<p>I have a really, really nice desktop computer that I love and I really want to bring it to college with me in the fall. I also would like to get a laptop for portability, probably a 13".
Would it be a bad idea to have both during college or is one or the other better? The laptop wouldnt need to be fancy since I have an incredible desktop but it would be odd because I could not bring it to class and other places.</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>anyone have any input?</p>
<p>I have two computers, one for the form, one for the road. Although my dorm one isn't a desktop because I didn't have two to start with. The dorm one is an HP Pavilion dv6000 and the portable one is an IBM Thinkpad X61. The HP is stationary for all intents and purposes since the battery hold a charge of 5 seconds (no joke). </p>
<p>Had the system for about a year now, working flawlessly and I couldn't be happier. One thing I would recommend is a free file syncing software like MS Foldershare (soon to be Windows Live Sync). It'll make managing two computers a lot easier.</p>
<p>If you're ok with having to deal with the annoyance of having two computers, go for it. However, let me suggest an alternative...</p>
<p>I have my laptop set up with a docking station in my room. The docking station charges the laptop and attaches it to my monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse from home. It's just like having a desktop (I strongly prefer working on a desktop to a laptop any day), but you don't have to deal with the trouble of having files on both computers. Docking stations can be fairly expensive, but if you want the desktop capabilities I'd say its a worthwhile investment.</p>
<p>With netbooks out, I think that this is a good idea. I don't really feel comfortable carrying around an expensive laptop and having to worry that I might leave somewhere. I'll just have a good desktop that can play games and a netbook to do homework on the go.</p>
<p>Think about it - do you really think you'll use your desktop? Otherwise, it can take up space and you'll have nightmares with files stuck on your desktop in your dorm, etc.</p>
<p>With the netbooks these days, the ideal combination is - powerful laptop + netbook. I have a lot of files, and my solution is simply a 750GB external hard drive stored in a drawer in my desk.</p>
<p>Don't worry about losing your laptop - you know it costs a lot, and you'll be very careful with it.</p>
<p>Having both would really save you some $$$'s. You could buy a minimal (and light) laptop to carry around, and have your desktop for the horsepower. It really doesn't use up any more desktop space. If you put the computer on the floor, it takes up floorspace. Note: ultraportables are actually more expensive, but are really light and small.</p>
<p>My daughter is a sophomore now, and has never taken her computer out of her room, except to come home. Unless you really like to take notes on the laptop, you might want to wait to see if you really need it. I would secure both computers with some type of physical lock, just to deter the opportunistic thief.</p>
<p>If your laptop computer has a memory card slot, keeping all your files on an SD card is really convenient way to keep files in synch. Otherwise, a large USB drive (4gb?) would be another way. Keep your day-to-day files on the SD Card/USB drive. Daily, copy it to your desktop for "backup". When you go home for breaks, you could just bring your laptop.</p>
<p>We have eight laptops right now with only five in regular use. The other three (Pentium 3 and Pentium 4) run just fine. If one of our nieces or nephews wanted one, we'd just send it to them. Unfortunately our relatives are in a similar position to us. So you might ask your relatives to see if they have a laptop or desktop that they can spare that still performs reasonably well.</p>
<p>I say just stick with a good laptop</p>
<p>my Macbook is way better than most PC laptoos thanks to its awesome processor</p>
<p>I don't think it would be a bad idea at all. You'll have power from your desktop and portability from your laptop. As others have mentioned, just make sure the files you need are in sync.</p>
<p>
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my Macbook is way better than most PC laptoos thanks to its awesome processor
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</p>
<p>OK, this makes no sense. Apple doesn't have any unique Intel Core 2 Duos; the 2.4ghz Core 2 Duo found inside an aluminum MacBook can easily be found inside a Lenovo ThinkPad.</p>
<p>You could make an argument (that we hopefully won't go into) that your native operating system beats Windows, but you can't argue that your MacBook is better than most PC laptops because of the processor.</p>
<p>^ Alright, yeah, the processor can be found easily.</p>
<p>The OS is what makes it bomb, and we won't get into an argument, but my dad's ACER laptop with the same processor takes 5-10 seconds longer to turn on and turn off than my lil macbook</p>
<p>^and most of the desktops my friends have, I think is for lame vista</p>
<p>
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my dad's ACER laptop with the same processor takes 5-10 seconds longer to turn on and turn off than my lil macbook
[/quote]
Not sure why the physical size of your MacBook is relevant, but you should realize there are several factors in boot time that are not related to the clock speed of the processor, the most significant one of which is the hard drive speed. That is an often overlooked component of the computer, and if you replace the standard 5400 or 7200 RPM hard drive with a 10000 RPM hard drive, you will see a significant improvement in boot time.</p>
<p>yah, but 10000 RPM drives are incredibly more expensive...about $200 for 150 GB</p>
<p>and you can get a 7200 RPM 500 GB drive for $130</p>
<p>and if you really want performance get a SSD and a larger external drive ;)</p>
<p>I have the same question as the initial poster. My computer is an XPS 710 which is a huge frame and would have to sit on the floor in my dorm. Would it be foolish to lug it along? I do a lot of work with online communities & making sites etc - which is primarily what i'm going to college for. I plan to get an XPS laptop to bring to classes but want the XPS 710 to stay in my room (google it - its a beast). Would it be crazy for me to have both - especially if I am going to college 2,500 miles away from my home?</p>
<p>I didn't have a desktop in college, and that was fine. I had a clunky 15" Dell laptop. I wouldn't recommend it -- get a smaller model (13.3" are easier to carry around), and I don't recommend Dell computers as a rule now.</p>
<p>In any case, I'm in graduate school now, and I wish I could afford a laptop and a desktop. The desktop has the horsepower I want, and the HDD space is easier to get more cheaply. But I do want a small laptop on which to take notes in class and surf the Internet and take with me to conferences and stuff. I went to look at the netbooks available and I don't really like them -- the idea is a good one, but I feel like I'd strain my eyes and give myself a headache just to save 1 or 2 lbs. of weight (you can get an affordable consumer Mac or PC that weighs 4.5 lbs. or under...most minis weigh 2.5-3 lbs.</p>
<p>Anyway, to answer your question, the difference between graduate school and undergrad for me was that undergrad every year I moved to a new dorm room, whereas in graduate school I'm fairly stationary (I have an apartment that I will be living in for 5 years, at least). Do you want to move your beast of a desktop out of your room every 9 months, only to have to truck it back to school in 3 months? Where will you store it when you take that amazing internship over the summer? How will you get it back and forth to college and home? I've found in college that the less stuff I had, the better. It makes moving in and out more smooth.</p>
<p>10,000 rpm drives are overkill for a laptop. Power hogs and run hot.</p>
<p>I wish I'd found this thread sooner...
I have a laptop and a desktop at school and am glad I did it. My desktop is one that I built myself during winter my senior year when I got the idea to do this. I managed to get some pretty cheap parts off new-egg so I could get the best bang for my buck, and as a result have a fairly powerful desktop that cost around $800 that is more than capable of doing all the daily tasks I need and has plenty of memory for things like photoshop. I also occasionally bring it to LAN parties where it can play the latest games like L4D and TF2 on very high settings and still run quite quickly. Two things that I've done that further increase the utility of my desktop were to hook up multiple monitors (I have a great 21" and then a side ~15" that was lying around the house) and get a TV tuner with both cable and component input. Instead of having a TV, I can watch cable (or even play Wii) on my nice monitor.
To complement my desktop, I bought a fairly cheap (~$600 on sale) Dell laptop that still has a lot of functionality. I dual booted the laptop with Ubuntu (because it wouldn't install on my desktop for some reason) and that has become the main OS I use on it (over Vista). I'm an engineering student, so it's useful to have Windows for applications I need like Autocad or Mathcad, but also having Linux makes things easier for programming in C++ and then SSHing into my school's network.<br>
I can bring my laptop to class or to the library for taking notes or doing work or I can do homework in my room using my desktop.</p>
<p>As far as lugging the desktop around, I'm on spring break now for one week so I only brought home my laptop. However, I did bring my desktop home for my month long winter break and it wasn't much of a hassle (although I do live within driving distance of my school).</p>
<p>In summary, I have a laptop and a desktop and am very glad to have both.</p>
<p>I take things a step further. I bring my desktop, my tablet, and a mac mini to school. I mainly use the desktop to do work in the dorm with the occasional laptop use to maybe write a paper in bed. I most use the laptop to take notes in class though. The mac mini is rarely used right now but when I do it's mostly to test out applications on the mac and learn the little quirks about it (something to put on my resume). when i started school here all i had was the laptop to take notes in classes. as time moved on and with my jobs i was able to buy and bring the other items to school. so if i had to say to bring one thing, it would be the laptop for sure (though your use of it might different than mine).</p>
<p>the only problem is lugging all that stuff around, but to me it's totally worth it. laptops just aren't as powerful as desktops and the ones that are, usually lose the portability that laptops are supposed to really offer. here's another thing to keep in mind. if you do bring the desktop and any other equipment you can't do without on a day to day basis, you'll have to consider what you'll do for extended breaks (say a spring break or thanksgiving) where you get more days off than usual. you'll be asking yourself whether it's worth it to take your computer back (and depending on how close you live, it will be). i live close so anytime i have a break like that i just bring everything with me, but i recognize that not everyone lives close to school, especially if you have to take the airplane to get to your destination. in any case, if you are ok with leaving your desktop and other equipment at school during breaks, then you should have no problems because you'd only have to really carry it two times a year with you (during move in/out for college students).</p>