<p>I'm going to university this September and I need some sort of computer. It going to be mostly for typing out papers, downloading music, and watching the occasional movie.</p>
<p>I'm thinking of buying a new desktop as well as a new laptop. Do you guys think this is a wise choice? By the way...what are a few must need requirements for laptops and desktops these days. I'm so bad with tech, lol...thanks everyone!!!</p>
<p>If you are just going to be doing what you said, there is no need to buy both. The only reason I can really see for buying both is 1) you like to waste money, or 2) you are a gamer. </p>
<p>The requirements for systems hasn't really changed in the last few years (or at least nothing compared to the rate at which things were going about 5-7 years ago). As long as your processor is above 1.6Ghz (for a Pentium M anyway, which is what your laptop will probably have if you care any about battery life), and 512mb of RAM (which can be added later if needed), you should be fine. You really don't even need that just to play movies and take notes, but I'm assuming money isn't an issue for you.</p>
<p>for laptop... if you want mobile... centrino 1.6 or above... make sure it has 2mb cache... banias suck... 40 gb hd... 512 ram... windows xp is a must for networks...</p>
<p>if not mobile then go for p4 or amd athlon... p4 has to be 3.0 or above... amd has to be 3200+ at least 1mb cache for these... 40 gh hd... 512 ram... again windows xp... it doesn't hurt to have 1 gb of ram if ur using it long term*</p>
<p>desktop... either p4 3.4 with h/t or amd athlon 3400+ i'd go with 60 gb hd... 1gb ram for long term... and once again the ever important windows xp...!</p>
<p>hope i helped...</p>
<p>Get a Mac. I can't wait to get my Powerbook G4 and rid myself of evil Windows...</p>
<p>The 15" with a 1.48 GHz processor should do just fine for college</p>
<p>I'd suggest against 1 gig of ram. (i use 256 for music production and have had no problems!). 512 is certainly fine for the tasks you describe.</p>
<p>I think the above posters are being a little too strict on the requirements of your computer. If you'll be happy with a machine that can type papers, surf the web, play music, and watch movies, you won't need anything fancy. (Of course you may want something nicer if you want longetivity and expandability.) I don't really see why you want both a desktop and a notebook -- either would be fine by itself.</p>
<p>Either a PC or a Mac would do just fine, but I only have experience with PCs so I'll talk about those. In a new computer, just about any processor will do fine. A fast CPU is not a requirement for the things you need a computer to do. If you want a notebook, Pentium M processors are the most efficient. I'd recommend at least 512MB of RAM (any kind is fine) You may want to get a large hard-drive if you want to store music -- they're very cheap nowadays. If you aren't interested in burning CDs, get just a DVD-ROM drive. If you want to burn CDs you could get either a DVD / CD-RW combo or two drives.. a DVD-ROM and CD-RW separately. Make sure you have an Ethernet card and/or a wireless network card (check with your college to see what they support). For a PC, get Windows XP. The "Home" version is fine and the "Professional" version has some more options.</p>
<p>If you get a laptop make sure it has wireless internet installed in it (pref. b/g). And by all means get Windows XP PROFESSIONAL. The "Home" version is a piece of junk. It only costs a little more.</p>
<p>There's not a whole lot of difference between home and professional. Def not a "piece of junk". I agree completely with the above post by chalk.</p>
<p>There are some significant differences.</p>
<p>there is def a difference... xp is config'd for networks... i.e. t1 like at most colleges and home has nothing for firewalls or anything... it'd be ridiculous to bring windows xp home to college dorms</p>
<p>yeah, but nothing that would make 'home' a piece of junk! i mean come on, a regular college user wouldn't need multiprocessor, hotswap harddrives or iis support! same for group policy, roaming profiles, advanced networking features and all that crap.</p>
<p>other than remote desktop and encrypting file system, there's not a lot you will get in Pro for the money you pay.</p>
<p>then again, the above two are not all that important for regular day to day work (password protection is enough and remote desktop is mostly turned off for security threats).</p>
<p>so...... home version is enough for regular use by an individual. imho.</p>
<p>cujoe, home edition does have builtin firewall.</p>
<p>btw yeah i forgot, home version can't login to domains..... only workgroups :o but that's</a> solved easily, afaik.</p>
<p>Sure it's enough. But why drive a Kia Spectra when you can drive a McLaren F1?</p>
<p>lol okay if you think that way then I guess it's fine :p</p>
<p>
[quote]
The only reason I can really see for buying both is 1) you like to waste money, or 2) you are a gamer.
[/quote]
puhlease. i'd love to have the power of a desktop and the portability of a laptop, and it would be wonderful to have two screens when i want to work frantically on completely different stuff.</p>
<p>why not just buy a pda with a keyboard and wireless internet( which is a lot cheaper) and a desktop?</p>
<p>pda's no funn :p</p>
<p>To add to this thread's question... what about a tablet PC? Why doesn't anyone use those? They sound like they'd be great for taking notes, especially in a physics class or something with both diagrams and writing. I know the price isn't THAT much worse... unless the stylus writing is really messy or something... Anyone wise?</p>
<p>AND for you, cortex... <a href="http://www.newegg.com%5B/url%5D">www.newegg.com</a> is a really good site for looking up computers and seeing what people think about them. You can order one there too... but I'd reccomend getting your hands on it before buying it.</p>
<p>Price .</p>
<p>Thanks for mentioning the Tablet PC. They have been out for over two years and not many people are familiar with them. For students, the Tablet PC is really great for general laptop functions and for pen-based note taking in class.</p>
<p>Price has been a problem with Tablet PC acceptance, but this is in the process of changing. Toshiba has just released two new Tablet PCs (R10/R15). Depending on how they are configured, the cost ranges from $1300-1600. Second generation Tablets usually start around $1900. These new Tablets have 14 screens that when swiveled around to lie flat against the keyboard are the same dimensions of a standard legal pad.</p>
<p>Averatec has a Tablet PC that sells for $999 at CompUSA. Some people have problems with them while others seem pleased with them. They do get hot because of the processor. Do some research on this, if youre interested </p>
<p>If cost is still an obstacle, you look on Ebay for a lot of bargains. While Tablets are not gaming machines, they offer a lot more practicality than laptops alone.</p>
<p>For more information, check out the links below:</p>
<p><a href="http://studenttabletpc.blogs.com/%5B/url%5D">http://studenttabletpc.blogs.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.gobinder.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.gobinder.com/</a>
<a href="http://www.xthink.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.xthink.com/</a></p>
<p>The Student Tablet PC site is quite impressive about how Tablets are being used in high schools and colleges. Lots of great information about classroom note taking and research work.</p>
<p>TabletPCBuzz is one of the original Tablet sites and has forums devoted to the different Tablet PC Companies. The sites General Tablet PC forum has over 30 pages of comments from students and how Tablets have helped them in their studies. Search that forum with student as a keyword.</p>
<p>Gobinder is a software program designed in part for Tablets. You could use it on a regular laptop, but it wouldnt be as much fun. You create separate notebooks for each of your classes on your Tablet. Take notes via your pen-input (writing on the screen).</p>
<p>For math and science students, check out Xthink. They have a program called Mathjournal. You write your equation/math problem on the Tablet PC screen and the program gives you the answer. </p>
<p>There are more sites and programs out there for Tablets. These sites are good places to start learning about what Tablets can do your education.</p>