<p>I stay at the Mallory my favorite.( plus it is more our price range than the Benson)
Not only does my 14 yr old love the food and they have wireless but they love our big lab.
I don't think Reed is totally wireless yet, I know the labs have it. Reed is the only Oregon school to be in the top 100 campuses according to Intels wireless survey last spring, but Portland tops the list at free public access areas.
( the Benson does have wireless though)
<a href="http://portland.citysearch.com/roundup/40211?brand=msn%5B/url%5D">http://portland.citysearch.com/roundup/40211?brand=msn</a></p>
<p>As usual, I'll take the road less travelled ... </p>
<p>It takes dedication to carry a laptop. Most of the time, you wonder why you hauled the damn beast around. In the past six months, the main use for my laptop has been as an EXTRA computer on my desk. I use it only to stay connected to the web and do simple stuff like checking emails and read boards like CC, while I do real work on a real computer. </p>
<p>No matter how wonderful the laptops seem to be, because of their inherent need to compromise, they will always be poor siblings to desktops. The small ones are not much more than glorified PDA's and the big ones are too heavy to be truly portable. Even the best of them are still hampered by poor screen resolution, subpar performance, annoying keyboards, tactile mouse systems that require the touch of a surgeon, excessive heat, noise levels that put a 747 to shame, and poor battery life. </p>
<p>If you are deadset on using one or buying one for your kids, get the cheapest one you could find--they all get obsolete the day you open the box, and you'll never consider repairing or upgrading them. With the money saved, buy a decent computer that is quiet but splurge on the best keyboard, mouse, video card and monitor you can afford. The combination will give you the best of both worlds: the joy of using your desktop and the calvary of hauling the cute laptop.</p>
<p>It really depends what you need to do with them
I use a clamshell ibook that is abut 5 years old. I have had to replace the AC adapter and I upgraded the ram.( it also has an airport card)
My daughter uses a snow ibook( 3 yrs old), we added an airport ( wireless) card, and replaced the AC adapter. Keep in mind both of these laptops get hauled around a lot by people who are very hard on things. My daughter got her laptop in 6th grade, not an age that is usually very careful.
My older daughter just bought a powerbook with a writeable drive, much bigger hard drive etc. She uses it for all kinds of things and is confident it will be big and fast enough to do anything that she needs to do for her biology research thesis next year.
She and her sister especially get a kick out of watching dvds on it since we don't even own a tv! ( I may break down after January)
For those who are thinking of an Apple laptop you may find some of these columns helpful.
<a href="http://www.macopinion.com/columns/roadwarrior/archivepage.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.macopinion.com/columns/roadwarrior/archivepage.html</a></p>
<p>i have a toshiba satellite and it is just wonderful.. i don't know anyone that has had any problems with them (someone above mentioned problems and knowing someone - i'm sorry to hear that, maybe you guys should of called and complained, toshiba has good support)... i do know people who have dell laptops and they are horrible... hard drives completely frying, motherboards frying.. fans dying... all after about 14 months..</p>
<p>I take my laptop on campus to use the wireless in our den sometimes, and occasionall to do some work in the library (also wireless)... but i don't take it with to classes... heck, i don't take notes in classes. ;)</p>
<p>Which laptop would people recommend for a freshman. My D has a dell and has had problems with it (runs to slow). Her friends with dell have also had problems.</p>
<p>Who makes a good basic needs laptop for school?</p>
<p>I think that you should wait until your daughter actually gets into school and see what type of technical support/ services they offer. I purchased my daughter's laptop through the school because of the tech support that was available on campus for computers purchased through dartmouth. The choices that we had were 3 by dell and G4 powerbooks. The school has authorized Dell and Apple service centers on campus, so I did not want her to have to schlep around anyplace ot have her computer fixed.</p>
<p>in looking for computers for college you should check out what the tech dept recommends. at my daughters college, they don't generally do house calls, they expect you to take the computer to them. Much easier with a laptop ;)
( Additionally since I am in a snarky mood with xiggis condescending comments about "real" computers although I feel badly for him that he is equating his experience with laptops others experience.)
My laptop is silent, I prefer a trackpad over a mouse, and macs don't need "video" cards, I also like the keyboard ( but I have small hands) and I love being able to sit anywhere in the house ( or on the porch) instead of being trapped in my office, as far as speed goes I don't require a lot but you may be interested to know that Seymour Cray used Macs to design his supercomputer!</p>
<p>If your computer is too slow, it may be the OS and other random junk on the computer rather than the desktop/laptop.
You would be best off to check with your school as to their preferred specs
<a href="http://www.cnet.com/4520-9693_1-5143577-2.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.cnet.com/4520-9693_1-5143577-2.html</a></p>
<p>I'm in agreement with the last poster. My iMAC lacks for nothing compared with my previous desktop. And it didn't cost a dime more than a "comparably" equipped Dell desktop. My (future) Powerbook will lack for nothing compared with my previous (current) laptop (Thinkpad).</p>
<p>As for the slowness, apart from the adware/spyware problem, the main obstacle to speed in most computers that most people buy is rather simple: RAM (memory). Standard computers come with far too little of it, and so data is swapping in and out of memory and the harddrive, and the larger the data files -- and the more tasks one is running simultaneously -- the slower the relative performance. Everybody should have a minimum of 1 GB of RAM these days. You end up paying a premium over the standard off-the-shelf configuration. But it's worth it in performance.</p>
<p>Thank you for the help.
While we were looking last Spring a rep. from a computer compancy was in the store and promoting a particular notebook computer with a drawpad(?), suggesting that tis could be used for notetaking for all classes.I just didn't think it would be suitable for anything other than a math class, remembering all the intensive notes taken in many classes. It just was not confortable to hold the pen, not the fine motor control. BUT WHAT DO I KNOW- all the young people in my family shooting me down.I am a dinosaur!!</p>
<p>Thanks for this thread since my (Dell) laptop is literally falling apart--the bracket holding the monitor portion to the keyboard portion literally snapped off on one side. We cannot figure out how this happened as I do not abuse my computer--just repetitive opening and closing, which is standard for a laptop, right? It is about two years old!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, most of the legal software I use will not run on Apples so I need a Windows OS laptop. So: recommendations? I was going to go mindlessly with Dell until I saw this. I want a lightweight, small one. I don't carry that much stuff on mine, mostly research and spreadsheet-type software and word processing. No games, etc.</p>
<p>Patient:</p>
<p>I just bought a Compaq Presario V2010 for about $1200. It's very lightweight as I use it for traveling. It has 512MB memory and 60GB hard drive; 14" screen; 24x DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive. Compaq was bought out by HP about a year ago.<br>
It has not had much use as yet, but it seems very easy to use. I got an external mouse.
Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Compaq has a particular problem with the covers cracking around the hinges. There are a number of threads on this topic on the web. Just Google 'cracked compaq'. Compaq also rapidly discontinues the plastic pieces require to repair the problem. Ebay is usually the only option for parts. I spent $85 for two pieces of plastic to repair my daughters Compaq Presario. Never again for Compaq around here.</p>
<p>Bandit TX:</p>
<p>Thanks for the warning! We'll investigate.</p>
<p>We bought a nice Gateway laptop for my daughter when she went off to college in 2002. By the end of her sophomore year two years later, it was hopelessly contaminated with spyware, viruses, and God knows what else. Crashing all the time, out of control popups, keyboard freezes, a real nightmare. Attempts to fix this included hours of labor by college computing assistants and computer-savvy boyfriends of our other two daughters, including installation of any number of Windows security updates, firewalls, spy- and adware eradicators, etc., topped off by mailing the whole thing back to Gateway for thorough system houscleaning and a new keyboard. It was still a mess, and by this time school had resumed and she needed a functioning computer!</p>
<p>We threw in the towel and got her a Mac iBook for the second half of her college career. It's rock solid and impervious to attack. She loves it.</p>
<p>Until Microsoft can fix Windows' many vulnerabilities, you buy a Windows laptop at your own risk.</p>
<p>To answer original question, she prefers studying in the library and carries the computer there in her backpack on a regular basis. Does not take notes on it in class, however. I don't think many people do. Very few of her classmates have desktops.</p>
<p>Another piece of advice is to buy the three-year extended warranty. Laptops break a lot more than desktops and you'll be glad you did.</p>
<p>Virtually all of us in the business world live on Windows day in and day out. While Windows has some vunerabilty, it is not that bad. Spybot and Adaware (both free) should be run every few weeks to clean up your browser. Turning off file sharing and few other holes will make intrusion much less likely, and a good anti-virus like Mcafee (with update subscription) will block most virus attacks. Most students will download anything that comes along, and many contain problems. Music sharing protocols open your machine to the world. Common sense will limit the problems. Sounds like you had hardware problems mixed in with software problems. That makes diagnosis more difficult.</p>
<p>That's excellent advice, veteranmom. There are some basic principles involved in the decision for students, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Rule #1: See what your college/university supports. If you can get a good price and service on a good computer, buy what they recommend (or sell).</p>
<p>Rule #1: Shop for reliability, and do as the previous poster said and buy the extended warranty. Many computers look "the same" when you buy them but perform and wear differently, and so you'll need good service and a good warranty. For my money, I would buy only two brands (but Rule #1 takes precedence for students): IBM Thinkpad for PC or Apple (IBook or Powerbook). (I've owned or used for extended periods Dells, Compaqs and Toshibas, as well as Thinkpads.) There may be a slight premium in price for IBM or MAC but it's worth it. It's false economy to save a couple of hundred bucks on an unreliable machine.</p>
<p>Rule #3: Add RAM. Don't be so enamored of "speed" of the processor that you ignore the need for memory to make the machine run better with multitasking. Minimum 1 GB. You can often get it a lot cheaper from another supplier (e.g., Crucial Computer) than if you get it from the original manufacturer, and it's easy to install.</p>
<p>Rule #4: Maintain your machine. This means using antivirus programs, spyware and adware scans, and backing up your datafiles on a regular basis. Your life is going to be a lot tougher in these respects if you're in the PC (MS Windows) based world than in the Mac world, unless and until Miscrosoft introduces its next version of Windows in about 2006. (But I wouldn't count on this solving all the major problems.)</p>
<p><<most students="" will="" download="" anything="" that="" comes="" along,="" and="" many="" contain="" problems.="" music="" sharing="" protocols="" open="" your="" machine="" to="" the="" world.="" common="" sense="" limit="" sounds="" like="" you="" had="" hardware="" problems="" mixed="" in="" with="" software="" makes="" diagnosis="" more="" difficult.="">></most></p>
<p>How right you are! My daughter has never been a computerhead and happily shared music files etc. with the whole wide world. And I remember endless troubles flowing from some evil little applet she saw and downloaded that gave her the daily weather forecast.</p>
<p>I think kids are more wary about these things today than they were even a year or two ago. My daughter would never do these things now.</p>
<p>A note to parents (and their college bound kids) on laptops: </p>
<p>About a month ago, I had dinner with some friends (we of the "Big Chill" generation) in Ann Arbor, MI. A couple of friends who were in town for a conference and who are college professors in Massachusetts noted that almost none of their students use laptops in class to take notes. Those of my friends affliated with the University of Michigan echoed the same sentiments. A few nights later some friends who teach in Oklahoma found this same pattern: Pen and paper in the classroom and laptops at Starbucks.</p>
<p>My nephew just started school at Michigan State in E. Lansing and he says the same thing. Plenty of laptops, but none in the classroom. You would think that after two hundred years of college note-taking that something better would come along and replace pen/quill and paper/parchment.</p>
<p>Like most parents, the vision of their kids using a laptop to replace pen and paper in the classroom is as much science fiction as the idea of the "paper-less office" was for my computer-addled generation. In reality, what does a laptop do for a typical student?</p>
<p>They can surf the Web for research or "fun". They get e-mail. They can play or burn music, movies and games. They can IM. And they can compose and edit papers for class unlike anything ever imagined by the likes of the old IBM Selectric typewriter. Do your kids know what a typewriter is? Have they ever seen one? What about a dot-matrix printer?</p>
<p>I'm guessing that, at most, a laptop is used for school-related activites around 33% of the time. Parents can only imagine about the rest...</p>
<p>A viable alternative to the laptop is a Tablet PC (a laptop with a center hinged screen that can fold over on itself to become a writing surface). Introduced two years ago, it still trying to establish itself in the consumer marketplace. While corporate acceptance is still very low, the education market is a growing niche for students who can take notes in class by using a stylus to write directly on the screen of their Tablet PC. Microsoft has two programs (MS Journal and OneNote) that recognizes handwriting and can organize notes in a variety of useful ways. </p>
<p>A good place to learn about Tablet PCs is: <a href="http://studenttabletpc.blogs.com/%5B/url%5D">http://studenttabletpc.blogs.com/</a> which is a web site built by students who have real world experience with Tablet PCs at school. Tablet PCs are still expensive relative to regular laptops, but their ability to allow students to take notes in class by using a stylus and writing on the screen (much like a PDA) extends the usefulness of a laptop for educational purposes... Think of a Tablet PC as an electronic version of paper and pen with your handwritten notes in a searchable format and with folders for each of your classes.</p>
<p>Laptops aren't used for taking notes, but they are used for writing papers, and for research -- most students have online access not only to standard recources like Google, but also various scientific journals via the university library system - so a tremendous amont of work can be done online. The laptop's advantage is portability - not because the student takes it with him to class, but because he takes it with him to work on his paper in the library when things are too noisy in the dorm, or when the roommate is entertaining a guest; the laptop comes home on Thanksgiving weekend and winter break on the bus, train or plane. With a good pair of headsets, it is also the personal entertainment system - turns out that college libraries have a good selection of DVD's. </p>
<p>I love my laptop. I'm sitting here typing on it 4 feet away from a more powerful, faster desktop... but the laptop is more comfy, because I can work with it on my bed or the sofa - or even multitask. (Love the wireless home network -- even my printer is wireless). I've got a Centrino-powered Toshiba Satellite - plenty powerful enough for my needs. My kids both have laptops of slightly older vintage. It's a standing joke about how many computers we have around the house, but basically the laptops win in the most-used department. </p>
<p>I don't think laptops will ever replace paper for taking notes in the classroom, but that's really not the point. The point is that a laptop is a much more convenient choice for someone who is likely to move around and travel a lot. </p>
<p>One thing I highly recommend that is kind of hard to get -- I seem to be the only one who uses these things, but they are wonderful: a zippered neoprene case for the laptop. The one I have is called a Body Glove Notebook Sleeve and costs about $15. These cases fit snugly on the laptop and provide good protection - with one of these you can easily toss the laptop into a larger backpack or suitcase while traveling. I also use mine as a lap pad when I am working, as it provides good insulation for me (the newer laptops do get hot). The case has an inner pouch large enough to hold a pad of paper or a file. I hate bulky cases, but the sleeve goes wherever the laptop goes. I think my laptop would feel naked without it.</p>
<p>Re: Term paper research</p>
<p>The real value of a Tablet PC which is a lightweight laptop with a digitizer screen that accepts handwriting is that you can take notes electronically. Your can "highlight" keywords in your notes and find all references to that word or phrase. You can import e-documents or handouts and use your stylus to "circle" important points in each note or document. Tablet PCs allow you to import Web pages, mark them up with your own annotations and link them to other notes or documents on your laptop. No more legal pads or index cards to shuffle through to find a fact to support your thesis... Don't remember where a particular fact or argument is located, do a search for a keyword or phrase. </p>
<p>Students that have Tablet PCs have found ways to literally dowload their textbooks onto their hard drives. While taking notes in class, they can jot down a keyword or phrase and by clicking on that word, have the Tablet PC search the downloaded textbook chapter and find any pertinent references. </p>
<p>On a Tablet PC website forum, an Art History student taking notes during her class was able through her wireless connection to find and download a painting the instructor had projected onto a screen in front of the class. She was able to mark up the downloaded painting with arrows and circles for all the elements that the instructor had lectured on... She didn't mention which Tablet PC she had. If she had the Toshiba M200/M205 which has a three microphone array built into the screen, she could have recorded the lecture and time stamped any keyword or phrase. Back at her dorm, she could click on any of the time stamped parts of her notes and the Toshiba would play back that portion of the lecture. My nephew finds this feature invaluable in his chem class as he captures the lecture and draws on his screen whatever the professor writes on the blackboard or on his transparencies. Ordinary notebooks can't do any of that. A great thing about Tablet PCs is that they are about the size of your typical legal pad (maybe a little thicker) and the screen can be set to look like a yellow or white pad!</p>