Back To School Technology Buyer's Guide
by Zach Throckmorton on August 4, 2011 8:55 PM ESTIntroduction
College students have long played an integral role in the development and adoption of new technology. Students, along with businesspeople, comprised the bulk of the portable electric typewriter market in the 1960s and 1970s. In the mid-1970s, two students—Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer—met while living in the same hall at Harvard, and went on to play critical roles in the development of the personal computer in the 1980s and 1990s. Universities were among the first institutions to support the growth of the internet, and for a time provided high-speed internet access to more people than did corporations. In the late 1990s, a Northeastern University student named Shawn Fanning and his uncle developed Napster, one of the first popular peer-to-peer file sharing programs. Again at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg and fellow computer science majors developed Facebook, which was initially only available to college students, but now is the second most-trafficked website, after Google. Google itself was born through the collaboration of two Stanford University graduate students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Icons of file sharing, social media, and internet search: all hatched on college campuses
Today’s college students are universally expected to be computer-literate. Every college campus in America has computing centers with anywhere from a handful to hundreds of networked systems available for student use. Most campuses provide extensive wireless internet access to students. Technophile professors like my own graduate adviser at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, John Hawks, often communicate with students via blogs, Twitter, and even Facebook. Many assignments are expected to be submitted electronically, and professors increasingly incorporate novel forms of coursework and evaluation like videos uploaded to YouTube and Wikis produced by students. That is, it is impossible for today’s college student to be successful without extensive utilization of computing technology. Of course, millions of Americans who take online distance learning courses are entirely dependent upon access to a personal computer and the internet.
What kind of technology does a college student need to buy?
To be blunt, the answer is not much. Most colleges and universities provide more than sufficient access to technology, such that some students never buy a personal computer, let alone a printer, scanner, or other gadgets. I wouldn’t recommend this—it’s inconvenient and restricts your schedule. School-provided hardware is also sometimes aggravatingly outdated, and campus networks do not always work. But college is already incredibly expensive, and it’s hard to reduce your technology budget to less than zero dollars. You have to be very familiar with your school’s technology resources before attempting to get your degree without your own PC. This is a less-than-ideal solution, and spending some money on personal technology can make a student’s life much, much easier.
College is not just about learning Latin declensions, radioisotope decay chains, and great works of fiction. It’s also about learning how to live more or less independently. Our lives are steeped in technology, and college students are just like anyone else with a job—there is no one correct technology solution. The most basic computing solution for a college student entails one personal computer, be it a desktop or a laptop.
A desktop or a laptop?
In the context of college, desktops and laptops both have their advantages and disadvantages. Desktops almost always are more powerful for their cost, are easier to modify as needs change as well as repair, and are harder to steal or lose. Desktops also take up more space, and aren’t portable. A laptop's most notable advantage is portability—you can take it anywhere to get work done. They also occupy less volume, a major consideration for cramped dorm rooms. But they’re also a prime target for theft on campuses, and are more expensive considering their specifications.
Since the rise of netbooks and the ever-decreasing cost of desktops, I’ve come to think that asking whether to use a desktop or a laptop is asking the wrong question. Netbooks are frequently less than $300, with some as inexpensive as $200 (or even less on sale or clearance). A basic desktop can be built or bought for $500 or less, monitor included. Rather than deciding to buy a laptop or desktop, I think it’s wiser to ask yourself what your computing needs are. Most college students need to be able to browse the web and use office applications to type papers and make presentations. These tasks do not require the latest and greatest (and therefore most expensive) tech. If you do not need more than basic computing capabilities, I’ve found that having a less expensive netbook or budget laptop and a standard office computer is a far better solution than having one powerful laptop or potent desktop.
Another important consideration is how long you expect your computer(s) to last. It is perfectly reasonable to expect today’s budget gear to be able to passably browse the web and type papers for the next four years. It is not reasonable to expect today’s budget gear to be able to play 2015’s games and run Adobe Creative Suite 6 or 7 very well. It is difficult to predict what you’ll need for the next four years, but speaking with older students in your program and your professors can give you a good idea of what you’ll be doing as a senior. For those looking to buy a new PC—laptop or desktop—the next few pages cover DIY and off-the-shelf (retail) desktop computers and monitors as well as netbooks and laptops.
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Rick83 - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
I would encourage a decent desktop, because a amount of working area and a full-size keyboard and mouse are not replaceable, and portability really is overvalued. I had exactly one laptop during my university days, it sucked and I never needed nor used it.Now, my 5 inch Tablet, that I use a lot, and my desktop, I wouldn't give that away for anything.
Really, in the end it's a matter of analyzing needs and wants.
A laptop usually just serves to distract you during lectures, a desktop is a trusty machine you can return to, and get serious work done, without being limited to those ridiculous 15" screens.
Currently have a work laptop - and guess what: I'm hating every minute of it, because the screen is crap, I have to put it on a cardboard box to get the screen to the proper ergonomic height, I can only plug in one external screen without a docking station, it's slow, soooo slow, because there's no SSD in it (and we're forced to run XP, which has horrible caching settings), it's loud when used hard, gets hot, and I have to kensington-lock it to the table. A proper silent tower and a set of screens is something that I return home to, full of anticipation.
So, don't get a laptop, because you think it's what's best. For the same money, you can get so much more usability out of a desktop, it's insane. And the screens, for gods sake, the screens.
Taft12 - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
Someone needs to show you and your luddite buddy Chinoman the VGA port on you laptop that lets you use the big display that stays parked in your room (a USB port for the full-sized keyboard and mouse too!)AssBall - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
That's funny, I remember having 2 CRTs, 2 full and one micro atx cases, and a 32 inch CRT TV with a stereo, playstation, n64 hooked up to it all fit fine in our 8x12 room (no we didn't throw out the beds lol).kepler - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
Get a Windows laptop, half the price and it will work with anything you need it. 80% of Mac users end up having to install Windows to use SAS and other software anyway, let alone gaming consoles.Lots of Universities have 802.1x and have port security enabled for ethernet, which Apple doesn't allow connection sharing with, and consoles (which are undeniably popular) don't support.
Not to mention Apple has crap 802.1x profile managment in 10.6, and actually made it worse in 10.7.
Don't get things based on what you think other students will have, that is the absolutely retarded idea.
Just for some insight:
http://woody.typepad.com/files/windows_pc_vs_apple...
prdola0 - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
It's obviously an Apple troll or a paid PR person. I live in Europe and have recently finished Bsc. and desktops are quite common. Also, I don't recall ever seeing a Mac of any kind - at least not where I lived (there were mostly electronics and computer sciences people).Zoomer - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
Macs are rather popular in the computer science dept, but in engineering not so much. Many engineering apps don't run well on macs, and virtual machines may not work either as hardware interfacing is sometimes required.I had a friend go thinkpad + linux after his macbook pro's battery failed the second time.
steven75 - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
Funny that you submit a troll picture as "insight."Ratman6161 - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
Points:1. If your usage is primarily web based research, email, and typing term papers, the entire Mac Vs. PC Vs Linux flame ware is completely irrelevant. It does not matter what computer you buy, they will all do those tasks just fine.
2. It is about finding something that fits your needs and not what "75% of your classmates are using" The majority of your classmates will fit into point #1. But if you are an engineering or science type that needs to do modeling and simulation, mathematical analysis, etc you are going to want to find out what software your professors expect you to be using for those tasks and get a computer that will run that software. Likewise for any other more specialized area. What 75% of your classmates are using makes no difference if you are not performing the same work they do.
3. 75% of your classmates talked their parents into buying whatever tech they have. If you have to get a job and buy it yourself, the cost will suddenly become a much more important factor for you.
4. The people spending mom and dad's money rather than their own general got what they got because it was cool and the cost/benefit relationship was irrelevant to them.
SoCalBoomer - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
I agree with you, techhhhhy, however I would not recommend anything less than 14 or 15" - just because working on a long paper on a tiny screen is maddening.Portability is good, but usability is still more important and a good size keyboard and monitor are extremely important since a student's life will be spent writing on this thing.
I also don't necessarily recommend a Macbook. If you're a Mac person, then definitely; but if you're a Windows person, then get a Windows machine. If you're on a budget, then think twice about a Macbook - not saying DON'T, just saying think twice. If you're going into certain fields, think about what you should get: some mandatory programs do not work on Macs (and yes, you can run Windows on Macs, but again, for MOST users I don't recommend it and it is more expensive than "just" a Windows laptop).
Again, I'm not recommending against a Mac. I'm recommending against the blanket recommendation FOR a Mac - I'm saying. . . "THINK" :D
I don't GO to college, but I run the student support arm of IT at a top ten liberal arts college so I do know something. . . well, maybe! LOL
Uritziel - Friday, August 5, 2011 - link
Anandtech needs an Amazon-like comment system, such that worthless posts like yours can be 'minus-ed' until they just show a subject line plus a "most people don't find this post contributes helpful information" -esque line.