How often do you work on your laptop out of your dorm room?

A

alexyang

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 9, 2004
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I'm thinking about whether to spend ~$1000 on a MacBook or an iMac.

I ran a "this forum only" search with keyword 'college,' and I wasn't able to find an answer to my question.

For those who live in dorm rooms (or off-campus housing in general), how often do you take your laptop out of your room and do serious homework with it?

The MacBook would clearly be more portable, but the iMac would be more powerful (and less expensive by around 60 dollars).
 
I have an Asus W3J (14") that I take to every class with me to take notes. I also work on campus, so my computer is with me whenever I'm out of my dorm which is 6AM-4PM. I don't use it constantly, but having my computer with me saves the trouble of going to my dorm to class back to my dorm drop off my computer go to work come back get my computer leave. Plus, with me always having it, if I'm hungry I can sit in the caf. snack a little and edit a paragraph or two of an essay.

So, I use mine quite often. At minimum 3 hours a day for my classes due to note taking.
 
I honestly didn't use mine a whole lot outside of my dorm room, I did some but not a ton. The best part for me was when going home for breaks, etc, it was much easier to bring with me. Instead of packing up a desktop system.
 
I used a PDA in college but I used that with a standard spiral noteobok. If I had to go back, I would go with a tablet PC. Being able to draw arrows and graphs and stuff is very helpful to visualize your own notes. I don't think my note swould have been as useful if all I had was text.
 
My dorm is pretty noisy, so I'm out of here a lot, battery life is my best friend.

I also take my macbook to all my classes for note taking and it's just been much more helpful having a notebook than a desktop.

I have a desktop also though, because I game and macbook's aren't for gaming, although the GMA950 is largely underated.
 
Let me preface this by saying I probably use my laptop more than the average person...

I used to take my laptop everywhere on campus, especially to big classes (sharing music through mytunes is an addiction) and even in the dorms. Once someone setup a wireless router on my floor I used to bring it to do work in friends rooms, or to just watch some stupid youtube videos with each other.

Now that I'm in an apartment I still frequently take it around the apartment, but I take it to class less often, as I need to pay more attention in class now ;)

If you are an engineer or any computer related major you will definitely appreciate the portability, as you will definitely be working with classmates on tougher assignments.

I don't think I could ever go back to a desktop now that I've been using notebooks for 4 years or so. And before that I was a desktop enthusiast, but since laptop prices have dropped and the processor speeds/quality has gone up I love them.

And really when it comes down to it, what is 60 dollars? Granted you are a college student but still, a computer is a big investment, you may as well spend the little extra to get the portability out of it. Down the road you could always upgrade the ram on the notebook to give it that extra little kick.

You will be happy with the laptop. Plus the sleek macbooks always draw attention in class. There's always that one kid who asks about it when he walks by. Usually his name is Jeff
 
TheCreator said:
I honestly didn't use mine a whole lot outside of my dorm room, I did some but not a ton. The best part for me was when going home for breaks, etc, it was much easier to bring with me. Instead of packing up a desktop system.
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That is a point I forgot to mention. Especially if you don't have a car at school and need to carpool whenever you go home. I have an 8 hour drive to school, I couldn't imagine lugging my old desktop (and 19 inch CRT I used to have) home over holidays.

Plus there is nothing greater than sitting on your couch (and toilet for that matter) with your laptop, talkin to friends on AIM while watching TV/movies. Not having to sit at a desk is great.
 
I very seldom use my laptop in my dorm room, I'm always doing my stuff sitting on the couch. Sure, my Aeron is comfy as hell, but sitting on a couch typing away is better than sitting at a desk.

I take at least one of my laptops to each class. Comp Sci major, but the classes I need a PC in are always the non-CS classes, since the CS classes have lab systems already.
 
TheCreator said:
I honestly didn't use mine a whole lot outside of my dorm room, I did some but not a ton. The best part for me was when going home for breaks, etc, it was much easier to bring with me. Instead of packing up a desktop system.
Click to expand...

Ditto to the T.


I bought one so I could get out of my room and escape my loud roommate while I wrote papers. Turns out he soon after started bidding to a frat, so he was gone a lot anyway. I took it to the library a couple times, worked on stuff outside under a tree a couple times. That's about it. Was nice to take home to use for a couple weeks instead of lugging my desktop.

You have to consider your needs though. I bought a laptop to supplement my desktop, so it wasn't essential to my daily life or anything. I got an Inspiron 1100 (yeah, I know) with basic components, mainly for Microsoft Word, music storage for when I was home without my music, and basic stuff.
 
You have to consider your needs though. I bought a laptop to supplement my desktop, so it wasn't essential to my daily life or anything. I got an Inspiron 1100 (yeah, I know) with basic components, mainly for Microsoft Word, music storage for when I was home without my music, and basic stuff.
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I use a PDA to supplement my laptop. :cool:
 
GJSNeptune said:
Just a passing thought. Why do you never include the user when you quote them?
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Because, when I'm reading a post, I copy and past the parts of the thread I want to reply to. So, I hit the 'Post Reply' button then scroll down and just copy and past the text I want to comment on. I personally don't think the user who posted the orginal text is important in the sense that if someone is reading the thread, they can look back who said it.

Although, I probably should cite my sources.... I wonder if MLA has a rule for that? :p
 
EQTakeOffense said:
Because, when I'm reading a post, I copy and past the parts of the thread I want to reply to. So, I hit the 'Post Reply' button then scroll down and just copy and past the text I want to comment on. I personally don't think the user who posted the orginal text is important in the sense that if someone is reading the thread, they can look back who said it.

Although, I probably should cite my sources.... I wonder if MLA has a rule for that? :p
Click to expand...

You know if you click the + for all the people you want to quote, then press reply, it'll make a post with all those quotes seperated so you can reply to all of them.
 
I'm at the student center right now as a matter of fact...

Personally, I am almost never without my laptop. I have it for every lecture, every lab, every turorial. I bring it to study. I bring it home when I go.
 
Last semester I brought my laptop with me to almost every other class. Only a couple times did I visit the library. Bring it with me at work and tether through my phone during lunches too.
 
You'd be much better off with the laptop; and if you have any Mac specific questions head over to the Apple Products forum!

MacBook is the best purchased I've made in a long time; it's changed the way I think about computers and really made things more fun and easy.
 
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