<p>Typically, are laptops or PC's more beneficial for engineering students? How important are they? And what should I look for in one? Thanks.</p>
<p>What is your price range?</p>
<p>It's all about your own work style and the availability of PCs on your school's campus. If you like to be portable and working whenever and wherever you want, obviously a laptop is better. There will usually be labs for running any of the heavier programs your laptop might not do as well with.</p>
<p>I prefer working in my office or at home, so there was no need for a laptop and I just built a much more powerful desktop for cheaper than a mediocre laptop.</p>
<p>My price range is probably around a grand at most, hopefully less.</p>
<p>Depends on how spontaneous/mobile you want to be, and also how many adequate computing facilities your school has. Can you picture yourself doing schoolwork on paper, and finding a need to look something up? Or to do some online assignment/programming anywhere on campus? If your school has a lot of computers you can use, and you don't see yourself doing the stuff I mentioned above, then you probably don't need a laptop. In my experience, you will use it less than you think.</p>
<p>If you don't want to spend more than 1K, I would look into nice higher-end "netbooks" (those 7"-10" laptops, not very powerful, but VERY mobile and light). Asus is soon coming out with a netbook that apparently has between 8 and 9.5 hours of battery life. These things cost between $300-500 usually and are ideal for small, lightweight tasks like surfing the web, checking email, documents etc. Wouldn't really recommend running some high-end processor-intensive software on it, though.</p>
<p>Do many (or any) engineering students use laptops in class?</p>
<p>No. Engineering has many formulas and diagrams that are nigh impossible to type up during class (unless you're like one of my friends and take notes on the computer, formulas and diagrams on paper, and then draw the complicated bits into the word processor later but that takes a LONG time). Stick with paper for in-class stuff, believe me.</p>
<p>indeed, there are many engineering students who bring laptops to class.</p>
<p>and many of them simply surf websites with it.</p>
<p>IMO - Get a laptop rather than a desktop because of the portability. You can take it to other areas of campus when needed. As an engineering student there are times you might find it handy to take to some labs so your source can still be on your laptop but you can collaborate with others. Another advantage of a laptop is the potability even in the dorm room. You can use it while sitting on your bed, in the dorm 'lounge', etc. Today's laptops are plenty powerful and the prices have come down quite a bit. If you get one, consider getting the 'accidental damage' coverage for it that protects it aganst drops, spills, etc. because the dorm environment can be rough sometimes.</p>
<p>You'll find that the laptop will be pretty important to you since it can provide your email portal, access to the internet for class websites, school research, and fun, a means to watch movies and online TV programs, IM'ing, etc. It'll be so important that you'll probably want to bring it home with you on breaks as well. </p>
<p>For most people, a 17" laptop is too big and heavy. A 15.4" model is a reasonable choice, and a 14" will be preferred by some because it's a bit smaller and lighter but still reasonable. Anything smaller like the 12" or 9" units are too small for people who'll be using it all the time - especially if you end up using it for writing and compiling software.</p>
<p>Take a look at the 14"-15.4" HP, Dell, Lenovo, (and other top names) laptops. Check the Macs if you're interested in those but make sure you compare prices with the HP, Dell, etc. and when you do, make sure you compare 'apples' to (sort of) apples - i.e. that you're comparing the same power, memory, features, etc.</p>
<p>For software applications like Microsoft Office, Visual Studio (compiler), etc., check with your college and engineering department first since sometimes they can provide these for a greatly reduced cost or free. You might also want to check with your particular college to see if they have any special 'deals' on the laptop, especially if you decide to get a Mac. Also see if the college has any particular requirements regarding computers.</p>
<p>Regarding taking the laptops to class - a lot of students don't, especially engineering students, and many of those who do are really just cruising the internet, IM'ing, or something while there - i.e. not really using it for class. In addition, it can get old lugging it around if you don't really need to.</p>
<p>BUY A "TABLET PC" period!</p>
<p>open tabletpcreview.com for more info</p>
<p>(btw i intentionally used CAPS as i wanted to stress it more, so plz dude buy a tablet pc.You will no longer need to carry heavy books and stuff, just open the site and research more abt it, google it and stuff)</p>
<p>How much am I really going to need to bring my laptop around with me? And what if I want to game on it? Is a PC a better choice if using my laptop outside isn't a huge deal to me?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Is a PC a better choice
[/quote]
</p>
<p>did you mean that as in a desktop?</p>
<p>if you want to game on it (spec-heavy ones), desktops offer higher-specs for the same price.</p>
<p>that's exactly the reason why i bought a desktop; cuz i knew i would never carry around a laptop with me around to classes.</p>
<p>what sux is that, i can't study anywhere outside except in computer labs. </p>
<p>i sometimes want to study in Starbucks, lol.</p>
<p>It doesn't really matter.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Do many (or any) engineering students use laptops in class?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes. Many schools now require incoming students to have laptops. While you generally won't take notes on the laptop, the professor may have you preload software, then work with it during class. You'll also want a laptop when you have group meetings.</p>
<p>From what I've seen, 80+% of students have laptops now. You should be able to find a very nice one for under $1000</p>
<p>
[quote]
No. Engineering has many formulas and diagrams that are nigh impossible to type up during class (unless you're like one of my friends and take notes on the computer, formulas and diagrams on paper, and then draw the complicated bits into the word processor later but that takes a LONG time)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Learn LaTeX. When you get good at it, you can program in equations in seconds. And it looks nicer than Word</p>
<p>Thanks Burdell. That's what I was looking for.</p>
<p>A laptop it is.</p>
<p>It varies from school to school. At one of my schools, nobody brought a laptop to class unless s/he had a presentation. Anytime a class required the use of software, the class was held in a computer lab. At my other school, there were usually about 5-10 people in class with a laptop. Some take notes, some follow the lecture on their computer (this school was heavy on the use of powerpoint lectures) and some just surf the web. At one of my friend's school, they required incoming freshmen to purchase a laptop through the school. For some courses, they gave students programs they needed to do their work. I'm not sure if they needed their laptops in class though.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Yes. Many schools now require incoming students to have laptops. While you generally won't take notes on the laptop, the professor may have you preload software, then work with it during class. You'll also want a laptop when you have group meetings.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think it really depends on the school if they'll require this sort of thing. I never needed a laptop in any of my classes, and during the times we did need computer software it would either be a very small site-license which were only installed on specific computers within a lab, or the class would take place within a generic computer lab.</p>
<p>Also, for sure most of the people I see using laptops are either surfing the web, chatting on AIM, playing games, or, in rare instances, doing homework from other classes.</p>
<p>I say you should wait until the school year begins before buying a new system. If it turns out you don't need a laptop for classes until your sophomore year, you can wait a year and wind up with a more powerful system for less money than if you bought now. It's especially good to wait as long as possible to buy one since you'd probably be needing the laptop most in your junior/senior years, so you really don't want to be using a laptop that's 3-4 years old by then, since the battery will be dying, your OS will be getting cluttered, and it'll be significantly slower than a newer 1-2 year PC with the same specs.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Also, for sure most of the people I see using laptops are either surfing the web, chatting on AIM, playing games, or, in rare instances, doing homework from other classes.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>i agree 100% w/ everything Racin said (quoted and non-quoted)</p>
<p>What kind of engineering are you going into? If you're a computer engineering major, you might have a class where the professors asks students to bring in laptops regularly.</p>
<p>Our son has an on-campus tutoring job. He brings his laptop so that he can work on his CS labs if he doesn't have any customers. He has to do his labs on Windows for some courses and Unix for others so I set him up with dual-boot to Windows XP and Mac OS X and this has worked out quite well for him.</p>
<p>I'm not 100% sure on the type of engineering. If I had to choose now, it would be chemical engineering. Almost certainly not computer engineering.</p>