Originally posted by: neutralizer
Originally posted by: djmihow
I'm not really looking for taking it to class, althought if I did have a laptop, I would be taking it everywhere I go due fearing it would get stolen. A desktop would be harder to steal. I would make sure of getting a server tower... but the components would be able to get taken out.
Just thinking about this is making me mad because I can't decide..
Lock the side window. I think the major thing is talk to roommate on closing the door and etc. As for the laptop, as long as you keep the bag on you and don't leave unattended with strangers, you should be fine.
You know, we never really had an issue with that. Our door was open most of the time, but there was almost always someone there.
I even left my window open but our window was blocked by a bush, so you can't see our window from the outside. BTW open as in a small crack, so you cant see if unless you maneuver around the bush and then get really close.
I had a laptop lock but I never used it after a month.
Originally posted by: beer
Originally posted by: Jmman
Well, I use an ultraportable 12 inch laptop (PC). It is about the size of a book, so it goes everywhere I go. All of my classrooms have wireless internet as well, so if I get bored with the lecture, I just surf the net, read email, etc......
And this is the only use I've EVER seen for laptops in classrooms. Don't you think that if laptops and tablet PCs were such a slick, useful idea, that someone, somewhere would have used it to take notes? I've been through four years of EE and I've never - not once - seen someone actually take notes on a laptop for an engineering class, on a regular basis. It's just not practical and no matter how you try to do it, you'll always be missing something. If you use a laptop, you can't diagram figures and block diagrams and formulas quickly (quickly = faster than you can write them down on paper). If you're using a tablet PC, then you're constantly having to alternate typing of notes and handwriting of everything else - do you think that's any faster or more efficient?
spiral notebook + the little message flags taht you can buy for $3 at wal-mart to flag important things + highlighters + pencil ftw....
The only thing laptops are useful for is writing code or running through matlab homework somewhere other than in the lab. But you're not doing that in a classroom while you're actively being lectures, but probably at a coffee shop or something.
Agreed, as an engineer you want to use notebook + paper. I buy the expensive $6 notebooks from Staples (the FiveStar Elite ones with spirals that don't break and are covered with a piece of cloth). Pencils / pens + highlighters. Code your notes so you can go back.
The other way is to print your slides if you have any and annotate them by hand.
Tablet PCs actually work well for engineering. I took notes with my friend in our civil engineering class and I think both our notes were pretty good.
If you are not an engineer, I think taking notes with laptop is decent (depends on what class). I was in a political science class, and the guy whips through slides so fast + talks so much that you HAVE to type. The only way I kept up with everything he said was by typing, and I could see that most people typing were blazing away trying to keep up as well. The notebook + pencil users were just writing every other paragraph he was saying.
So it honestly depends, but don't bring a stupid laptop to class because you have only a few words to write down. Unless you can outline and make your notes even better than slides, there is NO POINT. Often you just get distracted and go online. I brought my laptop to my EE class last time and I ended up surfing half the time and missing half hte lecture.
Do get a laptop as dorms suck and there isn't enoguh room. Once you move out to an apartment or whatever, get a big huge desk like me and then you can get a desktop.
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