Re: OT: Laptop for College Bound Student?
On 13/06/2008, Paul Johnson <baloo@ursine.ca> wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-06-12 at 15:35 -0500, Ron Johnson wrote:
> > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> > Hash: SHA1
> >
> > On 06/12/08 13:23, Paul Johnson wrote:
> > > On Thu, 2008-06-12 at 13:21 -0500, Ron Johnson wrote:
> > >> On 06/12/08 13:09, Paul Johnson wrote:
> > >>> About a year ago, though I had the misfortune of managing a sizable
> > >>> network of Apples about 10 years ago for a few years.
> > >
> > >> That makes no temporal sense.
> > >
> > > Sure it does. 9, 10, and 11 years ago are all about 10 years ago.
> >
> > "About a year ago" <<<<<<<<,
> > "10 years ago"
> > "for a few years".
>
>
> Err, OK. s/About a year ago, though// I can't hold a conversation and
> type at the same time it seems.
>
Hey,
Sure you can, the original question was cut from the comments.
It was "When was the last time you tried to use a Mac?"
>From which the response was fitting. i.e. last used a year ago, though
had heavy use about a decade ago.
Back on topic though:
I am a uni student, live off campus and have a laptop.
Talking to others at uni the consensus is small and light with
decent battery life is what is needed. for example I have a 12.1"
toshiba 3500 tablet (From ~2003). People living on campus don't seem
so worried about size/weight/battery as they are only minutes away
from home at worst.
15" laptops have typically been the price sweet point but with the
eepc and similar being released there is finally a way to have a
computer that can be thrown in a bag with books that doesn't cost
~$2K.
The thing to remember is you are buying a tool for a job. If you get
a cutting edge desktop replacement type that is able to play the
latest and greatest games then chances are that you are wasting both
your money and his time ( I have watched as people play WoW, Eve, etc
in lectures ). The job at hand involves:
- reading lecture notes - usually either office .doc .ppt or .pdf
- typing notes and assignments - office/oo.org or specialist apps
(e.g. matlab). The specialist apps are installed on the campus
computer lab computers so it is not _crucial_ to be able to run them
on your own comp.
- watching/listening to recorded lectures - e.g. mit's .flv streams
- connecting to the campus wireless/wired network - my campus uses
cisco vpn for wireless. i.e. all access points are open but the only
page you can reach without any authentication is the help page to
download the client. (available for windows and linux)
The list can continue, but I doubt there will be anything on the list
that requires more than the specs of an eepc or several year old
laptop. (though buying new grants you warranty and support). If you
really want to spent more money offer to buy his textbooks :)
cheers,
Owen.
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