<p>any suggestions??
im thinking of buying the new dell xps through the tufts discount thingy... seems extremely powerful.. If it has a tv tuner card in it, does it mean you can watch tv in your room by connecting the cpu to a tv cable socket thingy or w.e??</p>
<p>or should i buy a desktop (the smallest xps one), pretty small so it wont take up much space..</p>
<p>oh, and do people normally buy another keyboard if they use a laptop in their rooms?</p>
<p>I think if you have a tv tuner then you should be able to hook the cable right up to the tower and play it through the computer, but i'm not totally sure. If you're going to be traveling around a lot, or think you'll be working in the library I would reccommed a laptop. A lot of teachers let you use them to take notes in class too, which is usefully so you have everything neat and saved on your computer.</p>
<p>you can definitely hook up the TV this way - two of my friends do it. It also lets them record shows and play them back on their comps later.</p>
<p>I have a laptop and I love it. It's a very light Dell (I weigh like 97 pounds, lol, can't carry anything heavy) and I've been able to take it around campus at my leisure to take notes/write papers/etc.</p>
<p>I like Macs better, in general, but Tufts has a really great 24 hour Dell repair place. When someone spilled Snapple on my keyboard and I dropped it off at Tech Support, they called me back and said, "Yeah it appears someone spilled something on your keyboard. Luckily your laptop's under warranty, so we ordered you a new keyboard and it'll come in tomorrow." I picked up my computer the next day and it worked perfectly.</p>
<p>I don't know of many people who use separate/USB keyboards. I only used one briefly when my laptop's keyboard was all Snappl-y.</p>
<p>I have friends with both laptops and desktops - some use their laptop outside their room, some don't. Some need a desktop for gaming, some do their computer work in their room and non-computer work in the library or campus center or whatever. Do what you think will be best for you.</p>
<p>Pros/cons of each:</p>
<p>Desktop: more powerful, tends to last longer, better screens (if you get them), can do more things on them without worrying about messing up the computer. That, and most people don't take their laptops anywhere.</p>
<p>Cons: takes up a lot of desk space; also, if you need to store it over the summer, it's a pain. You can't just throw it in a case and take it home.</p>
<p>Laptop: can take home easily; smaller; you can bring it to Tisch or Brown and Brew to work. </p>
<p>Cons: very bad for those who want to do a lot of things on their computers; running a lot of programmes doesn't work well, and they crash more easily than desktops. (Just my experience).</p>
<p>I think a laptop is better, even if you rarely take it out of your room. It's light, easy to transport, and takes very little space compared to a desktop.</p>
<p>get a top line laptop, u can game on that then :)</p>
<p>^ Yeah</p>
<p>I just bought a Dell Inspiron E1505:</p>
<p>Dual Core Processor 1.83ghz
1GB DDR
ATI Radeon X1400 256MB
100GB HD
DVD-RW Drive
Awesome 15.4" TrueLife widescreen</p>
<p>This was like $1300 through the education program with a 35% off coupon I found on <a href="http://www.fatwallet.com%5B/url%5D">www.fatwallet.com</a></p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>you know, you can actually get a discount through Tufts.</p>
<p>This was like $1300 through the education program</p>
<p>I think thats what he meant</p>
<p>guys i need some help on choosing a laptop.
recently i saw a special dell deal online. its specs are as below.</p>
<p>Inspiron E1705
Intel® Core Duo Processor T2600 (2.16GHz/667MHz FSB) </p>
<p>Genuine Windows® XP Media Center Edition 2005 </p>
<p>17 inch UltraSharp Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife </p>
<p>2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz </p>
<p>256MB NVIDA® GeForce Go 7800 </p>
<p>100GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive </p>
<p>Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem </p>
<p>Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0 </p>
<p>8x CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability </p>
<p>Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini Card (54Mbps) </p>
<p>No productivity suite- Corel WordPerfect word processor only </p>
<p>80 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery </p>
<p>Hardware Warranty 1Yr Ltd Warranty, 1Yr Mail-In Service, and 1Yr HW Warranty Support </p>
<p>Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth Internal(2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) </p>
<p>PC Restore recovery system by Symantec </p>
<p>Media Center Enhancements TV Tuner w/ Remote Control </p>
<p>Basic digital Music, Photo and Game experience </p>
<p>its gonna cost me 2.5k including tax and shipping. Expensive? worht it? Should i buy it soon since its a limited time offer only?</p>
<p>actually, it will just be US$2335($0 tax) if i ship it to medford,tufts. The above one is assuming i ship it to chicago since ill be going there to visit my sister for a few days first. im actualyl an international student, is it possible to buy it then have it ship to tufts and i pick it up there? (either it gets shipped before i arrive or it arrives after i get there.)</p>
<p>Unless you anticipate on doing some graphic intensive work on your computer (Photoshop, digital video etc...) you really don't need that much RAM or that graphics card. Save some money and downgrade those. That's pretty much a desktop replacement, so don't plan on the battery for lasting that long. If you want something a little more portable consider switching to a 5400 rpm HDD and getting a slower computer.</p>
<p>well i plan to do some gaming and use it for four years. And yeh, im buying it pretty much as a desktop replacement. I just want to know if the price is actualyl worth it for the specs though</p>
<p>Any problem with using a Mac laptop there? It looks like they can repair and help right on campus.</p>
<p>is it possible to ship packages to tufts for an international student and have them keep it until you arrive for orientation?</p>
<p>hey nerj,</p>
<p>i think your laptop is pretty high on every specs and no doubt it has latest everything up to now. I think the price is pretty good. But you can get even more stable and better pc(with dual graphcis card as u intend to do gaming) if u buy desktop. And i advise u to buy it when u come here to Tufts. Coz, within 3-4months u can expect even latest garphics cards and other hardwares. </p>
<p>Ur current laptop specs seems too much for the little space that laptop has. So it might get hitted very fast and i dont think it will last all the way to 4 years coz, if u game a lot, then keyboard including other things might go off, and i think u need to upgrade graphciss card and memory a lot quicker these days. Thought ur laptop has 7800 garaphics and 2gb memory, it might be too less 2 years from now.</p>
<p>on the other hand desktops can be easily upgraded, and with the money u r paying for the laptop, i guess u can get a very descent desktop, and not so descent but very good and portable laptop. Maybe a laptop with 10" widescreen and 9 hours battery, the portablility which ur current laptop doesnt have.</p>
<p>Definitely go with a laptop. I was at the open house yesterday and one of the student guides told me that the campus is going to be wireless next year.</p>
<p>woahH!! really!! that's nice to hear!!
by the way, do they sell microsoft office at the campus store or watever? are they cheap?</p>
<p>I was at the open house and heard that it would be "mostly wireless" - they're currently working on having wireless access at places like the president's lawn and such. I don't think dorm rooms were on the list of places that will be wireless, and there may be other places where there won't be wireless access, either.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned a Dell repair service at Tufts - I heard that there was computer repair on campus, but is it actually only for Dells?</p>