<p>I have a desktop that i'm fine with right now however.. and even if i upgraded, i wanted a better desktop, not a laptop or a tablet pc.</p>
<p>But after listening to people on this forum, i have a question...: is studying in dorms really that difficult? I like desktops because it tend to be cheaper with better ram, etc etc. I know many people recommend laptops but say they aren't necessary...</p>
<p>so if you were in my situation, would you take the tablet PC? (well i'm also trying to save my father few bucks) how often do you study in your dorms?</p>
<p>Don't know of ANY student here with a tablet PC. They're really not useful, and trust me for most notes you'd rather have a keyboard. As for math/science notes, you might think the tablet is great, but when the prof starts putting the wrong calculations and goes back and changes them, I'm not sure how easy it is to go back and change your notes in the tablet.</p>
<p>^ whoops i keep on putting labtop.. o_O! i don't know why.. sorry for the mistake.</p>
<p>redski59 - I'm an art student so I'm going to be using it for drawing, not for note taking... tablet pcs also come with keyboards most times so if i'm taking any notes, i'll be taking it with that... i have a normal tablet right now but its small so i was going to upgrade to a bigger one or something... but tablets are bothersome sometimes. (i got used to it.. but.. you can't see what you are doing.. you are drawing on a pad and looking up at the monitor.)</p>
<p>My cousin has a tablet PC (not a USC student), and he really loves it. It's easy to erase stuff, although I can imagine it can get hard to accurately erase miniscule things in math/science equations and such. It seems, though, that you say that tablet PCs and laptops are not the same thing. Tablet PCs are essentially laptops that have the additional function of being able to fold down the screen so it can be written on like a legal pad. At least that's what my cousin's Acer tablet PC is like. I don't know about other ones.</p>
<p>^ tablet pcs are part of notebook world (?), but mostly used for much different purposes... If i had a choice of a laptop, i would not take it. But tablets are very useful for drawing and tablet pcs are much better than tablets when it comes to drawing... (seeing how drawings going to become my profession)</p>
<p>But anyways just assume then tablet pc is a notebook. It's not necessary but how much more convinient is it?</p>
<p>I make do without a laptop. I have a desktop at home and I use the computers in the computer labs when on campus. It's not that bad without a laptop, though I'm considering getting one because I'm doing research and it's easier to do on-campus demos of my work on my own PC rather than someone elses.</p>
<p>As for suitability of a tablet PC to art, I would try and find an art forum on the internet and ask there as they would probably know better.</p>
<p>I guess I'm leaning towards my old desktop now (i got it 2 years ago) it wasn't that great when we first got it but it works and runs things and hasn't failed me yet... so I guess i'll take it along. I run alot of programs at one time and dl like crazy (i have 2 external HDD's running.. i think i have about 360 gb in all.. one 120, 160, 40 gb ones.. and i ran out of space in all of them.. gotta erase + burn dvds) i'm going to buy a good lcd screen though so hopefully it won't clutter my desk area or whatever... just hopes my roomate can sleep thru typing + LCD screen light... o_O~</p>
<p>redski- well i do alot of graphic design and uses photoshop and painter alot so that's why tablet's really useful for me. I guess I'll just upgrade my tablet like i planned in the first place.</p>
<p>Sounds like a good plan--that way, if things don't work out as well as you hope, you can always replace it down the line without feeling too bad also (unlike if you bought new now). Other folks have mentioned that desktops are nice because they're much less prone to theft compared to tempting laptops.</p>
<p>Our son wants to build himself a laptop--guess that will be his summer project.</p>
<p>Build a laptop, out of parts? I've built many desktop PC's out of parts (it's the cheapest way to get custom computers) but never a laptop - that certainly would be a challenge.</p>
<p>Wow, that sounds exactly like what I want. Except that their selection is really crummy right now. Maybe they'll get more in later?? Oh well, it would certainly be a great idea.</p>
<p>I'm not quite sure what my S & Hubby have in mind, but they said S will be "building" his own laptop this summer. We shall see. We don't have any parts because the only laptop we've ever had access to is the one my hubby sometimes brings home from work. It is definitely NOT available. Thanks for the site on notebook parts--will mention it to hubby & S when S finishes his AP exams later this month.</p>
<p><lovetocamp>
Thanks for those insights. I personally think it's a poor idea for son to "build" his own laptop, other than choosing from the menu which things he wants IN his laptop & will share your info with him & hubby if they are/were serious about the "build it yourself" idea. </lovetocamp></p>
<p>Hubby has built several desktops, while son has NOT built any desktop or laptop. Personally, if they want to build something, I think they should build something for us to fool around with at home NOT for son to take to college (both are techno-nerd/computer geeks anyway). In any case, so far it's all talk & I don't think it's the $$$, it's the idea. When all is said & done, I believe buying the whole unit would end up cheaper, especially if you need to replace parts because you bought the wrong ones (not unheard of), plus warranty works much better when you buy the entire unit from somewhere reputable over piecemeal.</p>
<p>I agree with you about building something to keep at home, not for school. If your son hasn't built anything before, then I would think that if for some reason it needed to be fixed a custom-built laptop would be tough. A more "standard" laptop would probably be preferable.</p>
<p>Usually desktops end up cheaper when self-built, but I'm not sure the same applies to laptops.</p>
<p>Though I will say, <em>if you have a lot of computer knowledge</em> the warranty process for self-built computers is much easier. Often when claiming warranty on a packaged system the company will want to warranty the whole computer, meaning that you might lose your files if they just replace the whole thing, and if they don't replace the whole thing then they might replace the wrong part (even if you insist that another component is the problem). With my self-built PC, each part is/was on a seperate warranty so if one part fails, I just ship it back and get a new one in a week, without going through tech support or whatnot - a lot easier. :)</p>
<p>Not sure how techno-savvy son will be about which part isn't working properly since hubby does most of our in-home tech support. Good point about warranties--hubby generally takes out the bad stuff & gets companies to replace them under warranty rather than us having to dump the entire computer. Will ponder this further.</p>
