Computers in college

Parents Forum
21

<p>Roger:</p>

<p>I think "essential" depends on the student's budget and the school.</p>

<p>My D has a laptop and a printer. However, she says that a very inexpensive desktop and no printer would be more than adequate. The computer lounge in her dorm has two Macs, two Windows machines, and a laser printer. It's no problem to take your files there (network transfer, disc, USB memory) and print them while sitting right next to the printer. The same setup is duplicated many times over in the various libraries. So, the computer budget can be kept to a bare minimum without any great sacrifice. </p>

<p>She says that it would even possible to have no computer, although it would be difficult for very late-night/early morning paper writing after the library closes at 1:00 am.</p>

22

<p>One more critical suggestion of something that is quite cheap, but extremely handy for a student: a small USB Flash drive (sometimes called a "thumb drive"). The convenience factor of this is incredible. It's the perfect way to take files from your laptop or desktop and plug them into another machine connected to a printer. They are also perfect if you need something special (e.g., a poster) and you want to take your file to the Univ. print shop (or Kinkos). ID alluded to this above, but I just wanted to highlight it. Most also come with a lanyard/necklace type cord. Even if you didn't have a computer and used the school machines, it would allow you to keep your files with you.</p>

<p>In terms of software, nothing is more essential that Microsoft Office (available for either the PC or the Mac), but that can usually be purchased through the school for lots less that you can find it anywhere else.</p>

23

<p>Many, many thanks...incredibly useful information; I'm feeling positively confident now about my ability to be sure S is "outfitted" w/appropriate "cyber-gear" when he leaves for college...I will wait til mid-summer (and certainly to find out which school he selects)...and will save this thread (probably forever, as the info in it is at times just as useful for home computerization as it is for the college-bound!). THANK YOU SO MUCH!</p>

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<p>Special thanks to Sybbie, Roger the Mod and Digmedia, for the word on printers and USB Flash drives. We have incredibly poor luck with printers, I see 2 broken ones looking at me mournfully as I type this! I'll remind her to ask folks about the printer situation at D - she is defintiely not a night owl, although that will change to some extent at college, I know.</p>

25

<p>Easy stuff first:</p>

<p>Software: MS XP Pro/Home or Mac OSX. Either will hook up to the school’s network.
MS Office Student/Teacher Edition or the Mac version (both offered at schools with significant discounts). Virus protection software (some schools actually provide this for free or at very little cost to students).</p>

<p>Peripherals: USB Jump Drive: 256-512M. They’re great for transferring files between computers. Much better than the old floppy discs of our youth. </p>

<p>A combination printer/scanner/copier will come in handy. The HP 1315 is a nice small compact combination printer that fits on small dorm desks. Size matters…smaller is much better. You’ll know what I mean when you see how small dorm rooms are. </p>

<p>Hard stuff:</p>

<p>Initial thoughts: Desktop only, laptop only or desktop and a laptop? Early on, I heavily favored the latter. My nephew could carry an ultralite laptop to classes for note-taking and have a powerful desktop (that I could build) back in his dorm room. Then I ran across CC after reading about it in the NYT. After reading many of the old threads on CC last year before their format changes, I discovered that students rarely if ever took notes in class using their laptops. Coming from a generation that used pencils and legal pads in college, I was astonished. How could this be? Well, weight, size, battery life and the sound of pounding on a keyboard in a quiet classroom all conspire to keep students from taking class notes with a laptop. Then there are math and science classes that make a laptop useless. Can’t write equations or chemical symbols with a keyboard…</p>

<p>OK, Desktop: Best bang for the buck and a gamer’s delite. Stays in the dorm room and will not likely be stolen or broken if dropped. Easily upgrade-able or fixed…With a USB Jump Drive, he can transfer files from his computer to home during breaks. Get a 17” LCD monitor (desk space is limited).</p>

<p>Issues: Bulky. Will you be driving him to college or flying? You can pre-order a desktop at his school (plenty of good deals) and pick it up on move-in day. Then there’s getting it back home at the end of the school year. Your call…</p>

<p>No Starbucks, no library, no visiting classmates to work on a collective project and no sitting outside when the weather’s nice working on a term paper. Then again, Starbucks is over-rated; 3X5 index cards for research papers still works at the library and common project files can be shared over the school’s network. Sitting outside on a nice day…well, you can still organize your index cards. None of these are deal-breakers.</p>

<p>Laptops: Portability at a price. The bigger it is and the more it weighs means that it’s unlikely that it will leave his dorm room. These desktop replacements are just that. Go to the big box stores and try to pick one up. Think about lugging it around all day with a backpack filled with text books. The only plus is that 10 lbs. may trump 50 lbs of desktop during moving in or out day.</p>

<p>Schools have excellent deals on laptops as well. Something smaller with good battery life may be the way to go. Some even have the horsepower to play games. </p>

<p>Smaller and lighter means you can go anywhere with them. All but the cheapest laptops have WiFi for wireless connection to the school network or the local coffee shop. Still can’t take notes easily in class, but useful everywhere else on campus and beyond. And he can bring it back with him during school breaks. </p>

<p>Issues: How often will your son hang out in coffee shops or WiFi campus hot-spots? Is he a library rat? Like sitting outside with the family laptop? A serious gamer? </p>

<p>Laptop/Desktop: Sounds ideal? Double the pleasure? Maybe not…</p>

<p>Your son may take some notes in class (not too likely) with his laptop. Goes to the library to start researching a paper. Makes an outline sitting under a tree. Stops for a latte and reads his e-mail. Back at his dorm room, what will he do? Spend time synchronizing his laptop files with his desktop? Or spend some quality time with Half-life 2? I’m betting on Half-life 2. His laptop should be enough to run Word, Outlook and IE or Firefox. That leaves a $1000+ desktop for Half-life 2, web surfing and e-mail. Over time, one computer will be underutilized. </p>

<p>My answer: a Tablet PC.</p>

<p>As CC’ers know, I’m a booster for Tablet PCs which are laptops with a center hinged screen which folds back upon itself and lies flat against the keyboard (screen side up). Tablets come with a stylus (like PDAs). You can write on the screen like you would on a piece of paper. Your hand writing is captured electronically and can either be converted to text or left alone. Either way, you can organize and search your notes. My nephew loves his Toshiba M205.</p>

<p>If you haven’t heard about Tablets or want to learn more about them, look at the following links:</p>

<p><a href="http://studenttabletpc.blogs.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://studenttabletpc.blogs.com/&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/&lt;/a>
(Two sites that have great information about Tablets)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.gobinder.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.gobinder.com/&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.xthink.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.xthink.com/&lt;/a>
(Two Tablet PC software sites: Gobinder...coursework content management software: think electronic notebooks for each of your classes. Xthink: Tablet math program. You write down an equation and click on solution. Your work is done.)</p>