<p>Hey, so I've heard that a laptop is pretty much a necessity in college. Right now I am contemplating whether or not to actually buy a laptop. I already have a pretty good desktop computer at home, and I was wondering if I would be at a disadvantage if I only had a desktop to work with in the dorms. The dorms are pretty small, and I heard that some rooms only have one desk, so I wouldn't want to hog all the space from my roommates. </p>
<p>I am gonna go pre-med majoring in anthropology, and I've read around and heard that science classes don't really need laptops, so I don't really wanna waste money to get one. If I do get one though, I'm looking at the Macbooks. </p>
<p>Tips, hints, or advice from current students?</p>
<p>It's not really a necessity, although it's definitely helpful for group projects or if you prefer to study in a more secluded place (like Memorial Glade or the Grove) but would still like to have access to a computer. There are computer clusters all over campus for you to use; each dorm unit also has its own computer cluster, which doubles as Academic Resources (exam banks saved my ass for o-chem; you should look into them). The campus has wireless access (AirBears) pretty much everywhere on campus now.</p>
<p>I wanted to note that your concern about desk real estate. Really, if you think about it, with a flat screen monitor, you'll actually have MORE desk real estate than if you had a laptop (assuming you put the tower under your desk or something)...unless you have a fatty keyboard. And the desks at Foothill, CKC, and the new mini-suites are all decently large such that it's not that big a concern (I lived in Foothill 1st year and Slottman 2nd year).</p>
<p>Having said that, the cons: the computer clusters can be very crowded at times so if you go at a bad time you'll have to wait a while to get a computer. The portability of a laptop is nice to have, because again, you can study anywhere. That was the major decision for me to get a laptop instead of bringing my tower. And true, science classes don't really need laptops, but you'll be taking lots of non-science classes too, classes which are text-heavy lecture type classes, and those are the situations when having a laptop for taking notes is nice, especially if the prof talks fast.</p>
<p>you can get by without a laptop if you are really in a crunch money-wise. i know a few people who did so freshman and half way through their sophomore year, where they finally broke down and bought a laptop.</p>
<p>apple's got a good deal going on right now where you can get a free ipod (a full reabte for it) if you buy a computer from them before some time in september. if you are majoring in anthropology, a simple 13" macbook will due just fine for your needs.</p>
<p>Definitely the biggest bang for the buck is a desktop from Cyberpowerpc.
Not only homework but the 24" lcd is great for unwinding with The Wire, BSG, SVU, movies, BBC videos relating to my studies....our house has a huge server with all the music and video you could imagine.</p>
<p>I also have 2 lb fujitsu laptop about 5 years old with wifi which I rarely use.</p>
<p>There are a lot of computers available on campus.</p>
<p>I also use gmail documents a lot with backups to a 4 gig flash drive.
So where I can get my gmail, I can work on my papers. Since Gmail docs can be shared with logs of changes, I can invite others to enjoy my papers and point out the BS and grammar problems.</p>