Should I invest in a netbook for college?

College Life
1

<p>Regardless of which school I go to (I may go to a school with a laptop program that provides a free laptop), I will have a laptop regardless. Is it worth it to invest in a netbook for things like note taking? What are some of the pros and cons of the netbook if I already will have a laptop? Thanks.</p>

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<p>First of all, a netbook is lighter, so it would be easier to carry around and across campus. Depending on the seating, this will also help with comfort (size vs area available for you to place it).</p>

<p>Also, depending on which laptop and netbook you are comparing, battery life could be very different. In a lot of cases, a netbook’s battery will last longer (holds more hours per charge), so you will not have to carry cables, sit near outlets, worry about making it through the class.</p>

<p>The con about a netbook is its ability to perform certain tasks. In your case, simple note taking will be no problem. Another con is a netbook’s overall ruggedness and build quality. If you do carry it around in your bag and throw it around, chances are it may break down faster. Some study showed that netbooks were more prone to failures, but that could be because of a number of factors other than build quality (ie. they’re so much cheaper that people don’t really care about having to replace one or give 100% TLC)</p>

<p>I’m sure there are more things to think over, but that’s just what I think of first.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>I would recommend that you get a netbook if you’re going to be bringing it with you around campus. More than likely, you’re going to want to have a computer on you when you’re on campus and it makes a big difference when that computer is as small as a netbook. I used to take a 15" laptop around with me to class and now I use a 10.2" Asus Eee PC. I get around 9-10 hours of battery life per charge and it is so much more convenient than bringing a fullsized laptop around. You can take notes on it too if you’d like. If you are going to have a laptop in your room anyway, you might as well invest in a netbook to use for notes and web surfing purposes.</p>