Which is best for students - laptop or desktop?

oldhaggis

Son hopes to study physics and business at Uni. He wants a laptop but the old man insists a desktop would be best.
Grateful for current students’ experiences. Will I land up having to fork out for both in the end?

Schneaky

It depends on usage, space and budget. If he just wants to work on it in his room (and not in the library, outside etc.) and he will have enough space in his room (i.e. a decent sized desk), it will be cheaper to get a desktop. You get more for your money as a desktop, and is more easily upgradeable. Also if he wants more power for gaming, video editing etc. then a desktop would be more cost effective.
However, the prices of laptops are coming down, that he can get a reasonable laptop for between £300 and £500, and he can easily bring it home then when he comes to visit!! He can use OpenOffice as an excellent free alternative to MS Office, and there are plenty of other free software alternatives to the paid for ones.

Hope this helps.

BigBouncyBall

almost certainly go for a laptop. Whilst there are computers in the library/around on campus they always get busy at the most crucial times. Having a laptop with a wireless card will mean your son can access a computer and the internet any time he wants to.

Also worth considering, does he really need one? I've done Maths and whilst i did need one for various things in year 2/3 i'm sure i could have managed without one for the first year and certainly the first semester.

ormus

go for the desktop if its possible to keep it in one place. best for cheapness and security. laptops are a thieves paradise.
laptops also seem to have more problems than desktops. and are always more expensive to fix. sometimes a huge amount more!
my daughter is at bolton uni. they insist that she has a laptop! its a requirement of her course.
i just cant see it myself??? she is not even doing an IT type course!

irnbru_2

Schneaky wrote: »

It depends on usage, space and budget.

Agreed.

If you buy a laptop:

• buy something rugged
• invest in a warranty that lasts the length of the degree.
• make sure their documents are backed up onto their University account.

Idiophreak

It depends on what he's going to use it for..if he wants any games and/or number-crunching (I can see any simulation stuff for physics being pretty mean), it's got to be a desktop unless you're happy to throw money at the problem.

If it's just going to be word processing etc, get a lappy. Easier to take back and forth (in hols as much as term time), take up less space in tiny student rooms, just make life easier.

j1mgg

Being an ex student i would definetely suggest a laptop just for the space aspect and portability. As a previous person has mentioned there is plenty of times when you are on campus and have a spare hour or two and all pcs are taken and it is not worth travelling back to accommodation.

Depending on how much you or he can afford dell do some amazing laptops for £400 - £500 pound which will deal with 99% if not 100% percent of the things he wants to do. As for the aspect of gaming, i think it is a non starter as i used my console all of the time although we lived in students flats.

Definetly ask him what he intends to use it for and also they are some really good insurance companies that cover students contents and include laptops when not in the house.

Just another thing i personally would get a laptop with xp on it.

smaJ

hey,

im a current uni student. I have a laptop, as do all of my friends (OK one or two run botha desktop and a laptop, but I dont know anyone running just a desktop).

there handy for studying arround a Mates digs, taking to the libary, lectures etc. There also a damn sight easier to move when you go home and need to do a project etc.

further to this most student rooms are very small (even the big ones). when you add up the desktop, printer, scanner(??) cable box, camera, chargers, beer etc the desk seems very small!!

also most Uni's either have, or are rolling out Wi-fi accross the campus. So you can write your projects in the sun (or indeed anywhere else).

Whilst laptops are getting cheaper they still are normally inferior spec machines when you compare price-for-price with a desktop. However you can get one for £300-400 that will do all the unistuff you will ever need. If you want to get a high power machine you are best buying a seperate dedicated desktop.

James

Idiophreak

Just to further my previous comment, I did have (only) a desktop PC whilst at uni and tbh I don't think I ever suffered for it.

There was never a time I couldn't get on a PC at the uni (I was in CS, so had dedicated labs, but never failed to find a PC in the library anyway...) and always backed my work up through uni email, so never really missed not having a laptop.

With LCDs so much cheaper now, the transport and desk issues won't be so bad as when I had to suffer with my CRT, which was my main struggle...

Finally, my techie work would've taken twice as long on a laptop the same cost as my desktop...more beer time