I just bought a desktop computer. I’m an average college student.
I just don’t need to bring my computer with me places and I like the feel of a desktop keyboard and mouse. Plus, the hardware is better.
But people are saying like “oh, you got a desktop!” Apparently, buying a computer that is thicker than an inch nowadays is something pretty remarkable.
Has anyone else had this happen to them?
I’m sorry but I agree with your friends. I have a monitor at work and at home as well as keyboard and mouse, but our entire workplace is laptop-based now (computational startup company). Any real computing is done on our server cluster or on the cloud. I am going to bet that your desktop is the last one you will ever buy.
Back in 1999, when I got my P3 for free, I was chided for not getting a laptop.
The only reason I have desktops now is because I got them cheap (or even free) If I have a choice, I will get a laptop. I may not bring it with me very often, but that ability is worth more than the hit in performance and/or price difference.
No, I’m sorry. Desktops are superior. As a college student like the OP, I felt obligated to do the laptop thing. Ya know where I did it? On top of my desk. I’m now getting a desktop and expecting to feel just as out of vogue as I do when I have to look up my own cell number.
I’m an old fart PhD student at the age of 32. I am still finishing classwork. I’ve been out of school for several years as you can probably guess, so one of the things I have just not gotten used to is laptops in class.
I hate it. I know it’s what kids do these days, but I really can’t stand it. I am going to be teaching soon enough, and I will need get over this since it is more or less out of my control.
Even if you’re the worst student in the world, good on you for not sitting behind a computer in class.
I always do the opposite when I find out someone bought a laptop when they don’t actually need the mobility.
And then they come to me when they can’t run their games and video editing software on it and ask if there’s anything I can do to speed it up. :rolleyes:
“Oh, but I like resting in bed with it!”
Then they ask me why the laptop keeps suddenly turning off and why it gets so hot.
Ah well.
Edit: Actually it’s more often like this; “Oh, you bought a netbook.”
I fail to see why you would be praising someone else for something you admit is your own emotional foible.
I had a laptop in college, and it was useful because sometimes I’d go to the library. Plus whenever I’d go home, I could just tote it back in the backpack. Made packing up to go home or back to school in the summer a lot easier. But if you’re not dealing with those issues, more power to you. They seem to last longer–my parents’ desktop has lasted forever. Ten years now, I think. I have a laptop now, and it pretty much sits on the table.
Never usually brought the laptop to class, but I’m not sure why that’s considered annoying. A lot of people around me did it.
I was going to disagree with you, but it you’re talking netbooks, then I agree. A netbook is designed to be a low end system.
Getting a notebook for gaming makes sense as long as you aren’t trying to be leading edge, and got a good discrete graphics card in it. As long as you can beat a current gen console, you’ll be good for a while. I always find that, by the time I would need to upgrade components, I usually need to upgrade the rest of the computer as well.
Think it through. You’ll get it eventually.
What’s wrong with bringing a laptop to class? It’s a far superior way of taking notes and organizing course materials.
The first day I brought my laptop into a particular class this semester, the teacher said in her passive-aggressive control-freak way “What are we doing on the laptops?”
I didn’t feel the need to respond (nor the other 2-3 students who had them). Then she asked me specifically by name what I was doing on it, and I said “taking notes”. I thought it incredibly rude and really wanted to say “none of your god-damn business”. It’s college, I’m paying for it (yes I’m paying for it, not my parents), and as long as I’m doing the required coursework (which of course I am) it’s really not a teacher’s concern how I do it or if I even come to class at all.
“Gaming laptop” is something we consider an oxymoron around the shop. Notebooks with discrete video cards are not common and tend to be very expensive. Even then the chipsets are inferior in performance to similar branded desktop cards because of the restrictions in power and cooling capacity of a laptop.
Dollar for dollar, desktops are 2-3 times as powerful as laptop/notebook PC’s.
Desktop PC’s are only constrained by how much power they can suck out of the wall without melting something. Cooling only limited by how much air you can blast through the case.
The CPU’s in almost all notebooks are different models designed for lower power consumption and cooler running. A Core2Duo 2.0Ghz desktop chip and a Core2Duo Mobile 2.0Ghz chip are not equivalent.
Laptop hard drives also run at lower speeds reducing data transfer performance.
Just as casual observer of various notebook PC sales and deals available in stores and on the web, in the last year or so discrete notebook video is becoming a lot more common feature on units in the $ 800 and up price range than it used to be.
i recently bought an iMac (not a MacBook!) to replace my aging laptop. i realized that I wanted more screen real estate and I just didn’t need the mobility. I have two work laptops that I’m obligated to take with me when I’m traveling; why on earth would I want a third? Nevertheless, i still get people that can’t understand why i didn’t get another laptop. Why spend the extra money when you’re not going to take it anywhere?
Desktops are not mobile but are better in every singe other way. They are bigger, faster, shaped more conveniently, more expandable, have more ports, have larger disk drives, have nicer keyboards and monitors and mice, are more reliable, run cooler, and even after all that they are cheaper. Is there anything at all that is better about using a laptop other than its mobility?
I’d think the trend would be that most people would have multiple computers. I think I have four desktops and three laptops that are ready to go at the moment. They come along too often not to accumulate, and it’s much more convenient to have computers specifically suited for some kinds of use.
I think it’s irritating both as a teacher and as a student. As a student, especially in a small class setting, I personally find it disruptive.
It’s even more disconcerting as a teacher. If I am in front of a class, I rely on eye contact and body language to adapt my communication to students. When too many people are busy typing and looking at their monitors, I just don’t get the signals I need. If I lose them and they are looking at me, I can usually tell. If I lose them and they just alt-tab to Facebook, the class ends up being worse for everyone.
I have spent years in a large financial services firm. It is considered very poor form to be on your laptop or your blackberry during even an internal business meeting, let alone a meeting with a client. To an extent I have internalized this norm, but I also think there are really good reasons for it.
That is incredibly irritating and totally unreasonable. I would understand anyone’s objection to this sort of thing.
It’s rude and disruptive. At least in chemistry, you can’t possibly take good notes on a laptop. Half of the board is pictures, drawings and charts. As a TA, I saw kids with laptops in lecture. I never saw a single one being productive. They were all surfing, playing sudoku and the like.
I’m all for laptops. There are few things I need to do that I can’t do on a laptop, but laptops are counter productive in lectures. I think your fooling yourself if you think you can take effective notes on one. And yes, that upright screen and clickety clack of keyboards is distracting to other students.
Desktop lovers represent!
Now that I’ve started building my own, I’m more attached to my desktop than ever.
I’ve never liked laptops. They are too restrictive, and I hate the way their keyboards feel.
But I never go anywhere, so have rarely had a need to use them anyway.
mrAru and I have his n hers liquid cooled gaming desktops, and his n hers 17" screen laptops for when we travel, and an asus aspire for quick googles on the road at rest areas or whatnot for maps, locating places to eat, checking emails and so forth.
Well, I will play EVE or WOW in bed on my laptop if I am not having a good body day, but typically I use the laptop for teamspeak with my corp, or skype with friends while gaming and actually playing on the desktop =)