<p>Hey guys I just have a quick question here. I'm going to be a freshman in the upcoming fall and don't currently have a laptop. I was planning on using my loan/grant money to pay for a new one when I got it, but it doesn't look like I'm getting the money until about a month after school starts. So I was just wondering if there were maybe any ways I could manage a month without a laptop? Not necessarily for note taking because I can manage that for a month, but for assignments and writing papers. I was thinking about using the library computers, but is there a limit for how long you can be on a computer at once?</p>
<p>Depends on the school.</p>
<p>But, in general, if your university doesn’t require that you have a computer, then you can get by by using your university’s computer labs on campus.</p>
<p>If your library is open 24/7, that’d probably be a good alternative.</p>
<p>Just make sure to invest in a flash drive and back stuff up online, so you can access your papers and things from anywhere.</p>
<p>It’ll be annoying, but if that’s what you have to do, I think it’s doable.</p>
<p>I’ve never had a laptop and it’s not been a problem. There’s no limit at my school (and I would be surprised if at any school) about how long you can be on, but you can only lock the computer for 15 minutes at a time.</p>
<p>Also, my school allows us to save things onto our network space, so we can log in from any computer and have our files there without having to back them up anywhere else.</p>
<p>You probably will want to get a laptop eventually. But, I imagine most school don’t have any limitation on using a public library on campus.</p>
<p>On the other hand, check your student technology center on campus. We can check out laptops (even MacBooks) for two weeks.</p>
<p>It is totally possible to live about a month without a laptop, especially if you live on campus. I know our campus library is open til midnight most nights, and opens up kind of early in case midnight wasn’t long enough. I would also check your school too, because as MyHipie mentioned a lot of schools let you check out laptops, so I am sure you will be able to find resources like that at your school. I would definitely get a laptop as soon as possible though, because working from the schools computers can be quite annoying because you don’t always want to be stuck in the library!</p>
<p>It won’t be too difficult- all the colleges I’ve seen brag about their amazing computer facilities in the libraries, etc. You may not be able to do your work at 2 a.m., but you can get by.</p>
<p>Thanks guys for the input! I’ve looked it up on the library website and saw that laptop rentals are only for 1 day and you can only renew them out twice more. Not sure if that means in general or that one laptop in peticular. This would be almost impossible anyway considering they only have 5 macbook pros and 10 other laptops. With a school with about 30,000 people, it would be difficult. </p>
<p>Anyway… I guess I can use the libraries computers for about a month until I get the money to get a new laptop. I’ve toured once in November and the library had a bunch of different technology and equipment. This route doesn’t seem too bad, thinking about it now.</p>