Laptops, really that useful?

[GodlessAstronomer]

I love my netbook. I gave my full sized laptop to my mother after getting my Eee. It works perfectly for my portability needs, and the price was great.

Yeah that's the thing. If you don't need them for "real work" then they beat full sized laptops in almost every respect. Laptops are awesome if you need to work but for neffing/surfing/email I think I'd really prefer a netbook. And no kidding on the price! They just seem to get cheaper and cheaper.

Having said that, I know a couple of people who do "real programming" work on a netbook and honestly I don't know how they don't go insane. Even my 14" lappy is too small for me in most cases, I need a real machine for real work.

 

[lxskllr]

Having said that, I know a couple of people who do "real programming" work on a netbook and honestly I don't know how they don't go insane. Even my 14" lappy is too small for me in most cases, I need a real machine for real work.

I'm ok with everything but the small keyboard. If I had to do serious work with any kind of frequency, I'd use an external keyboard. You can get them cheap enough to leave them at a couple different places you tend to work, and just plug it up when needed. If you work with a lot of windows, having multiple desktops in Linux would probably help a lot with organization.

 

[ahenkel]

Basically I use my laptop while watching tv for neffing and looking for nudes of women I see on tv that get my attention in my pants.

 

[MovingTarget]

False. My cell phone is ultra mobile. Fits in my pocket, easy to look simple things up on the web anywhere there is a cell tower within distance(not limited by wifi), and is an all-in-one type device with playing music, acting as a phone, etc. (I has iPhone 4)

I perform well(120wpm+) with full keyboards (non laptop types) and a mouse... not so much on laptops.

I was more referring to the actual "phone" aspect of it. Just about everywhere you will go has some sort of phone to use to make calls. They are useful, but that is subjective to what kind of utility you desire on a consistent basis.

I'm not anti-laptop or anti-portable by any means. In fact I use them on a daily basis. I just believe that usefulness is subjective and that only you can decide what level of convenience you desire, as opposed to need in the truest sense of the word.

 

[zokudu]

Are you just trying to be contradictory? I never understood why people disliked you TridenT but this is ridiculous.

 

[Chriscross3234]

My 4 year old laptop has served me well these past four years of college. While living in the dorms I only had my laptop (high performance, so I was still able to game on it ), but now that I live in an apartment (with my main rig) I still use it, just not as much. I've never taken it with me to class, however, recently I've been using it more than ever for my senior design project and other group projects/homework. It's a matter of opinion, but I've definitely benefited from the versatility/portability of having a laptop for college.

 

[mesthead21]

God you are a fucking moron. Seriously asking people if a laptop is necessary? Holy shit

 

[TridenT]

I was more referring to the actual "phone" aspect of it. Just about everywhere you will go has some sort of phone to use to make calls. They are useful, but that is subjective to what kind of utility you desire on a consistent basis.

I'm not anti-laptop or anti-portable by any means. In fact I use them on a daily basis. I just believe that usefulness is subjective and that only you can decide what level of convenience you desire, as opposed to need in the truest sense of the word.

lol, are you serious? Assuming I had a landline, how could I possibly have people get a hold of me if I am not at home? The actual phone aspect is the most useful part alone.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

We never have enough machines at uni, because of all the idiots who use them to browse Facebook or play Pokerstars on them, so having a laptop is a godsend. The library is a really nice place to study, and a lot of the textbooks are pretty useful, so it beats studying at home most of the time.

Uh, do my work at home or at the school computers... It's prettttty easy.

If you're at secondary school, I completely agree. If you're at university, you're wasting a hell of a resource with the library and everything.

 

[mesthead21]

Next TridenT thread:

Food, really that useful?

 

[SparkyJJO]

I use mine at work all the time. Into the office, then from the office to various job sites, etc... gets used every day Mon-Fri. Wouldn't be without it, couldn't replace it with a desktop at work since I'm on the go half the time.

Other than that, I GREATLY prefer my desktop. Full size keyboard, mouse, much bigger and brighter screen, much more powerful, monitor at the right height (not looking downward constantly) - laptop is good for work/mobile stuff, that's it. I tried having a laptop as my primary machine and hated it after a few months.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I recently got my laptop for college. I never realized how amazing it is to be able to take notes, record the lecture, and organize everything. I can do my homework anywhere I need to go and study where I want.

I do have my main gaming desktop at home but I can game on this if I wanted to.

I work at the computer lab at my school's library. We even rent out laptops to students for 4 hours. They all get rented out within the first few hours of the day. Over 200 something laptops.

 

[nageov3t]

people who take notes in class with laptops are total douches.

that said, I get pretty decent use out of my laptop... I use it to surf the net while I'm watching tv in the living room or take it with me to my parents house when I'm going over for an afternoon to listen to music on (or watch hulu/netflix when the office is empty)

 

[IronWing]

I've been on field calls where I found myself printing GIS maps off a laptop in my truck, in the middle of the night, and handing them off to work crews. Laptops are also useful if you're stuck in hotels for a few days. Overall, I prefer desktops and have never bought a laptop for home use.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Pretty useless for me. I already finished all the bullshit general education classes I had to do, now I just have ME classes, which involve lots of sketches and math, so a laptop isn't very practical. The most useful thing I can think of is having something to do excel sheets on, or look something up online, but there are computers available in the lab for that sort of thing when the need arises. A tablet, however, raises my interest.

 

[GeekDrew]

I have a smartphone, that is always within a few feet of me (usually in my pocket, but sometimes laying on whichever desk I'm sitting at). I use it for calls, SMS, email, and rarely internet browsing or gaming.

My laptop is always nearby, too. It is a ThinkPad X200 (light weight, C2D P8600 2.4GHz, 12.1" WXGA, 8 GB RAM, 120 GB SSD). It's my primary computer at home, work, and everywhere else. It saves me a tremendous amount of time to be able to use one machine for everything... I don't have to adjust to different configurations, or having some software installed on certain machines, and not on others. The 12" LCD wouldn't be sufficient for full-time use for everything, so I have a docking station at work, attached to a 23" wide LCD. The smaller laptop LCD is usually acceptable for home use, but I'm planning on getting a docking station and external monitor for there also. I carry the laptop with me most places (home/work/hotels/etc). I can't count the number of times it has been beneficial for me to have it with me, while I'm in the middle of nowhere, and need to quickly log into a remote server and do something. It's awesome.

<edit> I hadn't thought to mention it until I read IronWing's post, but I also have a ton of GIS tools on my laptop, that I might need to use in event of an emergency. That, in and of itself, justifies carrying it everywhere, IMO. </edit>

There is still a desktop at home, and at work. My home PC most of the time acts more as a file server than anything... though I occasionally sit down at my desk and use it (when I want to watch videos on a larger monitor, just feel like a change of venue, etc). The desktop at work I use mostly as an RDP server, so that I can keep certain programs running, and ready to be used at a moment's notice.

Yes. Laptops are very useful.

 

[MovingTarget]

lol, are you serious? Assuming I had a landline, how could I possibly have people get a hold of me if I am not at home? The actual phone aspect is the most useful part alone.

People lived with only landlines for years. Heck, I didn't even get a cellphone until 2003. I still wish that I had waited. Nowadays a cellphone can be considered more of a leash held by those who want to "get ahold of you". If they really had that much interest in you, they would call you at home or your place of work.

 

[Raduque]

My laptop is quite useful... there's no way in hell I'd get my 40lb+ tower, dual LCDs mouse/keyboard into the can when I need to take a crap.

 

[lxskllr]

People lived with only landlines for years. Heck, I didn't even get a cellphone until 2003. I still wish that I had waited. Nowadays a cellphone can be considered more of a leash held by those who want to "get ahold of you". If they really had that much interest in you, they would call you at home or your place of work.

My only phone's a cell, and I've made it very clear to everyone I don't like chatting on the phone. In addition to that, I may or may not answer it depending on my mood, so it all works out pretty well for me :^)

 

[Bl0cks]

After two years in uni, I finally picked up a netbook for this semester. I live pretty close to campus, so I always told myself "I can just go home and use my desktop in 5 mins."

After this semester, I definitely regret not getting a laptop/netbook earlier. I was always turned off by netbooks being single core. I use mine to study with, I have some e-books and solution manuals on there, and I can go hide in a corner and study, instead of being in front of my desktop where there is no space to write.

 

[IronWing]

lol, are you serious? Assuming I had a landline, how could I possibly have people get a hold of me if I am not at home? The actual phone aspect is the most useful part alone.

I have a landline and no personal cell phone. People call my phone, the answering machine greets them, they leave a message, and, if warranted, I call them back. It is a simple process that works very well. I am endlesly amazed that people think they have so much time critical information to communicate that they can not be separated from a phone.

 

[cherrytwist]

Only laptop I've owned is for work. Therefore, I associate laptops with work.

Doubtful I'll ever buy one for myself as a desktop is much more comfortable for me and I don't need the portability.

It's a rare occasion that I'll bust out my work laptop for non-work related uses.

 

[Juked07]

This is my 4th year at school, and for 2 of those years I chose to only have a desktop. The main difference with the laptop is class is less boring (because I'm not paying attention), so my attendance is better. Overall I think I've picked up more from class, but still not as much as someone who actually pays attention.

 

[n0tdan]

I'm all math, science, and comp sci... so... laptop doesn't make sense to me. :/

I have to disagree with this. I bought a tablet PC 3 years ago (CS major) and have used it heavily in all of my math (especially math!!), science, and computer science courses. Though i suppose you're not talking about a pen-enabled laptop. Even then, as others have said, there are many reasons a laptop is VERY useful. I don't know your school's situations with labs, but at my university there are definitely times when it's tough to find an open lab on your part of the campus.

 

[TridenT]

People lived with only landlines for years. Heck, I didn't even get a cellphone until 2003. I still wish that I had waited. Nowadays a cellphone can be considered more of a leash held by those who want to "get ahold of you". If they really had that much interest in you, they would call you at home or your place of work.

Yes, people lived without many things for years... many still do. Doesn't mean I fucking need to.

I have a landline and no personal cell phone. People call my phone, the answering machine greets them, they leave a message, and, if warranted, I call them back. It is a simple process that works very well. I am endlesly amazed that people think they have so much time critical information to communicate that they can not be separated from a phone.

Ever heard of being outside the house? Ever wanted to call a friend when you're out doing something and want to do something with them? No? Maybe you're a loser.