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do i need a laptop?

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Originally posted by: EyeMWing
I got one, but my school is a commuter school, and I have no nearby dorm to go back to when I need to waste time.

And what a better way to meet chicks than to sit in the cafeteria playing oregon trail. Crowds of people wanting you to put their names into the party INVARIABLY form.
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😛
 
I liked having it. It allows you to go work on your stuff in the library which is important if you need to get out of the room to do work because you are too distracted in it. If you have a roomie you can't stand it's also good to be able to work/go online from the library. I'm a soph in college now and I know having a laptop helped me a lot freshman year.
 
I bought a laptop solely because I move between co-op and school every 4 months, and can realistically end up anywhere for work, and lugging around a desktop wasn't fun, with a laptop, it's just pack and go.

As for campus, taking notes is useless since all my courses (math and engineering) either have course notes available, or writing out mathematical symbols in word is a pain and a waste of time. Although it is useful when I need to work on things at school / study.

But it's DEFINATELY NOT and necessity for freshmen.

--Mark
 
I commute to school so I often had a lot of time between classes to waste time. It was nice not having to sit in a computer lab and once I was done studying and doing homework I would watch movies and torrents I had saved.
 
I brought a laptop to take notes, but I find that at 5 lbs. it's still way too heavy to be portable. Get an ultraportable. As for the desktop, it's good for watching movies and gaming 🙂.
 
no

taking notes by hand isn't that hard, at least, not for the money you save by not having a notebook computer.
then there is the added weight of the notebook in your backpack (7 or 8 lbs isn't trivial).
if there is wifi in class you will spend all your time at partypoker.com.
if there is no wifi in class you will spend all your time playing emu RBI baseball.
everyone will look at you when you break out laughing in the middle of class because of something you read on the internet.
either way, your grades will go downhill.

i'm not even sure i like to test on a notebook computer after having to write some of my exams this last semester.
 
I had one for my first two years, and I'll have one coming back as a Junior this year, but I mainly use it when I'm not on campus. At my parents house or a coffee shop with WiFi is where I find it useful. I tried to take notes with it when I was a freshman, but I found that it was pretty useless for me, as I can't make pictures easily, and text notes aren't that useful for me. Whenever I don't think that I need to pay attention in class, I bring it and surf the net through lectures.
 
Laptop theft is a serious social problem in recent years. If you can afford to loose your laptop then you can buy it, but before that why don't you read these Tips to Protect Your Laptop.

OptyMyStix
 
Originally posted by: thirtythree
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
I got one, but my school is a commuter school, and I have no nearby dorm to go back to when I need to waste time.

And what a better way to meet chicks than to sit in the cafeteria playing oregon trail. Crowds of people wanting you to put their names into the party INVARIABLY form.
Click to expand...
😛
Click to expand...

See? SOMEONE knows what I'm talking about.
 
Originally posted by: OptyMyStix
Laptop theft is a serious social problem in recent years. If you can afford to loose your laptop then you can buy it, but before that why don't you read these Tips to Protect Your Laptop.

OptyMyStix
Click to expand...

Considering my laptop is utterly useless without me, it isn't much of a concern (BIOS password + "modified" CMOS reset circuit [okay, it doesn't work] + NTFS encryption on everything), plus the fact that it never leaves my side (again, this is different because I don't have a dorm to leave it in)
 
Originally posted by: stan394
if you need to ask whether you need something, you probably don't, otherwise you would have already bought it.
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except he isnt in the situtation where he WILL be needing it yet. So shouldn't he be asking now instead of getting to college, realize he needs it, then beign bummed he didn't buy it before he got there?
😕
 
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