Do you really need a laptop for University?

Question

Hi i'm attending a University in about a week for computer science co-op and was wondering if i needed a laptop.

I was going for a Dell XPS however some have been telling me most laptops are very hard to carry from class to class since you have so many books already. Also that you dont need to write too much and when you do you can do it by hand. I even play games a bit which doesn't help because laptops gets heated very fast and is hard on the batteries... if i need computer it's probably provided for you at the school i'm thinking...

please need opinion and suggestions on whether or not if i need a laptop for University.

Answer 1

I think you are going to need a laptop, i'm going into engineering and i don't think taking math notes on a laptop is giong to be practical. 2^4 4/2 just too hard to read. you are going to need to take notes in science.

I think a laptop would help, most professors have their lectures on powerpoint, if your typing speed is like 18 words per minute, then get a laptop.

Other cons if you don't get a laptop.

1. you are stuck at your own desktop at dorm or home

2. you have to queue up for computers at the school library.

3. doing a paper at university then typing it out again on desktop is very time consuming......

About the laptop getting heated, i suggest you get a gateway 6874h, i went to staples and it is the coolest laptop at $800, the only other ones matching it were the higher end hps, sonys and dell inspirons. it has a radeon 2600, which is a 2nd class video card and it has powerplay, which saves energy. You are not going to play games on any inspiron, the video card is complete c**p.

Right now, the dell xps 1330 is on sale, $100 less, only $899.

Anyways, get a laptop, and you're probably a young guy, 3kg or 6 pounds isn't gonna add much to your backpack weight anyways.... (we kids in singapore at grade 4 and up carry backpacks that would rival a full pack from the american army)