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Alright, need some help for a college decision.

A

AcidicFury

Golden Member
OK, so I'm going off to college in about 3 weeks. But I have a bit of a predicament as to what do about a computer. I have 3 choices. Either I can buy a laptop, build a new desktop and bring up my old laptop, or keep my old desktop and bring up my old laptop.

The specs of the old laptop really don't matter at all. Needless to say it has wireless and Word. It's like 3lb so its easy to bring around campus.

My old desktop is a 2800+ XP, 512 ram, 120 gb SATA, ti4600 gfx.

I have a $1500 stipend from my parents. So, I would either configure some type of laptop or build a new desktop.

I was thinking this for the desktop:

Shuttle SN25P SFF
Athlon X2 4400+
2 gb ram
my old 120gb sata drive
my old cdrw
some type of gfx card (need some help deciding this, but i mostly play CS and WC3 and really want to play newer games at a decent resolution)

any thoughts? thanks for the help
 
If you are happy with the performance of your current laptop and it has everything you need (wireless, etc) then I'd say stick with it.

Are you going to be in a dorm? If so I would get the Shuttle and a nice LCD if that fits in the budget....if you already have a nice LCD - you're set.

Can't get much more power out of a shuttle than with an X2 😀
 
Honestly, for college, i'd likely get a notebook.

Far more practical (for your needs) IMO, since your desktop is fine.

Throw in some more RAM & a better video card on your desktop, & get yourself a nice Centrino or Turion based notebook for school 🙂
 
If your notebook is still decent enough to take the to library and write papers and what not, then I'd go with a desktop.

If you don't game much, you might be better off getting a really nice new monitor and some more minor upgrades to your desktop.
 
If you are a first year student (freshman) I would hold off on building a new desktop but perhaps look into the notebook realm. I have been fine with my desktop and no notebook for (count 1-4 years) and still going strong. Plus I'm broke.
 
Or, to enter a third option to consider - if this is your first time living in a dorm, just take what you've got already. Get acclimated to dorm and college life, then decide where your priorities lie, and spend accordingly.
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7
Or, to enter a third option to consider - if this is your first time living in a dorm, just take what you've got already. Get acclimated to dorm and college life, then decide where your priorities lie, and spend accordingly.
Click to expand...

seconded

kd
 
Wait if you can (and it sounds like you can). Also, depending on your major or areas of interest you may need to configure a system with certain requirements in mind. I doubt you're going for graphic arts or some other higher end computing field but if so contact your department for any requirements they currently have. Many schools with those programs require students to be able to use certain programs that their instructors are familiar with and sometimes those can have pretty decent or specific requirements. Once you know the minimum that you need bump up your processor a notch or 2 so you can meet future requirements (things change over 4 or 5 years). Make sure you leave space to add RAM later and have the ability to replace the graphics card if needed later.
 
Bank the cash for a while, see what life is like at college. Not like you're going to be running demanding stuff the first couple of weeks. It's always nice to have cash, and if you need to buy something, FedEx delivers to college too.
 
it sucks building a computer in a dorm, trust me
esp if you have a roommate

thats why i built mine right before im going back
 
For college you want as little (power wise) of a PC you can get. You dont want something that will tempt you to play the latest games etc. Just school work.

BTW: your old PC is 2x better than my current PC and it is still too much.
 
I'm currently at a big university, and a LAPTOP is a must.. because I don't want to have to walk 30 minutes home to type up a paper.

It's nice for just those '15 extra minutes' you get when a class is let out early, for some reason.

Hmm.. what would I do with an extra $1500 and those systems?

Probably stick with my old desktop... add in a new GFX card for about $100 (sell GF4 for around $80-$100... buy new 6600GT for under $2000).

Get another 512 RAM... and pick myself up a nice LCD monitor.

If you want, get a centrino laptop that has wireless and stuff.. Maybe a tablet. I've recently been in envy of people with those. They can take all their digital notes, and never have to search through them!!!
 
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