Desktop vs. Laptop for College

Have any of you had to make this decision before?

If so, which one did you choose?

Why?

Do you think you made the right decision?

A laptop is infinitely more versatile for college than a desktop. Unless you're in a serious computer, engineering, or graphics design major, most laptops have enough power to serve as decent desktop replacements. However, a desktop is much easier to upgrade for those who want to game or have an HTPC available.

Here are some questions to help you narrow down your decision:

Which major are you pursuing (or considering)?
How often will you travel to and from campus (within a calendar year)?
What's the most resource-intensive task you would like to perform using your system?
How much, at most, are you willing to spend on your computer?

I am in my senior year and to start my junior year I built a desktop and bought a netbook. Netbook is great for browsing and taking notes and then I can come home and game or do other heavier applications on my desktop. If you have the funds for both and have any interest in netbooks I would look into them, they are awesome. I think I spent maybe $1100 for both and I know many students who paid that or more just for a laptop.

you can get a good gaming laptop for about $700-$800 with a i3/i5 and 5650. Which will play most games on high.

x2 for desktop + cheapie laptop/netbook

most laptop is really pretty heavy to carry around. When you start classes, you will realize you only need to bring a notebook and pen for classes. That is if you take notes.

If you really want to have some light browsing in between classes or something, netbook is sufficient.

In my case(currently a 2nd year), I have a 15 inch laptop only with a discrete graphic card. Battery drains in about 1.5 hour. So I have to bring the powercord (even heavier backpack). I don't regret my decision though because my laptop really gives me the full computing power that I wanted. Netbook is just far too small and slow for me.
For any other regular human being, I would suggest netbook + desktop.

Desktop Replacement.

cbliss1000 said:

x2 for desktop + cheapie laptop/netbook

Click to expand...

this.

I did both when I went off to college: decent laptop and decent PC.

When I went to college 13 years ago, it was a desktop - Pentium 233 MMX. People who brought notebooks were disappointed with their performance.

But today, the tables have turned - the Atom at 1.6 Ghz is many times faster than my desktop was back then, so you have plenty of power for note taking and web browsing, and even light flash video.

Since I am still a PC gamer, if I were doing it again today, I would buy a desktop + netbook.

NOTE: if you ABSOLUTELY don't game AT ALL, you can spend the same as the cost of the desktop + netbook, and get an ultraportable. You get nearly the same performance as a full-sized notebook, but nearly the same portability as an Atom netbook. It's a compromise, but it works well.