<p>DD's laptop died yesterday. We are forced to look into computers as she is leaving in a month. What is your opinion on those 10" Netbooks, with only less than 3 lbs to carrey and 1.5" thick. They are less powerful because it has only 1.6ghz speed and single core. But I think it is great for a college student to take it with them. It claims that the battery will last 7 hours, but I am not sure.</p>
<p>If that’s all she has to work on, I would be concerned about extended typing on the smaller keyboard and the screen is going to seem smaller and smaller everyday. If she only uses a laptop for e-mail and facebook - go for the netbook.</p>
<p>QuietType is right… depends. I think a netbook would be Ok <em>if</em> she has a desktop machine as well, but for writing papers, etc, I think you’d want a laptop. I think concern about the weight is well-placed, but too small a screen will - like QT says above - just get smaller as time goes on.</p>
<p>If you really are considering just a netbook, why not look at the iPad? College coolness factor and fairly lightweight… might be just the thing. But I think a full laptop with a 15" screen would be better.</p>
<p>Look at this month’s edition of Consumer Reports. It reviews several categories of laptops, from Netbooks through those with large screens.</p>
<p>There’s a lot to be said for a 10" netbook. They work well for email and web browsing/research, and note taking. The battery life is indeed long. They are extremely easy to take with you. And they are very inexpensive – as little as $250. Wi-fi connectively is a breeze, and typically web access performance is less a matter of the computer than of the network, so that the performance of netbooks is in most situations more than adequate.</p>
<p>From experience I find the convenience factor (size, and long-battery life) means that I (and students whom I know) are more likely to take them along to class (for taking notes, etc.), to the library, etc. than larger more powerful machines. And there is less need to worry about the need to recharge in the middle of a class. There a strong argument for having one, and (for heavy computer users) a second more powerful machine back in the dorm.</p>
<p>In her dorm, we will either setup a wireless keyborad/mouse and a large screen monitor. She can plug the netbook into those when she got back. Or we could setup a more powerful machine and she can sync the files to it from the netbook. We are thinking of cloud computing so there can be group editing documents on her projects.</p>
<p>Basically, we expect her to use the netbook for classroom notes or other uses when she is away from the dorm.</p>
<p>For D, we ended up going another way (13" laptop only) but I was a proponent of a Big Box store desktop PC package and a netbook. At $5-6-700 for the desktop package, I thought it best just to have two CPU’s rather than a docking station/separate monitor. My law partner has that and it appears to be a bit of a pain.</p>
<p>If you already have a compatible docking station then the netbook idea would be great (assuming she’s not in some sort of compute intensive major like engineering). Otherwise Dell, HP and Toshiba have smaller laptops, 10.5" - 11.5", that have more robust processors and bigger (human-size) keyboards.</p>
<p>A netbook is no substitute for another computer, especially for a college student. We have one that is delightful for taking on vacation. The speed and memory will be woefully inadequate for school. Combining a netbook with a desktop sounds feasible. Son had just a powerful (a gamer and into math/comp sci/physics) desktop the first two years. He acquired our laptop when we downsized to the netbook. Buying online from the company can be cheapest- including HP and Dell. Check TechBargains.com for weekly deals and coupons.</p>
<p>Consumer Reports is not the best source for evaluating electronics- they are way out of date by the time they publish. Check out CNET.com for reviews and comparisons. Check your school’s website for their info regarding minimum suggested requirements for computers. UW-Madison has nice info under DoIT- their tech store- if you want a nice review of possible systems. They don’t recommend Apple over PCs or laptops over desktops but offer configurations of each at different pricepoints meeting various departmental needs. A good tutorial. Sorry, unlike H and S, I am not able to easily do the links (I plan to learn someday).</p>
<p>There’s not a one size fits all answer here.</p>
<p>The computer is the center of the college student’s world in many ways - writing papers, using the internet for research, homework, lab work (for programming courses and some other courses), remote access to labs (depending on courses), FB, IM, watching movies, watching streaming video (i.e. network TV shows for free without the need for a TV), listening to music, playing games, etc. Because of this they’ll spend a huge amount of time on their computer. Given that, if they only have a single computer, then there’s usually a compromise that needs to be made and that compromise is usually a laptop - a netbook can get irritating to try to use heavily for all of the above uses due to the small screen and lack of power. The keyboard itself on many of these really isn’t all that much smaller than a laptop’s - depends on the model. A desktop isn’t portable and many students prefer to use their computer while sitting on their bed, in the dorm lounge, in another student’s dorm room, in the library, etc. A desktop also takes up that much more space. A laptop is the best bet and it’s best to not get a huge, heavy one.</p>
<p>I think a netbook is a nice unit to have for lightweight use like email, internet, etc. and it’s nice for portability but if it comes down to a single general computer, a laptop wins.</p>
<p>I asked my kids (both Computer Science majors) about note taking on them. Neither used their laptops for taking class notes and they said most people don’t actually - at least where they attended. For the science and math classes and some others it was just easier to use a pencil and paper to be able to draw charts, diagrams, equations, etc. I can see how this might vary with the major. They also said that probably most of the people with laptops in the classroom were really using them to FB, IM, play games, or cruise the internet - probably not what most parents think they’re using them for in class.</p>
<p>A 13" laptop is the best way to go! 15" is already too bulky to be carrying around everywhere. My old laptop was a 15" and it was a hassle to bring to study groups because it weighed and it took up the table space of my peers. Now I have a 13" and it’s the perfect size: lightweight and big enough so that I don’t have to squint yet small enough that it doesn’t take up TOO much desk/table space.</p>
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That was my D’s thought, too. After 4 years lugging around a “desktop replacement” 17" laptop (which is now proudly mine), she seems very happy with her choice. Of course, school hasn’t started yet and that could change. She said if money was no object she’d have a powerful 13" laptop and an even more powerful desktop but …that ain’t the case.</p>
<p>I’ll be curious to see what happens with my two D’s. D1 is starting year 3 with her 13" MacBook which has lasted two complete school years and two summer research jobs. She pretty much carries it everywhere, except to classes. She still is not complaining, so I think it worked out well for her. (She’s about to start into pharmacy school and lo and behold - they are recommending iPads. She can buy one herself if she wants it - Bank of Dad is not going that way.)</p>
<p>Now D2 goes off to school with her brand new 15" MacBook Pro (blasted architecture majors and their program-mandated computers - but the screen is magnificent!!). We’ll see how that works out. It’s obviously bigger and heavier than her sister’s but D2 doesn’t have a choice. I’ll be listening for the moaning to come…</p>
<p>I have a 15", take it with me everywhere I go, and I think it is perfect. I wouldn’t want anything smaller, but my vision isn’t awesome so maybe that has something to do with it. I considered a netbook to use as my portable computer intending to leave the laptop for studying and homework rather than notetaking and email, but I couldn’t justify the expense when there’s no reason I can’t take the 15". It’s not too heavy or bulky in my opinion. Either way, I think writing an essay on a netbook would be really annoying. If your student is one to frequent the computer lab that may not be a problem, but I hate working in the computer lab.</p>
<p>A coworker just got a new Sony Z 13.3 inch laptop. Core i7, nVidia 330m with 1 GB VRAM, twin SSD drives, MemoryStick, Secure Digital, 1920x1080 resolution, HDMI, BlueRay, fingerprint reader, Windows 64 Professional, etc. This would be expensive for a student.</p>
<p>It weighs about three pounds.</p>
<p>It’s the most technology that I’ve ever seen packed into a small and lightweight product.</p>
<p>S (mech engineering) started out with a 15" laptop but ended up with a docking station, separate keyboard and mouse and monitor. After all that, he never took the laptop out of his room, except to come home. Was too big/heavy to lug around he said. Then he started to have problems with his laptop. He is very computer savy, but some of the hardware in a laptop is unique to that machine (or line of machines) and so he was tied into replacing parts with expensive parts from the maker. He finally built up a desktop machine, buying the components online.</p>
<p>So, we went thru all these ideas/concepts for my D (also engineering) and ended up with the desktop/netbook duo. Desktop was a name brand machine but from a big box seller and will double as her TV/DVR. We bought the machine and put a TV tuner card it in ourselves (very simple to do). She did all her senior papers, etc on my netbook. Only used my home desktop for the final edit and printing, so will probably do the same in college. Netbooks are very portable with great battery life. Besides, getting her her own netbook gives me back mine. Cost for her netbook/desktop was less than S’s laptop, not counting all the “extra” stuff we ended up getting. </p>
<p>Another consideration: laptop theft is a big concern on most college campus’s. Much as I don’t want D to loose her netbook, it would much less of a blow than if she had an expensive laptop.</p>
<p>loosing a computer is not a big thing now, as the price of hardware is very reasonable. Its the file that is the most important. If the student is in a final and lost the laptop and all the paper is on the computer, it will be a major desaster. I bought a Dell Desktop for $400 (w/o monitor) and it has Quad processors, unheard of in my old days. I don’t think anyone can beat that price even build on your own.</p>
<p>I think cloud computing is the way to go and everyone should become hardware independent.</p>
<p>Our kids store their stuff on our home webserver or Google Documents so that they can access their documents from anywhere.</p>
<p>We were using dual-processor computers in the early 1980s and quad-processors a few years later.</p>
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<p>sure, but not for $400! IBM mainframes may have it for several hundred thousand dollars. I still remember paying $4,000 for a 100 meg external drive on the PC/XT…</p>
<p>That dual-processor computer could support 150 concurrent users though.</p>
<p>Digital Equipment Corporation made computer systems that were moderately expensive compared to IBM. There were other companies that made them cheaper still like Wang, Prime, Data General, etc.</p>
<p>S opted for a 13" Mac Powerbook Pro, with which he got a free iTouch iPod (a $199 value, available with order until 9/5 I think). He’d had a 15"Dell, but friends were happy with their 13" laptops, so that’s what he ordered. Arrived today.</p>