laptop... was it worth it

[Elephant16]

i bought a laptop for school (notes and such) and i find myself still using pencil + paper, im thinking my laptop was a waste of money.. maybe once we get out of math it will be usefull. Right now im in digital logic (going from decimal to bcd to octal to hex all that crazy @#%@)

btw whats a good note taking program? How does everyone else do it. For example when we have a diagram to draw i mean standard pencil and paper are far more effective than the laptop.

Im considering bringing it back to best buy and taking the 15%hit on the restocking fee and getting a desktop. Anyone have any insight to share on this.

laptop vs standard pen and paper.....

[Elephant16]

in a desktop the components i have in this laptop would be worth maybe 250 tops but i paid 1300 for the damn thing.
xp2500
radeon igp 320m graphics
512 ddr
40 gig hd

[serotone9]

imho, it's a waste if you're just going to use it as a desktop. and if you just need something to take notes on (or to transcribe notes), you can get a decent used laptop for a couple hundred bucks to do that.

[Nabby]

If you're not using it then yes it was a waste of money. That is all...

[Elephant16]

i mean do you think it will come in handy? im taking a 2 year program in IS what were covering is
digital logic
next is ms office
programing
networking
A+
technical writing
webpage design



everystudent has a desktop in front of them but i for the take home notes thats not very useful. In digital logic the and or nor type stuff i wasnt able to type out. BUT going into ms office/programing/networking would it become useful??? i could do a hella lot of upgrade on my pc and fix up my truck for 1300. I have very crappy hand writing and type way faster than i write so i dunno...

[Elephant16]

im at a cross roads really. I DO NOT have money to have wasted but yet i dont want to regret bringing the thing back. i live 1 hour from the school and its 4 hours a day. SO im always coming back home after class is over. I do like the idea of portability of a laptop. There are 20 students in the class im taking and about 3 have laptops. When i get into programing and networking for those of you that have taken classes like this would a laptop come in handy. especialy networking would it be more diagram based or text/written notes

i have until monday to decide

[serotone9]

laptops are extremely useful and convenient -- practically indispensible if you are away from home a lot and need access to your computer/a computer. i don't know how i lived without mine.

i guess the question is do you really need a $1300 laptop to do the kinds of tasks you described? imo, the answer is probably no. of course only you can be the final judge of how much power you'll need, but it seems to me there is room to compromise. $600-800 would probably get more than enough laptop for what you described, $400-600 if you found a really good deal. the point is you can have the best of both worlds and not break the budget if you just buy for what you need. and if you do bring the new one back, just try to get out of that restocking fee.

[coolqf]

When all those vacations come along and i leave school, my laptop gets to come with me. I plan on going abroad, my laptop goes with me. When i go to the library, my laptop goes with me.
I want to watch a movie with my girl, we just use it in bed.
I'm taking a bus somewhere, my laptop goes with me (saves me the boredom of those 4hr rides to NYC).
Next semester i will be interning for a direct at the US health department... She requires me to do work on a laptop. No laptop would have meant no internship.

I am highly mobile... for the summer, I will be going home for 2-3wks and to Ecuador for another 2wks, then i return back to school to take classes. Then go abroad in July and finish November. I go home for a month then return to school and I have to present a presentation to several important organizations... In mid December (this will only be 4 days). Then back home until early Jan (when school begins again).

See all those trips? If a desktop was to go with me it would have cost a lot of shipping.

I recommend you try and understand your plans more while in college, decide when you will start to need a lappy and make the buy then (just remember to have the money).

[Terry]

Note-taking on paper helps you remember stuff.
It's better for the brain.

I got my laptop for school, but never intended it for notetaking.
Reason? Simply because I know paper/pen is the simplist and most effective way.

I bought it so I can travel a lot.

People gets the misconception that you need a laptop to take notes in university (or even highschool for that matter).

I have ONE person in the whole engineering faculty using a laptop to copy notes. And 80% of the time, he's just sitting there because stuff can't be taken down in computer.

Everytime I feel bad for him...
Lugging around an expensive piece of technology to do the job that can be done better with a pen and paper.
*shakes head*

Don't fall into the dark side!

[Findels]

I take notes exclusively on a laptop (as do most people in law school) and find it far superior to a pen and paper. However, I would NOT use it if I were to take a math class (luckily I don't see that in my future), etc. Even my antitrust class was a little dicey as it involved many graphs.

[Elephant16]

i have been using it alot more lately. We are in office now. Only problem is i could have done without a laptop becouse i just orderd a jump drive which would have allowed me to swap my office files from my home pc to my school pc. Right now when i get a office assignment i type it on my notebook and save it on a cdrw. Reason becouse my school pc has become a #$@$# and decides to shut down everytime i try to save something on their network. (they are fixing it) but i still dont trust it. When i get the jump drive itll be alot easier to swap the files from my laptop to my home pc to my school pc. The laptop still gets more use than my desktop simply due to the fact i can type this stuff anywhere rather it be on my roof or in my room. Its become a 50/50 sort of thing. but at this point i could have lived without it. but its not a total waste of money it may become more usefui as we get into programing. Right now all the math is behind me so its all going to be typed notes.