<p>I am curious if anyone else uses both a laptop and desktop for college, or is contemplating doing so. After looking at prices for performance laptops, I've become convinced it is really a good idea to go for a $1000 - $1300 desktop in conjunction with a $600 - $800 laptop. It would be lovely to hear other peoples' thoughts on why they would be doing this, or their experiences with doing so, before I make my final decision on what to purchase.</p>
<p>As a note, I'd be self-building the desktop, so I'd stretch the $1000 - $1300 farther than though buying one pre-built.</p>
<p>If you’re getting a $1300 desktop (which I assume would be pretty damn good if you know what you’re doing), why would you need a $600 laptop instead of a cheaper netbook?</p>
<p>There are plenty of other threads addressing this topic, but I have a desktop that I built for ~$800 about 18 months ago and a laptop I got for $600 about a year ago (before I left for school). It worked out pretty well for me, but I think if I were doing it now I would strongly consider getting a netbook because of how much they’ve improved/dropped in price and the added portability.</p>
<p>Okay, so there is no issue in getting both of them, which is nice. Thanks for the input. I would go for a netbook, except for the reasons listed above. Moreover, with some Lenovo models 40%, I can purchase a mid-range Thinkpad for $600-700, which would embarrass any netbook in performance. I still need the laptop to last 3 to four years, and I get the sense that would be the case much more with the Thinkpad than with any netbook.</p>
<p>If you get a PC, which it seems like in this price range, make sure you get a desktop with an i7 processor, which is designed to run on the upcoming Windows 7.</p>
<p>I’ve been looking at desktop myself, and Dell are actually not the cheapest on the market anymore! Can get good deals from HP and Gateway and Maingear.</p>
<p>^Not really. If you have the money to spend and don’t mind it, go ahead an build an i7 desktop. It’s definitely the most powerful processor on the market but a college isn’t ever gonna need that much power. He’s better off spending $800-900 to build around an AMD or C2Q quad core.</p>
<p>OP, do you know how to build a desktop? Actually, would it be possible for you to build one? If so, you can really cut costs. As far as your laptop thoughts, Lenovo is a great brand, so that’s a good choice. Are you sure you will have the desk space in your dorm room or apartment or whatever for both a desktop and a laptop?</p>
<p>You don’t really need extra desk space as you’re not generally going to be using both at the same time; however, I did have enough space on my smallish desk that I could put my laptop on it and use it concurrently with my desktop on a few occasions (the desk did have a keyboard tray).</p>
<p>Also worth noting, though, is that while it takes a lot of the fun out of it, nowadays you can generally get a pretty good deal on an already made desktop (like HP/Dell) and get away with only upgrading the graphics and it might even be cheaper than one you’d build yourself.</p>
<p>Go to bestbuy.com and go to Asus Desktops. There’s a quad core selling for $750 (an i7 Core selling for around $1200 as well). Excellent deal, I don’t know if you’re gaming but that’s such a reliable desktop. Then buy an Asus netbook (10" laptop that runs XP, is very stable, very compact, 6 hours battery) for $300. BAM, you’re set for college. Desktop for all serious computer tasks (trust me, a quad core is overkill for basic college tasks) and the netbook for carrying around to classes for typing notes. You’re now paying about $1050, then you have to buy a monitor with the desktop, about $1250. I spent about $1300 on a 13" MacBook Pro. I just went Mac because I wanted something different and I love it, but just look at Asus, they make the best motherboards in the world and some of the best computer parts and also sell their excellent products at cheap prices.</p>
<p>From looking through prices a few weeks ago, this is true. You’ll likely get stuck with an overpriced graphics card in the base configuration, and if there aren’t free memory upgrades they’ll be a ripoff too. Apart from that, prices are pretty low.</p>
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<p>You can get a desktop with core i7 from HP for $749 (not including monitor and tax). I think that required a coupon though. Those deals probably refresh at the beginning of the month.</p>
<p>Yes, I do know how to build a desktop. It was, in fact, the topic of my main Common App essay.</p>
<p>I was definitely going for a Core i7 in order to future proof - I may not need the power now (although I might for the reduced gaming I plan on doing), but it will make the computer last for 4 - 6 years, the last of which my parents would use it for their rather undemanding tasks.</p>
<p>My only issue with buying a prebuilt system is that the motherboard, HDD, RAM, and especially PSU are inferior to anything I’d select off of Newegg when piecing together a system. I’ve seen my friend’s Gateway which was exactly as you described - good with everything except the GPU (Q6600/2GB RAM in September 2007), but the motherboard was propietary, the RAM off-brand, and the PSU a joke (I’m honestly surprised he got his upgrade 8800 GT to work properly). Since I’d like stability, the quality of those matters to the point where I’d be willing to pay a bit more for them. And, I really do enjoy building them.</p>
<p>Additionally, while I am now 95-97% sold on the desktop idea, you are still going to have to sell me on the netbook rather than cheap laptop idea. After going to Best Buy today, I’ve decided I really dislike the keyboard size and screen size of a netbook, reinforcing earlier notions, and that a 14.1 screen size laptop would be much preferable.</p>
<p>^ If you’re willing to spend $700 or so, you can go with a full laptop instead of a netbook. You’re not gonna be doing any demanding task with either but the netbook will have much improved battery life over cheaper laptops.</p>
<p>I used both a desktop I built and a laptop in college and couldn’t imagine doing it any other way.</p>
<p>That being said, there are a lot of nice netbooks that may be worth considering that don’t have the quirks you’re referring to.</p>
<p>The Lenovo S12 and Gateway LT3103u come to mind. Both have much larger screens than the 10" deals on many netbooks, both have nearly full-sized, comfortable keyboards as a result. The Gateway even has discrete graphics, though the main processor is weak.</p>
<p>I always thought the best of both worlds was a small laptop connected to a large screen on your desk. You get portability (when you need it) a big screen (when you need it), and are spared the hassle of trying to keep the stuff on both computer in sync.</p>