The Ultimate Showdown

The Ultimate Showdown The Ultimate Showdown The Laptop vs. The Desktop So youre about to head off to college, and youre thinking to yourself, do I need a laptop or a desktop? I too faced the same question 3 years ago, and thus, Ill share my thoughts on whats hot and whats not. So Ill make the disclaimer now that Im a spoiled first grandchild and thus, I did go off to college with both a laptop and a desktop, but my first laptop was a tad old and without battery life, so it was essentially never used. DESKTOP: The Pros: Cheap You can build them yourself Easily replaceable parts Sometimes more powerful The Cons: Not mobile A lot of equipment to keep track of LAPTOP The Pros: Mobile Lightweight Can do most tasks of a desktop The Cons: A little more expensive than desktops Battery life attenuates with use Can be stolen sometimes (people arent all nice) Parts can be a nuisance to replace Now to my own personal thoughts Being at MIT, sometimes unless youre an AIM addict like me, you really dont need a computer. Athena has got most of the tools youll need for classes, but the hike in the snow can be a significant inspiration to getting your own computer. Using a desktop as my primary mode of computing my freshman year kept me in my room to do work which can be interpreted as both good and bad. The good: I was limited in my number of distractions. The bad: I wasnt distracted. (Sometimes this is a necessary evil.) After freshman year, I got a new laptop and it thus became my third arm. It goes with me everywhere, and I use it frequently. Even though battery life definitely drops with use, I have a 4 year warranty that covers my battery which is pretty helpful. Unfortunately, I cant really scrap the desktop. I use a lot of solid modeling/finite element software that is just computationally intensive, and its not the best idea to try to run that and ITunes and AIM all at the same time while watching seasons of 24 on DVD. So what is my suggestion? Get what you want. If your Google skills are wise and adept, you can find some pretty sweet deals on computers, desktops and laptops alike. If you cant find them, just email me and Ill give you the sites (I dont want my blog to become free advertisements for these companies). If youre an MIT student, look no further.