What will i need at uni

chl77

I am doing an access to higher education and intend to start university september 2010. I need a laptop to do course work and stuff on and want to buy one that will last through college and uni. Will i need a laptop or netbook and will just a low 1Gb memory do. I am not sure, i don't want to spend lots of money on a dear one if i don't need to. It will only be for college work as we have a PC at home.

LISSILEIGH

just wondering, is a laptop necessary? im starting myself and just wondered is it vital?

sorry to bump ur post!

kymbogs

Hiya,
I purchased a netbook myself yesterday andasked one of my techy colleagues at a well known high street retailerof computers...if it could be upgraded to 2gb. He said yes but there's no point, which confirmed my suspicions. If all you are doing is going online and typing things up in word etc then 1gb is going to be fine. Whether you want a little netbook or a larger laptop is entirely a matter of preference.

Oldernotwiser

LISSILEIGH wrote: »

just wondering, is a laptop necessary? im starting myself and just wondered is it vital?

sorry to bump ur post!

Not everybody will have one - do you have a PC at home?

sweetstudent

Hi, yes you will need a laptop, or a desktop depending on what degree you are doing? As i did a Business Management Degree i had to do a lot of presentations and using PowerPoint was sometimes very heavy on ram. If you can try and get a Intel MacBook, or a second hand one as a Mac will serve you much better. Also when buying books, always try and use amazon marketplace - (unless amazon is cheaper overall as amazon marketplace DOES not have free p+p.

Are you staying in Halls - if so you may need your own pillows as the ones the in the halls were hard a rocks and one night - was one too many on my poor head!

If you have any more questions fire away and i'l do my best to answer them!

p.s - i wish i was going back to uni for my UG degree again!

ZiggyStardust_2

If you do get a new laptop and it doesn't come with a Word package, Microsoft do good student discounts if you have a valid uni email address

Humphrey10

pc or laptop
if in halls: duvet, pillow, the ones there will not be good!

Oldernotwiser

Humphrey10 wrote: »

pc or laptop
if in halls: duvet, pillow, the ones there will not be good!

The OP is a lone parent so this won't be necessary!

dieselhead

If you already have a PC at home I would say its not necessary. In my experience very few people actually take them into uni with them, instead taking a memory stick with their work on and using the library computers. As far as powerpoint presentations go, if you do have any presentations, at the university I was at all rooms had a computer already attached the the projector and again you just turned up with a memory stick.

Humphrey10

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

The OP is a lone parent so this won't be necessary!

Ah ok!
Then you are living at home (with the PC) OP?
Then you don't need a laptop either, you just need access to your own PC or laptop during term time, you don't need one to physically take on campus during the day with you.

silaslang

If living at home get the lowest spec laptop, if in halls etc go for a better one as you a more likely to be using your laptop to listen to music, whilst online, whilst on youtube,facebook etc, watching iplayer and whilst writing essays. Id go for 2 gig as Vista might be a tad slow on 1 gig.

Dont make the mistake I did buying all the books on the reading list, they arent needed as you will only be reading one chapter etc. Use the library and save hundreds of pounds, also google books is gettign very good.

If you cant source cheap MS Office products then use the free StarOffice products.