<p>Hey, I was wondering how important it is to have a laptop on campus. I'm going to bring my desktop computer from home to my dorm room. I remember when sitting in on a few classes last spring that only a few students in the classes had laptops with them.</p>
<p>I do plan on majoring in CS, and a friend of mine who's going to be a sophomore at RPI next year says that if I don't have a laptop I'll be "left out."</p>
<p>Should I get one or not?</p>
<p>I would recomend getting one if it fits in your budget, but it is definately by far not needed. </p>
<p>In terms of taking notes, I found that I preferred old school notebook and pen for the comp sci classes I took this past year as it was way more tedious to take notes on the laptop, primarily since many of the notes had mathematical proofs and diagrams that are painfully annoying to do on laptops. </p>
<p>Plus I found my laptop to be distracting as I tended to im and play games during lectures rather than paying attention. In terms of the work you do, a desktop is totally fine. Labs in CS classes are initially suggested to be done during lab time at computer labs and then based on your comfort with the work, they can easyily be done on your own computer. </p>
<p>So overall if you can get a laptop, go for it but it is definately not needed. Also try looking into tablet pcs, those actually are quite efficient when it comes to notetaking.</p>
<p>oh and if you have any questions regarding cs, classes or the major itself feel free to drop me a pm and I'll give you my emai address for any questions you may have.</p>