<p>Ok, need some opinions here. DS is headed for Chem Eng. He thinks he wants a desktop with a netbook to tote around. My concern is that the netbook won't have what he needs when he's away from his room. Do most students have laptops vs desktops? Any thoughts? We have read so much great advice here, thought we would ask for some ideas on this!</p>
<p>Netbooks can be used in place of desktops (especially if you buy one that runs XP or another desktop OS) and many of them can run all of the basic applications students need. Make sure he is comfortable with the keyboard size if he gets a netbook. With an external DVD/CD drive, and possibly an external monitor, he may find that the desktop computer is unnecessary. If he uses cloud applications (like Google apps, Buzzword, Piknik, etc.), he might not even need the DVD/CD drive.</p>
<p>I’m going to have to disagree with Mrs Weasley.
I believe many people falsely purchase netbooks with the intent of replacing a desktop/laptop. Although many netbooks have impressive hardware, they will not measure up to full capabilities of any cheap desktop. The average netbook limits the student to a smaller harddrive capacity and less processor power, not to mention a cramped keyboard.
Don’t get me wrong, the netbook will suit your son just fine in any classroom/library/coffee shop setting, but when he returns to his dorm, I believe he should have a full desktop available.</p>
<p>Note: I have a netbook for classroom notes and travel, but I use my desktop as my main computer. I have no complaints.</p>
<p>I agree that the main functionality of netbooks is their portability. As such, all applications that require substantial power, including some cloud computing applications, will not perform as well with the Atom processor. The problems associated with the limited size of the netbook can be mitigated by peripherals (LCD monitor, full size keyboard etc.), but the netbook is not designed to be a full powered laptop. I don’t know what the ChemE curriculum entails; however, if your son will be taking classes that require either matlab or visual studio (eclipse, other IDEs) to name a few, he will definitely need a computer that has more substantial computing power. </p>
<p>As jrt alluded to, one suitable solution is purchasing (or building) a cheap desktop. Together, these two can be still cheaper than many laptops with similar capabilities.</p>
<p>jrt, I’m a parent, not a student, so I’m very interested in your experience. What do you use your desktop to do that you can’t do on your netbook? </p>
<p>One of my children prefers an MSI netbook (10 inch with 160GB HDD) over a desktop and uses it for everything because it is faster than the desktop computer (which is surprisingly not much older). Another prefers a standard laptop. Neither of these two has encountered programs that won’t run on their computers, but their needs are no doubt different from yours. That’s why I’d like to know what your experience is.</p>
<p>Thanks for the valuable info. If he has a netbook, he will definitely have a good desktop in his dorm. My concern was that the netbook won’t be powerful enough for when he is away from his desktop. From what you are saying, it sounds like it will be. Right?</p>
<p>Yes, you can find a powerful netbook for under $500 like the one that my kid uses in place of a desktop computer. It is good for basic applications like word processing, spreadsheet, email, and we’ve run Adobe Indesign and Photoshop on it as well. It runs salesforce.com apps, Facebook apps, Flash apps, Flickr apps. My kid has run Eclipse on it for coding (Flex). It runs a full version of the XP operating system, not a minimized or specialized operating system. Some students (according to this thread) are finding that they need powerful desktop computers to work on what sound like very big projects, or possibly they choose a netbook with fewer features and capabilities for a smaller and less expensive portable option that they can rely on simply for note taking and email. There is already a lot of variety in netbooks and I’m sure your son will be able to find what he needs.</p>