Laptop for college

R

Rujib

Registered User
Messages
79
Hi,

Our first starts college next September and I would like to establish which if any laptop would be most appropriate.
Student will stay in campus accomodation for UCC. Therefore I guess there will be broadband connection available in the apartment, or will there?
Should a dial up modem be included at this stage, or would this be surplus to requirements and just adding unnecessary weight?
What about a wi-fi card? Are wireless hotspots the norm now in universities.
Would really appreciate some tech help with this.

Thanks.

Martin
 
You could phone the university and ask what type of net access there is around the college - in the library as well as the dorms. Most machines come with a Winmodem (software) built in - it's not really extra weight. Info could also be available on their website.

If the college has bb then a wireless network card is useful but this can be a plug-in bought afterwards (E35 or so) if you need it. There are two types: PCMCIA card - a little like a credit card, for laptops only - and USB stick (like a memory stick, for desktop or laptop). Check costs involved (if any) when you call. Wi-fi access can be problematic in some physical locations and varies in security so it might not be on offer at all!

Dialup is unlikely to be useful.

Both surfing and writing up stuff (Word, Excel etc) are low-capacity uses so my advice would be buy the minimum spec laptop with maybe a little extra memory. Unless they're using CAD they're unlikely to need more and most modern laptops are blisteringly fast anyway (at least at first )The laptop will be out of date quickly and likely to be dropped, lost or stolen or have coffee inside it before that happens! (Bitter experience!)

Advise them to back up any work often. Carrying a pendrive or using online storage could both work in this situation. This is probably the most important aspect of working with a laptop

HTH
 
First and formost - what course are they intending to do? Some courses you simply would be placed at a very significant disadvantage without a laptop (such as Business, Humanities, Engineering etc.). Other courses, a laptop is not as essential (Nurseing, practical courses).

Secondly, don't buy a laptop now! If i'd bought mine months before college started I would have spent hundreds extra for the same spec. Laptop prices are constantly falling as typical spec improves. Also by September Windows Vista will probably be well established.

As for BB and wireless. I think UCC would be embarrased if they did'nt have wireless accross campus and wired BB in the residences. In my experience (in DCU) we have fast wireless access right accross campus. In the first week we were invited to visit the Computer Services department who not only configured our laptop for wireless use, but also installed good Anti-Virus software, and gave us free USB sticks. Our residence BB is a 8 MBps high speed service. Of course you should directly contact UCC to check are the arrangements similer... but given how vital the web is to University life - i'd be astounded if they offered anything less.
 

Thanks for your advise

Martin
 

A minimum spec laptop (60GB) can hold about 15,000 songs... and memory is a rather cheap part of a laptop (you can get 120GB machines with basic spec)... so I don't think it's in your power to limit the laptop as a device for distraction - she'll have to cope with that herself!

For example, I have a 5 credit exam at 9am tommorrow in Physcology - what have I spent the last hour doing? Playing Solitare! So i'll be up all night now running around like a headless chicken trying to learn things... College requires a lot of self discipline... laptop or no laptop!
 
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