Laptop or PC for college?

[David H]

Well, I'll be a freshman next year. I'll be living on campus, but my house is only 10-15 minutes from school, so I'll be going home a decent amount for various things.
What's the general consensus, is a PC or laptop better for college?

A laptop would be good because it would be portable. On the other hand, a PC would give me more bang for my buck(I want a powerful computer with good storage capacity.)

So, does pretty much everyone have a laptop, or is a PC a decent choice?

[mr_whomp]

If you get a laptop you need to make sure you have a good lock to attach it to your desk. Laptops get stolen all the time.

[knicknut]

I'm in the minority but I've had a PC for four years and rarely had the need for a laptop.

I do most of my computer work in my room or on one of the many computers in labs or in the library, using a flash drive or e-mail accounts for storage.

Almost no one takes notes on laptops in class, especially in the sciences/math.

[captZEEbo]

kind've depends on what you plan to do with it and your major.

if you're considering taking notes in class (didn't happen much in my classes, not sure about other schools), laptops can be nice.

If you have to do a lot of work on a computer for your major (writing stuff or something), you might want a laptop.

I prefer PC, and when I wanted to get away from my dorm room to concentrate more I'd go and use a library computer.

[Big Poppa Smurf]

I had a PC for the first two years and a laptop for the last two. Granted the laptop was a much better computer, I would still choose the laptop. Being able to move around with the computer is key.

[g-bebe]

PC. Laptops are for artists, hippies, and people who live in their parents basements. Funny... that's what Mac users are too.

Taking notes in class on a computer is overrated. If you're too lazy to just write them, then why bother taking them? Half the people I see in my classes who bring laptops just sit around and watch videos or YouTube or play free online games instead of paying attention.

Unless you build your own laptop, which I've never experienced, it's a better deal to go PC, especially if you gets yours built or you build it yourself (i.e. not ordered from Dell). Fully upgradable, probably a bit cheaper, and does last longer. All my built PC's have lasted on average 1-2 years longer than any other computer/laptop I've used.

[orange]

i prefer pc. unless you have tons of classes where you have to take notes, then i think PC is the way to go. better in nearly every category except being able to move (obv).

[David H]

Like I said, I will be a freshman. I am undecided on my major, and I don't really know what my classes will be and how they will be set up, as far as taking notes is concerned. I'm also pretty sure that my time in class will be wasted if I bring a laptop to class.

If I DO get a PC(which is probable) then I think I'm going to try to build it.

[thedustbustr]

[ QUOTE ]
i prefer pc. unless you have tons of classes where you have to take notes, then i think PC is the way to go. better in nearly every category except being able to move (obv).

[/ QUOTE ]
by what standards?

im a computer engineering major. i had an internship doing computer support (not a brag). i know wtf im talking about.

i have a laptop and a desktop at school. you do not need a 3ghz machine with a $400 video card and 2gigs of ram to use microsoft office and whatever other academic and industry software you need.

at my school, most of the lecture notes and homeworks are online. my classmates and i meet in study lounges and do our homework on wireless internet. its super convenient to have network access in class (teachers shared folders, our home drives and public drives which are accessible anywhere, ...). all the big software besides office isn't even run locally anyway - we remote connect into a terminal server and do desktop work from there with matlab or whatever.

the only functional difference between a laptop and a desktop is a laptop has added convenience and flexibility, and a desktop can play modern computer games. and when push comes to shove, its awesome to be able to bring your computer to office hours and show your teacher what your problem is. or to bring your laptop to work so you can dick around when you have no customers. or to surf the internet in your wretched ethics class with mandatory attendance. or whatever.

as a pc gamer, who the [censored] plays pc games anymore? college is about boozing with your buddies playing xbox360. nobody wants to play a single player pc game all alone. play multiplayer party games, have some social interaction with your daily tv dosage.

this is coming from someone who spent 2 grand on a state of the art computer back last may and wants his 2 grand back.

[playtowin]

I'm a junior in college who has many social studies classes (history, poly sci, etc.) I bring my laptop to every class and take notes... it all depends on what you want to do, but personally, I can't imagine not having my laptop with me. besides, if you get bored in class, you can check email or play poker (warning: grades will probably suffer, since you won't always pay attention, lol)