Some advice? laptop or desktop?
 

Hi, I'm going off to college next year, and well, im thinking of getting a new pc. :D my pc is about 5 yrs old, and its really starting to bug me.

I was wondering if I should take a desktop or a laptop... For you college students out there, what does your experience say?... ( I heard some people say a lot of people take notes on their laptops?... eh?...)

and if it is a laptop, you techies out there, What kind of laptop should i get? Is this hype behind the Centrino really worth it?... Are laptop graphics cards now good enough? (btw, i use an ollddd Riva TNT 2 :D soo hehe)

I plan to use this pc for school work........ and of course GAMING :D:D.. well,. any input would be very appreciated

Thanks~

Laptop. I cant tell you how often I take my maching into the library to do work. Make sure it has a wireless card--many, if not most, college campuses are wireless now, at least in the libraries. If you can, take both (:D), but if you have to choose, a laptop is the way to go at school.

Centrino is wonderful--the battery lasts seemingly forever. I like IBM laptops--Ive been using them for about 7 years, and have never come across a machine that is better. I am using a T40 right now, and I love it. It is powerful enough to run my games (all RTS games, like Age of Empires, or Empires: Dawn of the Modern World). My video card is a Radeon 7500. Remember that laptops are not upgradable except for the RAM, but they are not built to be. I still have several 3 year old laptops that run fine--they wont game, but they do the normal laptop stuff (web, email, office software) just fine.

well the majority of laptops aren't made for gaming, and those with specialised graphics cards, ie not onboard graphics from your motherboard are very expensive. I would always recomend a pc, they're faster too... covienience wise, a laptop is very handy...u can "work" in the library as sailor says, but its also easier to take with you if u need to travel at all.

oh yes, i forgot about battery life. I've been looking around, and seen the new Radeon 9600 Mobility... but i was thinking whether a card like this would only allow for like a 3 hr battery life period :( .. heh...

If i were to get a laptop with the new Radeon, would those systems not have centrino on them?... I understood that the centrino is the entire package of board, internet, processor and an integrated graphics card... is this rite?..

:lol: oy~ this is what im worrying about instead of worrying about being accepted to one of the many places i applied heh... well my pc is very important to me!!:lol:

Do you plan on playing video games? If yes, get a desktop.

I have both a desktop and a laptop and it's much more convenient for me to have a desktop in my dorm room as opposed to just a laptop - but I'd be lost without the laptop in class.

What's your budget? For the typical $1000 laptop cost, you could build a decent little Shuttle and get a slow, used laptop for the laptop-specific tasks - taking notes, writing papers at the library, etc.

centrino does allow you to have a different graphics card.
Basis for a system allowed to be called a centrino is :-

Pentium M procesoor
Intel 855 chipset
Intel 2100 wireless card

For instance the dell 8600 is a centrino machine with a radeon 9600 Pro turbo option, not sure of the battery life, no doubt a quick google will find something.


But is a weight, battery, performance ratio, you can't have all three :)

I am currently a 3rd year Computer Science Student at the University of Tulsa and I can tell you that my first two years would've been so much easier if I had the laptop. Taking notes is easier with the laptop, as is keeping all of my coding stuff together when I'm at school. I have a desktop as well and it's great for gaming but I'm on my laptop 95% of the time now.

I have a Medion MD2900 laptop. It has pretty decent video (nVidia GeForce4 440 Go) too. My Laptop uses a desktop P4 processor (2.4Ghz) , and has that nice videocard, so it doesn't have a very long battery life (~2 hours with screen at full brightness and wireless on). I'm almost always able to plug in at school, so that doesn't really bother me.

Damn right about that, desktop's are the only way to go when it comes to gaming really. You can change just about anything you want to in a single case without actually having to get a new case. PSU, HDD's, other such drives, RAM, AGP cards, adding and subtracting all these things is a helluva lot easier to do with a desktop, and practically either not worth it or just impossible to do with a laptop. Shit, you can add an asslode of desktop upgrades for less than you can get a few upgrades and addons for a laptop. Look, whatever you do, just make sure you don't go Apple on us, bud.

If you plan on doing hardcore gaming and plan on upgrading, go desktop. If you like gaming, then just find a laptop with a sweet graphics card and a Pentium 4 processor or a nice Centrino.

If you want to be cheap you can always pick up a refurbished laptop, or a cheap crappy laptop from a best buy or circut city and then build your own PC that work for gaming.

If you're on a really tight budget and you want a decent laptop, the Apple iBooks got the G4 upgrade a few months ago and with the student discount can come to a very reasonable price.

maan.. i dont want to use the incompatible macs :( they're so pretty tho.. and the only pc's that gots the look of apple, Vaio's dont have the 9600 mobility... :(

So what's another nice company?.. any suggestions?.. I think i mite go with the "laptop from family.. altho it cant be like cracy $bling$ , then save up for desktop custom... cuz that'll be cheaper for ME :lol: )

Go for a laptop.
Nice company? That depends where you are.
There are some global companies however there are a lot of good manufacturers in different countries.
Don't import one from abroad because the support would be patchy at best.

Getting an older laptop could be a good idea--just make sure you get wireless with it, it is next to worthless without it. You will be glad you have a laptop though, it is a lifesaver in college.

Again, I am a huge fan of IBM laptops. I wouldnt buy their desktops, but they make the best laptops I have ever seen.

another thing i'm worried about is theft.
How secure are dorms during the day, especially on breaks? If i happen to leave my laptop (or desktop) in my room, is there a high risk of theft? Because i remember someone telling me that laptops are one of the most stolen items in colleges...

You don't like Apple? Then go for IBM. I got a T40 myself.

They cost a little bit more, but everything about them is great. The keyboards on all IBM laptops are the best of all laptops (and I'm not the only one saying this, go to virtually every single laptop review site), they have Ultranav which I love so much I don't need to lug around a regular corded mouse with me, oh and the 1400x1050 screen is insanely nice.

The only downside I can possibly find is there isn't a Windows key. In it's place there are regular sized ctrl and alt keys, which are nice in their own right.

Pickup a kensington laptop lock, its about $30 and tough, nearly all laptops support the locks, i recently picked one up as i'm often leaving mine in precarious situations

http://www.kensington.com/html/1434.html

they'll even insure your laptop against theft for $1,500 per incident if the lock itself is compromised and you report it to the police within 72 hours, then notify them withim 7 days and return both keys. It costs a little more.

Also theres laptop insurance

http://www.safeware.com/getaquote.htm

Pretty cheap considering..

Unfortunately for some the most expensive part to replace is the data, so make sure you set up a fully automated backup policy.

UW Senior here.

The choice between laptop and and pc depends on what you're going to be doing. Yes, if you're a hardcore student and am going to be spending a lot of time in the libraries typing papers or plan on being a computer science major get a laptop. But also keep in mind that freshman year is about meeting people and having fun. If the guys on your floor are LAN'ing every week over the dorm conenction, you're going to be seriously hampered by your lil laptop.

My experience as a Psychology/Biology major is that I really have no need for a laptop. All the material for papers usually comes from the textbooks that I buy and the notes that I take by hand in class. I am also a gamer... so a desktop was the only thing I ever wanted.

Also, about dorm security... ALWAYS lock your door when you leave the room and never leave stuff out. 90% of the people in dorms are cool people who wold never steal.... but it's that 10% of people that you have to take into account.

Yeah, just make sure you lock your room when you arent in it. When you go home on break, take your laptop with you.

Thanks for all the input, I think i'll prolly go for a desktop, and mebbe work myself into a decent laptop later :D thanks for the help