Build a PC for uni, or just buy a laptop?

Finally, there's also the theft issue. Stuff gets nicked at uni, and houses often get broken in to in the 2nd/3rd years. Make sure you don't buy something too expensive or too small if you get a laptop since they're often grabbed first. Also make sure you get insurance! (with proper accidental damage)

My laptop got hit with a load of water last year and the insurance (Norwich Union) said that I had insufficient accidental damage to cover it, so make sure you ask them about this scenario when you insure them. Drinks and laptops often sit on the same surface (unlike PC towers) in packed uni rooms so make sure you're not ****ed over if you get drink in it!
 
PC + netbook.

I find working on a dual monitor desktop so much easier than on a laptop, when you are working with large quantities of reference material it really does make life easier. The netbook is perfect for lectures/seminars/library/data aquisition etc. I guess to an extent it depends on your course and how much time it requires you spend infront of a screen. Studying for a masters in environmental modelling the answer is many, many hours :(

I haven't played a computer game in ages on my PC, I bought bioshock a few months back, played it for a few hours, wondered to myself what I was doing and never picked it up since. So much more to do at uni ;)
 
Don't see the point getting a netbook alongside the desktop PC. When you're working in your room, you'll have the desktop. When you're working outside your room, the netbook's screen and keyboard will be far too small. My 13-inch laptop is the smallest machine I'd like to work on for extended periods. Four hours writing on a tiny netbook keyboard would not be nice.
 
A lot of netbook keyboards are nice and confortable. And you could just use a USB one, but that's besides the point. Look into the NC10 and N110.

But i will say this: every laptop i've owned, or i've known somebody else to own has crashed, or overheated and eventually been scrapped. I still have desktops from the 1980s that work fine. I wouldn't buy a laptop again, since building is far more satisfactory and you get exactly what you want, wheras i think that laptops have problems with cooling and dust collection that need to be sorted before i would even consider buying one.
 
I had a laptop for the first year of uni and never really liked it. Plus the backlight went on the screen and the company it was meant to be under warrenty with said they wanted £200 to fix it! Plus then it got stolen hahaha. Overall, bad experience! Only good thing was it was easy enough to take elsewhere if I needed.

Just finished my second year after getting a PC at the start of it and much prefered it! Much bigger hard drive for storing music and films on which is pretty good for just chilling out, plus the bigger screen makes watching films miles better! And I manage to find time to game still :p hangover days are good for that! haha

Like others have said, netbook and PC would be best. Would occasionally be handy to have the portability but Id much rather spend the money on a PC
 
Laptop hands down. I sold my pc before going to uni.

I had a macbook and it served me very well. It was excellent for lectures, working in the library, didn't take up much space in my room, transporting around etc. I had an external hard drive which I stored movies on. When I had to do presentations I could just plug my laptop into the projector in the lecture room. Easy.

I hated using the uni computers. You would be crammed in like battery chickens. You would get distracted by other people or you would spend ages just trying to find a computer. With my macbook I could sit in the laptop area which was far more spacious and logon. My productivity improved greatly.
 
I would get a decent £600 laptop, you can do light gaming if you went, if strictly no gaming at all just DVDs and stuff than maybe one of those *notebooks* very small/ light last ages on battery for doing low intensity stuff like blowing off your assignments and stuff
 
A laptop that can play all the games you want in medium setting.

Or, a very cheap laptop for mobility, and a power desktop at dorm. Plug the desktop to your laptop for display, and save money on monitor.
 
I've got to say, I've gone off the idea of a laptop...in particular Acer branded ones...they seem to be awful with their customer service. Also in general, I'm put off now back the lower reliability rates that seem to come with laptops.
It almosts feels like spending money on a laptop would be more risky, and in the long run, it won't last as long as a desktop.

Also with a budget of £700 (absolute maximum), getting a netbook for towards £300 would seemingly comprimise any desktop I purchase? Though I'll keep the idea in mind if it seems a realistic option.

Alternatively, I've spec'd the configuration below in the £700 bracket, by taking the monitor I'm using currently with me (20"), and buying another for home use later on. Thoughts on the spec itself?

 
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I don't like Acer either, had way too many bad experiences with them through work as a home tecchie.

I went down the huge gaming PC route, stuck it all in a P182SE. I regret it in some ways, as it's so big and fragile, moving it is a nightmare. I also have a 22" monitor and keyboard mouse, speakers, it all has to come. I've since built a HTPC/lower spec gaming PC that's lighter and easier to move about so I can leave the big rig in my flat.

The future is definitely gaming PC + netbook, and just move the netbook when you go home in short holidays.
 
I have a full tower i take to and from uni and home twice a year, no problems so far. How about building a mATX computer, somewhere in the middle ground? Personally i cant stand laptops.
 
I m thinking of getting a laptop, but I would use mine for gaming to, before I go on the comptia A+
 
I use both!

Its often easy to qualify for a laptop at uni if you have learning difficulties or from additional grants ive used laptops in my lectuers all year and its been a great help but also a massive disscraction too
 
NC10 is pretty much the answer for uni I think. Sold mine at the start of the summer to help get through rent without student loans, I'll be buying a new laptop come october I hope.

What course are you on OP? I'm engineering, and cad work on a laptop is nasty unless it's a really, really expensive one. The nc10 couldn't cope with that side of my course, though it approximates it well enough through remote desktop software. Would not be sufficient by itself
 
HAHAH desktop all the way!!!!

I laughed at my friend who bought a gaming laptop for uni, 'I need it to be portable and all that rubbish' it was some dual core with DDR3 ram (which obviously has no effect because of the CPU/mobo) some 8800 mobile gpu, anyway the point is its OK not amazing, it cost him £1000, the battery is practically dead and he hasn't even started uni etc etc

For your own sake buy a desktop, there cheaper, more powerful, cooler, likely to have less problems, less likely to get stolen and they don't have battery that die or run out after an hour, face facts is it life or death that you need a laptop outside your dorm NO, use a pen and paper and write it up later if its so important

Oh and you don't want even more debt :D, unless of course your not gaming at all then go for the netbook and the 'its too hard to move the computer about' is a rubbish excuse, why would you move it anyway?

Don't insult me for my two cents :D
 
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