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My first semester at school I had a desktop. After that, I bought a nice laptop that will serve me for the remainder of school, and probably several years after that.
The PC was too bulky and unwieldy. It fit under my desk, but took up a big chunk of leg room - and I couldn't push my chair in all the way. I had a nice LCD flatpanel, but that plus keyboard, plus mouse, just took up too much space. The keyboard was a big space waster. In the time I used it I got pretty good at typing from my lap. It was also too loud. I couldn't keep it on overnight it was so loud.
My laptop only occasionally leaves my desk. I don't use my laptop to take notes in class. No one does, actually (and I'm a physics major!) But when I want to move it, I can - and that makes all the difference. I can go to the library, other rooms, outside, anywhere. The laptop gives me more room to work than I previously had. It can go on the extreme side if I need to have a lot on my desk already. I even have room for small electronics projects. Having the laptop open, right there, is very helpful. I have a standard mouse, along with my printer and external hard drive, that I keep plugged in when at my desk. My Thinkpad keyboard is full sized and feels great to type on. It's fast enough for my purposes - Internet, Office Applications, Mathematica, and Music. No games, the occasional DVD. I can't imagine needing much else in the next few years.
I consider the laptop to be a wise investment. Sure you can get buy without one, but the compactness and portability more than make up for any negatives, at least for the student's purposes.
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