<p>I have a Dell XPS M1730 and hopefully i ll be attending CMU soon. I am planning to major in Computer Science and I wanted to know if I would need to take my XPS everywhere around campus or to classes. I know CMU has tons of computers and I wasnt sure if need to lug it around everywhere. Do CS classes require computers to be brought? It weighs alot so carrying it as little as possible would be nice.</p>
<p>You don't need a computer for any class, and the few which it may be required will be held in a computer lab. CMU's got clusters scattered all over campus, so if you don't want to work in your room (or lug your laptop around or need to use Linux) there's always a computer open at one of the many clusters.</p>
<p>I bought a laptop in anticipation of needing one in college, and I found I used it more often at home over break than at school. I also had my desktop with me, though, since I'm totally a desktop person.</p>
<p>It may depend on you. DS has a desktop and a laptop. He carries the laptop everywhere in a backpack and decided the one he bought freshman year wasn't good enough - he's got a new one now and I'm using his old laptop. It's more than enough for me! The not good enough one is a Lenovo Thinkpad T61. He hangs out in the Linux cluster, but still prefers using his own laptop. Everyone is different I guess!</p>
<p>Hmm.. Thinkpad T61 isn't good enough?
It has Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.1GHz w/ 800MHz FSB, and X3100.</p>
<p>That's just... wow. He must be running A LOT of programs, or maybe running design softwares.</p>
<p>Or playing some demanding games at high settings. ;)</p>
<p>He's into old style arcade games now - very little that's graphics heavy. He used to use the desktop for games, but he says he doesn't use it much anymore. He does do serious programming I think. Hey I'm happy I got a great computer for very little money!</p>
<p>He's into old style arcade games now - very little that's graphics heavy. He used to use the desktop for games, but he says he doesn't use it much anymore. He does do serious programming I think. Hey I'm happy I got a great computer for very little money!</p>
<p>Will my XPS M1730 be a pain to carry around? I understand Carnegie Mellon has a relatively small campus but will it be painful to walk around with it such as going to the library to university center and then to Morewood?</p>
<p>Would a netbook go great if i used it along with my XPS m1730? Some netbooks are really cheap at best buy and I like most of them, so would it make sense if I have two laptops? I was thinking that I could use the netbook for carrying around and surfing the net in between classes and random places throughout the day and using my XPS for entertainment and and programming projects for Computer Science. Is that a good idea?</p>
<p>I’m not sure what son’s newest laptop is, but when we were asking about possible birthday presents he mentioned some people have tablet sized computers and that’s rather nice for carrying around. However we weren’t interested in spending $700 on a present. Two laptops plus a desktop seems like overkill to me.</p>
<p>is there anything wrong with just having one 16 inch laptop and no desktop?</p>
<p>Nothing at all. As long as you can run powerpoint, excel, acrobat reader (or [foxit</a> reader](<a href=“PDF Software & Tools Tailored to Your Business | Foxit”>Free PDF Reader & Viewer - Online Download | Foxit Software) if you want a smaller, faster version), and maybe Mathematica/Maple/Matlab if you’re in the sciences you should be fine. Any programs more intense than that (ProEngineer, various programming assignments, etc) you can use a cluster computer for.</p>
<p>It’s all about where you like to work as to what you need.</p>
<p>Do many people use laptops to take notes in classes? I’m considering buying a netbook from best buy because of how cheap they are and the only reason I would use it is for browsing internet around campus and taking notes.</p>
<p>I’m going to buy a Unibody MacBook Pro (or maybe the higher end MacBook), and use Circus Ponies’ Notebook app to take notes and Things for GTD. Sounds like a beautiful setup to me!</p>