what did you take to college?

C

Corson

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 1, 2003
Messages
178
im about to head off to college in the fall, and im trying to decide whether i should take my desktop, and get a decent laptop for basic computing, so basically just use my desktop for gaming and mot worry about it for the laptop, or should i get a laptop good enough for gaming and leave my desktop back home.

im going to Temple Univ. in Philadelphia, and they have something like 75% wireless campus which means ill probably be using a laptop pretty often away from my room, but who knows. My major is IST so ill be using a computer more often than some students.


btw my desktop is currently:
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton (oced to around 2205 mhz)
CORSAIR XMS 512MB (2 x 256MB)
ABIT NF7-S
SAMSUNG 955DF Monitor
Saphire 9500pro

if i take the desktop, im planning on upgrading the video card to a 6800gt, which ill do soon if i decide what laptop ill be taking. also, i may get an LCD monitor if i end up not having room assuming i take the desktop.


thanks for the help
 
take the desktop, and get a decent light laptop that will be easy to take with you places...something in the range of 13-14" wide screen that is 5 lbs or less...like the sony's or the ASUS W3V...they'll handle light gaming but are very portable yet will handle whatever you need them to. If you don't take the desktop you'll need a DTR notebook which you won't want to carry many places cause its so damned heavy and bulky
 
Gaming desktop + ultra-portable laptop. I took this to the extreme, though, and got a PDA for notetaking two years ago- don't go that far, the screen is too small! I've found that my Latitude D505 is perfect for notes- 15" screen (you don't need widescreen to type!), Cel-M 1.5, 802.11g, and I think about six lbs- I've gotten over 6 hours out of it!

Actually, I did have a gaming laptop two years ago- an eMachines m6809. It was great, but it walked away. Don't get anything expensive for a laptop.
 
when i first went i just took my desktop. (p4 2.0ghz, 512mb pc2700, slow and small hdd, bad graphics.)

it was fine for the games i played (counter-strike) but it was a hassle to bring it there and back when we had to take stuff home (like on winter break and summer). it was just big and heavy.

so i decided that it would be good for me to get a laptop, and since my desktop was still what i considered pretty good, i bought a laptop (one i am using right now: p3 600mhz 256ram, 12gb hdd) from my friend for about 300 dollars. I use this all the time when i have to go home for things. It runs multiple office application just fine, and i can use AIM and IRC on it also with the pcmcia wireless card that was in it. it is a great little machine that is plenty good enough for casual use and still beats out a lot of the computers that are chilling in the free computer labs around campus (getting upgraded to nice dells soon though, i saw a huge cart full of dell boxes going into this building, and the guy rolled it over a crack, and some of the boxes fell, lol)

Eventually i decided that my desktop was too cumbersome on my desk so i bought a shuttle because i liked the look of a shuttle anyway. I have had some problems with the hardware on my shuttle, but i plan on fixing those soon. i couldnt be happier with it. of course you cant take it with you around campus to classes, but you could still get a cheap laptop like i did to take to classes
 
i originally took my gaming desktop and my (at the time) brand new T42, but I found i didn't have the desk space to use both so I just decided to keep my laptop and i haven't regretted that decision one bit.
 
You don't need nothing. When I went to college, I still had my Commodore 64. With a 300 baud modem. During college I bought an Amiga 2000, with the PC bridgeboard (IBM XT compatible on a card). With a 2400 baud modem. When I was in grad school I bought a AMD 486DX2-80 machine. With a 9600 baud modem. Hah. Laptops were stupidly expensive. And what do I have to show for it? A BSCS and MSCS!

Seriously, though, your university/college will have computer labs that you can use, usually at all hours of the day. I'm a staff member (Unix admin) at my alma mater. Your own computer is a luxury not a necessity. I know what I'm talking about. The internet can be a seriously detrimental distraction/time waster.
 
LazyBastard said:
You don't need nothing. When I went to college, I still had my Commodore 64. With a 300 baud modem. During college I bought an Amiga 2000, with the PC bridgeboard (IBM XT compatible on a card). With a 2400 baud modem. When I was in grad school I bought a AMD 486DX2-80 machine. With a 9600 baud modem. Hah. Laptops were stupidly expensive. And what do I have to show for it? A BSCS and MSCS!

Seriously, though, your university/college will have computer labs that you can use, usually at all hours of the day. I'm a staff member (Unix admin) at my alma mater. Your own computer is a luxury not a necessity. I know what I'm talking about. The internet can be a seriously detrimental distraction/time waster.
Click to expand...

/me slaps LazyBastard

Bad dog. No biscuit.

On topic:

I am doing the very same thing this August. I have decided to take my desktop (Shuttle 939 system, 3200+, 1gb, 9800Pro) as mainly HD space and Im getting a new laptop, Dell 700m. Small, fast, cheap lappy + decent desktop w/ LCD = win imo.
 
Just finished a year in the dorms with only a desktop.
Working to get a laptop (i9300) ASAP. Such a PITA to move back and forth.

I might look into getting a decently sized comp (the 3-4 drive, Raid5 HDDs only/USB optical shuttle) as a fileserver...
 
Brought a big home built computer and big monitor. The following year I sold it and bought a tiny tiny Dell 700m.

College made me stop playing video games completely and I like it better this way.
 
When I went before (Fall 99), I had a P3 500 desktop and a P1 133 laptop (I skipped lunch my entire senior year to afford it...I should have bought a newer laptop instead..but, oh well).


if I had to do it again now, I'd probably take a desktop and an X31 or X40. Laptops are too convenient at college, especially for me (I get writers cramp writing my own name), not to have one.

if I had to limit myself to one, I'd likely go with a T42 w/ a 9600 videocard. It'd have a small enough footprint to not take up the entire classroom desk, and powerful enough to play any of the games out right now.
 
Yeah, you'll get along fine with a basic lightweight notebook. New OR used. A Latitude C640 isn't very expensive on eBay and aren't very lacking in the power department.
 
thanks for all the replies, sounds like bringing my desktop would be the way to go, im currently looking at a 700m or maybe a t42 for mobile, id like the ibm but that is going to be very expensive, im just afraid if i got a 700m, something on it would break since its a dell, and if i was going for the aspect of a decent laptop, the ibm would maybe even last me through college.

btw i do agree with the fact that the internet is very detrimental to school, ive been on a pc every spare second at my home ever since we cable internet a few years ago.
 
Yeah, a friend of mine was a Linux guy. He brought about three desktops and a laptop to college last year (along with a router). Great guy, unfortunately got called in for active duty halfway through the year. (Good luck, Josh!)
 
I'm planning on just bringing a laptop, and I'm probably going to get an Asus Z71v with 2.0Ghz P-M and 1GB ram (go6600). Figure that'll handle any game I can throw at it. :p
 
You'll probably want both a desktop and a laptop. While I do most of my work on my laptop, my desktop is primarily used for games. As you can see from my sig, I have a fairly "large" laptop which is a hassle to take to and from school everyday. The battery life, screen size, etc. are great, however, the weight sucks.

At the moment, I'm thinking of getting rid of the laptop and will most likely get the 12" or 15" Apple PowerBook G4. If I were to get a PC, I'd get the Dell 700m.
 
I brought 2 desktops to college (the one in my sig and a AXP 2200+ Shuttle). Big mistake. It wasn't a matter of space, it was a matter of wasting time. Next semester I am just bringing a laptop.

As for the whole "you don't need anything" idea... well, bull! My parent's suggested it and it wouldn't have passed my classes. All of our programming assignments are in Visual Studio.NET (which the lab computers aren't equipped with). Kind of makes me mad because I know of people who couldn't afford a computer and they had to borrow someone's to do their homework. As for a computer being a luxury, I agree but our ISP takes that approach whenever the internet goes down. It's not a luxury if I am paying for it, it’s a right. If you got cell phone service and it went down for a week and your provided told you that service was a luxury what would you do?
 
Waste of time as in too many distractions?

I have been thinking of just getting a ibook..no games, no illegal software, no movies, no self control
 
Headin off to college next year as well... planning on building a kick-ass gaming rig, and then if I see the need a few months in just buying a cheap light laptop for desktop use.

Edit: And HTPC and modded xbox of course :D
 
LazyBastard said:
You don't need nothing. When I went to college, I still had my Commodore 64. With a 300 baud modem. During college I bought an Amiga 2000, with the PC bridgeboard (IBM XT compatible on a card). With a 2400 baud modem. When I was in grad school I bought a AMD 486DX2-80 machine. With a 9600 baud modem. Hah. Laptops were stupidly expensive. And what do I have to show for it? A BSCS and MSCS!
Click to expand...

you have me beat, when i started i had a packard bell pentium 166Mhz w/mmx oc'd to 200MHz, i learned my lesson though, i have never bought a prebuilt system again

but back on topic a good desktop will do, lugging a laptop (even a light one) along with books across campus is a pain, ive had to carry 15+ lbs of books at times,

but check what your college requires, some colleges require laptops nowadays
 
Back when I was still in school, outside of my computing classes, I made do with an Axim X5 PocketPC, and I think that for academic classes, I'd probably be just fine with a PPC, which is also a lot less to carry around than a notebook would be. I'd have my Inspiron 6000 around just in case, and I probably would actually even bring a desktop system (mostly for the media center functionality.)
 
Slide rule












j/k

My advice. Take a good desktop, and a cheap but as light as you can manage laptop. I doubt most people end up really using their laptop as much as they think they will, at least the undergrads I have had in class don't.
 
I would recomend that you bring what you think your going to use...

If it's on campus I can see the issue, I personally live off campus so I have all my stuff. I have a "desktop" computer but it doesn't count because it's a POS pentium with 16mb of ram, good for a little server though. I also have my laptop, I also have it as a neccessary tool to complete my courses.

The best plan of attack would be:
-Bring your Desktop computer
-Get an ultraportable laptop (the 700m from Dell looks rather nice to me)

As for games and the net being distracting... That just takes some self control to be honest. I know the feeling without a doubt but if I had to get studying done I did it... Always put your studies first but you do have to take time for yourself and if gaming/surfing the net is your hobby of choice it's silly not to have that with you while you are away at college. The DTR notebooks, while powerful are really quite heavy and bulky. I feel it's better to have two separate systems (especially since you already own a decent desktop machine anyhow).

Also... not sure how good an idea a PDA would be. If it's adequate for taking notes and if that's all you ever have to do during your classes it could work. I have a keyboard for my PDA and have used it to make notes on occasion but it lacks a little bit of functionality and as another poster mentioned, the display is a bit small (not a lot of text on the screen at the same time compared to a normal PC). It does work adequately for basic notes though. It's an affordable solution if you don't need the functionality of a laptop and if you have a day planner, or use outlook regularly it'd come natural, I love mine very much.
 
well i'm in my second year of college is this is basically what i have. for a grad present from high school my parents got me a gateway 450xl laptop which was a pretty decent laptop when it came out and i decided to leave my gaming rig at home. basically i didn't use this away from my dorm room as i expected to. for this past school i made a new rig with money earned from my summer job and i kept my laptop for just in case situations. my suggestion, bring your desktop since obviously thats what you would rather use and get a laptop thats pretty light, has wireless capabilities, and can run your office apps smoothly.
 
First year I brought the machine in my sig. Pain in the ass to move back and forth, awesome once it was in place.

This year I have the desktop, as well as the Compaq Presario R3306 I got for Christmas.

The laptop is good because of the wireless, and being able to go places and write papers with your friends that have laptops is great too.
 
for school work, unless your into graphic design or something where you need a decent machine a halfway decent laptop will do, i bought a refurbed ibm t23 about 6 months ago because i've been traveling around while taking online courses and it's been perfect. anything over 1ghz with about 512mb of ram is great for school and pratical purposes

now if you wanna bring your desktop for gaming and all that, then thats another story
 
I took a "Brother" word processor/type writer that had a 12 line screen (or there abouts). It had a 3.5inch drive though.

I also had my little 13inch TV and stereo
 
superlyduper said:
Does anyone know of anybody who brings two desktops to college?
Click to expand...

we have at least 12 in an apartment of 4 people.

as for myself, i brought my desktop and my laptop (dell i8200), which i'm trying to replace with something a bit more portable.
 
That really sucks that you'd have to buy your own computer to do your homework. At the university I work at (large metropolitan commuter campus, around 18000 students) we have a campus-wide license from Microsoft where all lab computers on campus have licenses for a MS OS, Office suite, and Visual Studio software, and all faculty/staff have licenses for each of those 3 products, to run on an office machine, and an extra set of licenses to run on either a laptop or a home machine.

Any university/college you go to should have sufficient computer resources available that you should not be required to provide your own computers. Definitely check that out before you enroll. If they don't, seriously consider going somewhere else, if you can.
 
TheCzar said:
12 comps in a 4 person apartment, your electric bill must be insane!!
Click to expand...

Fortunately it's a campus-owned apartment complex, which means the college eats the utilities bill (which must be fucking insane already, given that it's a tech school). And if anybody wants to be a smartass and point out that I'm ultimately paying for the electricity through my housing fees, eat me.
 
lol back when I lived in the dorm I had no problem eating electricity either...but now that i'm in an appartment and am paying for it I am pretty picky about it
 
i started college (last fall) with a shuttle XPC (one of those small form factor PCs) because i thought i would be bringing it back and forth alot, but i realized after about a month that it never left my desk and upgradibilty was too limited, so i build the system in my signature for school and now i leave the shuttle at home for whenever i am there (not very often even though i only live an hour from home).

I wasted alot of time during my first semester on the computer, but this semester i realized that college has alot more to offer and it just isnt worth spending all your time on the computer when there are parties to go to, people to meet and new stuff to try.
 
thanks for all the replies, i guess im probably going to go for a 700m+my desktop. a friend of mine had a 700m and loves it so ill check his out, and maybe use the 750 off $2000 purchase coupon, expires in a couple days though so i need to make a decision soon. i assume it is better to buy a computer when the demand isnt as high, as in NOT right before kids go back to school, and before christmas? then again maybe they have more good deals at that time due to the large amount of people looking for deals?
 
Corson said:
... then again maybe they have more good deals at that time due to the large amount of people looking for deals?
Click to expand...
Sometimes, but it's pretty hard to beat the 750 off. Good luck with your choice
 
<Puts on FlameSuit>

I know somone will get on my case for this, but have you considered a TabletPC?

I took my main game system (bluefusion down in my sig) and made it though fine 3 semesters, But i wasnt taking major courses. After i saved some money, i picked up a TC1100, it basicly replaced all my notebooks and eveything i did on my desktop day to day wise. It kept me so much more organized!

If you really want a powerful game laptop, but still want a tpc, check out the Toshiba M4
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top