see what I mean.</p>
<p>I’ll be getting a 15" Powerbook for college most likely, and while I will appreciate the extra power, backlit keyboard (an unadvertised really cool feature of the upper-level 'books), and more compatibility with Tiger and hopefully an Intel chip, I will miss my 4.6lb little machine. Smaller than all of my textbooks this year. Wow. Still going strong after almost 3 years, that’s something that most people can’t brag.</p>
<p>hah I still have my clamshell ibook! ( it still works but I gave it to my husband who is a Luddite-)</p>
<p>In reference to post 68: What laptop has 19 mb of ram and 180 mb of hard drive space. I don’t think any personal computers have that much ram. I think you can only get that on a server. And, 180 mb of hard drive space… that’s less than 1/5 of a gig.</p>