<p>Oh yeah, get a laptop lock. Force him to lock it up all day and night. My first laptop was stolen from my room. Might be a good $10 investment.</p>
<p>A true EECS major can use any laptop. You might even be able to get away without one!</p>
<p>My main one is actually an Asus EeePC 1005 netbook. Sure, I have a desktop, but any real work that I need to do can just as easily be done on my netbook as my desktop, especially after plugging in USB mouse/keyboard and 22" monitor.</p>
<p>Hunterbender, I was wondering about that… Thanks. He paid for half of the computer so I think I might be able to easily convince him to lock it up. :-)</p>
<p>Might also be worthwhile to look at something like this [Affordable</a> Laptop Insurance, College Student Insurance, Personal Property, & Laptop Theft | National Student Sevices](<a href=“http://www.nssi.com/]Affordable”>http://www.nssi.com/)</p>
<p>insurance for everything you have in the dorm</p>
<p>Thanks, Rider.</p>
<p>with a cheap laptop, there’s not much a need to lock it up (though it certainly doesn’t hurt to do it anyway). Most thieves tend to go for macbooks or sony vaios since they stand out so much and are notoriously expensive.
Just make sure he has the common sense to not leave it unattended in a study area.</p>
<p>about buying from newegg, i just don’t like the fact that I can’t see the laptop before I buy it. well, not really that, mostly just the risk about whether I will get ripped off, or if the computer breaks down right after the return period or something. also, what if the fed ex or ups drops it off, but i’m not at home? then, there is the possibility of somebody stealing it in a short period of time…</p>
<p>The first two risks are just as present for store-purchased computers. It’s also worth noting that if that they were statistically relevant issues for Newegg, Tigerdirect, et al., they wouldn’t be first on the list of places that any serious nerd goes to buy hardware.</p>
<p>As for the dropoff issue, you should get a tracking company and number to know when it’s actually on its way to your house, and then plan accordingly. Depending on where you live, it’s possible that someone would have to sign for a package that expensive, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>You wouldn’t get ripped off if you know what you’re buying, look at the specs. It wouldn’t make a difference if you buy from a B&M store or an online retailer and your computer breaks outside of the return policy area. You’re SOL in both cases, manufacturer’s warranty is the only option (or 3rd party warranty). You couldn’t bring your broken computer to the local store to get fixed for free under the manufacturer’s warranty even if the computer was bought at that local store (unless you buy an apple).
Buying from any reputable retailer usually means that they will ship your computer with a trackable service, you can make sure that someone is there to receive the package.</p>
<p>You wouldn’t get ripped off if you know what you’re buying, look at the specs.</p>
<p>I think the concern’s more over the possibility of the item in question being defective.</p>