<p>First off, you can't move around a desktop very well. Almost everyone has a laptop in college, except at state schools.</p>
<p>Youre friend either stole some stuff or isnt telling you the truth. Hard-drives arent expensive. Motherboards? If you buy a bad motherboard yeah, probably cheapest $130-140. If it is a good motherboard, you will be paying around 300-350. 1 GB RAM? They make different qualities, the worst would cost around 100-120 alone. Athlon 3000+ is no less than 300 bucks. These are the cheapest prices you can probably get them at.</p>
<p>I hate nothing more than disinformation, so here we go:</p>
<p>Yes, it is possible to build a decent desktop for $600. It still doesn't replace the sheer joy and ease of use of a laptop.</p>
<p>Shrek,</p>
<p>I don't know where you buy your computer parts, but an Athlon 3000+ for $300? I see them running around $100 OEM. Hell, even the Athlon 64 949 pin 3000+ never peaks over $175 at most places. Only the Athlon 64 3700+ 90nm Rev and faster run more than $300 on a consistent basis. </p>
<p>And although I'm crossing CPU lines... a good Intel 775 mobo like the Gigabyte GA-8AENXP-D shouldn't run more than $250.</p>
<p>I mean, if we're talking top top top of the line, maybe I could justify $300. But otherwise, $250 and less will get you a great mobo with all the features you'll need for a year.</p>
<p>I second bigndude's suggestion. Buy a light, small laptop and complement it with a large flat panel display, wireless keyboard and mouse, and if desired external speakers and my personal favorite, a port replicator.</p>
<p>A 21 inch monitor cuz its nice and big and you can use it as a TV basically to watch movies. Even a 19 inches will suffice thats wat I use and its great. Typing long papers on a flat laptop keyboard hurts your hands, and plus most poeple make more mistakes typing on them. On a desktop keyboard which is slanted it is much easier to type faster with less errors, and be more comfortable</p>
<p>It's possible to build a desktop for that much. Fry's Electronics always runs sales with really big rebates. A year and a half ago I built a desktop for $690 before rebate, $630 afterwards, including all peripheals except the monitor (which is an LCD that was on sale at Sam's Club at the time). Athlon 2700+, shuttle motherboard, 512 MB RAM, 80 gig hard drive, and a Radeon 9200. While not the greatest gaming machine ever, it can run all the games my friends play, usually on highest detail. RAM and hard drives are alot cheaper now, too. Just don't forget about the case; lots of people forget that a case costs a bit of money, too, unless you want a beige tower, and those are still $30.</p>
<p>Those little small form factor desktops with two or three bays and one PCI slot are really cute. More expensive to build than a tower, cheaper than a laptop, and customisable. I had a friend carrying one around in his backpack the last two weeks of school. When he got to class (we weren't doing anything), he plugged it into the school's monitor/mouse/keyboard and gamed.</p>
<p>So, (sorry I'm completely clueless here) I can use an LCD monitor as a peripheral for my laptop, as well as for a TV? How does that work? Thanks...</p>
<p>Well, if you have a DVD drive in your computer, you can watch DVDs. Often you can download shows from the internet after they've aired. To get real-time TV not broadcast online, you would need a TV tuner, I think. Depending on the quality and if they have a remote or are HDTV, they range $50-$150 and fit in one of the PCI slots. Most come with picture-capture software so you can record a show and watch it later. That's how they all end up online.</p>
<p>limewire/kazaa any p2p network has stuff for free but i am not sure what will happen while at college b/c i heard they montior downloads and stuff. any comments on downloading music/movies in college.</p>
<p>liquid paper, only some lcd monitors have a built in TV capability. if a model does, it'll be one of the main selling points of the model and will be well advertised. if you have such a model, you plug in the tv-in line - cable, antenna, etc. in the same manner as with a normal tv.</p>
<p>in the case of a tv tuner, you plug the line (coax, so cable will work) into the card, then watch tv through a program on the computer screen.</p>
<p>From what I've seen, LCD TVs are usually $100-$150 more expensive than an LCD monitor of the same size, presumably because an LCD TV will have both a built in TV tuner and built in speakers, which you may want (save space) or not (you already have an awesome 5.1 surround sound setup for your computer).</p>
<p>At bestbuy.com
15" LCD Monitor- (Sony) $299.99
15" LCD TV- (Sharp) $399.99 (on sale)
17" LCD Monitor- (Sony) $399.99
17" LCD TV- (Magnavox) $479.99 (widescreen)
17" Sony widescreen monitor with TV tuner- $599.99</p>
<p>I guess that also brings up the point that TVs might be widescreen, but monitors are almost always not (unless they're on laptops). A TV tuner isn't hard to install, but it will involve opening the case, probably punching out something in the back, and placing the card into a slot that it only fits into one way. Then you have to install software, but that's easy.</p>
<p>The number one and most obvious reason to buy a laptop: convenience. Sure, you save money by buying a desktop, but can you carry it around with you everywhere?</p>
<p>Definitely NOT worth dling movies/music in schools anymore. They are really cracking down on it all over. My school was one of the first waves of schools that had a lot of students busted for dling movies/songs/tv shows/etc.. etc... over kazaa/limewire/i2hub</p>
<p>I love when I give a site where you can look prices up and a guy still has the nerve to say that he knows better. Those prices are for very well rated parts and cheap to boot.</p>
<p>In any case, I think I am bringing both my laptop and my new desktop because I use them for different purposes. The desktop is for gaming because I love to do that and the laptop for anything and everything school related. I guess its all about different styles.</p>