OMG, my major requires a laptop!!

The_MaguS

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What a pain in the ass! I already have a well suited desktop for college, now they say they want a laptop for the major!!

Christ. I may have to lease some crappy dell laptop. It says "requires DVD/CDRW Drive". You think that means those drives HAVE to be in the laptop? THEY haven't answered yet. =P

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The_MaguS

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Well, I'm actually undecided. But one of the majors I'm primarily interested in requires it.

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Crashman

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Screw them. Many schools are requiring laptops because they want to look "high tech" when people visit. Screw appearences, just one more thing they WANT you to carry all over the place. Check around and see how many students actually DO, they thought about that at this school and I told them to fvck off. So they backed down to "all students must have access to a computer" which is fine because they are located all over the place.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?
 

Kelledin

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Crash is right, it <i>is</i> bullshit.

1) <b>Professors don't want keyboards clicking away in their lecture halls.</b> It's often noisy and distracting; many professors consider laptops to be a breach of classroom ettiquete(sp).

2) For those classes where computers are required in the classroom, decent colleges have public computer labs professors can reserve for this purpose. It may be cheaper on the college to require students to carry laptops, but it's far more cost-efficient all around to have public labs filled with lower-cost desktops.

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The_MaguS

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I think so too. Look at this "The College of Engineering requires the PC Platform and requires the Laptop Format. Requires DVD/CD-RW combo drive. and requires a 3.5" floppy drive."

Also, for computer science major, the computer HAS to be Intel based. I prefer Intel anyway, but I can't possibly see their reasoning behind this!

I wrote a letter to the head of the department, asking some questions. If the major requires the CDRW/DVD in my laptop, even though I have one in my desktop, I'm going flip. The laptop costs 400 dollars more with that option!

I didn't even plan on getting a laptop for college...but if I major in this, I guess I'll have to get one. Maybe if I kvetch enough they'll let me be lol. Grrr.

Thing is, this is VT, and it ranked #17 in the nation for engineering. Yet why the assinine rules?

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ath0mps0

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If you find out that you absolutely MUST have a laptop, check out the Sony Viaos - great prices and they let you make payments. You can also get an AMD proc if you want - which it sounds like you don't care for. All of their current laptops come with DVD/CDRW for no extra charge.

If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn't have thought so much.
 

dhlucke

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I know that many Universities require a home PC, but a laptop is something new. I would beat somebody over the head with their laptop if they brought it to class so I don't think they're even using them for lectures. No professor or class would tolerate the noise. The only time I saw a laptop in class was this guy who let a slideshow of porn run for everyone's viewing pleasure. He wouldn't have dared type on it though.

Did you get accepted to any other Universities?

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The_MaguS

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Yes, but this is one of the highest ranked technical schools. #17 in the nation!

It's an assinine requirement, so I'm going to needle the dept head to get the truth before school starts. Believe me, I can't STAND laptops. I wouldn't buy one if it wasn't a requirement.

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Intel_inside

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I doubt they require a laptop with cd-rw/dvd.. that just doesn't make sense anyway!

I say you buy a cheaper 2nd hand laptop.. that will also prevent you from playing the latest games instead of taking notes.

<i>My life wasn't complete untill I tried sse-2 optimized pong</i>
 

The_MaguS

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No, they do. Look at the quote i cut and pasted. It irks me the REQUIRE a laptop for the major. I'm sure people have learned computer engineering well without carrying a f***cking laptop with them to every class!

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Intel_inside

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I wasn't sure wether you meant you required a laptop with a cdr/dvd drive or you required a laptop and a cd-r/dvd drive

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Lonemagi

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Put handles and some wheels on your desktop, bolt the monitor to it. Whala, portable computing.

Crashing takes on a whole new meaning at 9.8 m/s. :tongue:
 

The_MaguS

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It requires a laptop WITH a CDRW and DVD!

I wrote the head of the engineering college to ask if a laptop was even necessary, and if it was, whether it was okay to have the DVD and CDRW on my desktop.

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cellbiogeek

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Sign up for the major anyway. What are they going to do, come to your house to check and see if you have a laptop. My school tried to pull crap like that when I was an undergrad and no one even bothered to go buy a computer. Not one person got kicked out for not buying a computer.
 

Intel_inside

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LOL thats absurd... Your school is probably in bed with dell or another laptop maker. Why would something need a cd-r with their laptop at school? would professors ask everyone to hand in their test burned on a cd? would lectures only be handed out in dvd format? it's laughable :)

<i>My life wasn't complete untill I tried sse-2 optimized pong</i>
 

The_MaguS

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Actually on "where to buy a computer", they have a link to Dell with a login code lol!

But if they were really in bed with dell, why only certain majors like architecture/engineering require a laptop? Normally I'd tell em to f***k off, but since it says REQUIRED under major req's, it's scary =(

But pisses me off. I have this beautiful stealth black chieftec tower case with a 431W enermax I just installed, just DYING to have components put in! (ordered most, some not yet just waiting for Pc1066 RDRAM and 533 FSB)!.

Then I realize my major of choice requires a $2400 LAPTOP (requires zip250/floppy/cdrw/dvd!) They never sent us ANYTHING about this, and I Just found out today on their buried website, and I had been accepted for over 6 months now!

Gr.

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SammyBoy

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Bah, screw the laptop thing. I go to a "wired" school, and the only time I see laptops are when people need to do school work, but don't have time to go to their room or public labs without interferring with other committments, such as the 20 min window they have for lunch or dinner. As to the CDR and DVD players, just make sure your desktop has them, and you'll be fine. The only time I can see a laptop being needed is when you have a presentation that a) doesn't have a computer and projector setup, or b) you are off-site. In those cases, you can borrow a laptop from a friend. My school is in bed with Gateway, but all they do is recommend that if you want a brand-new system is to go through Gateway, since St. Olaf is a preferred customer, and all students, faculty, and staff get a 2% discount off the academic prices. As too the Intel CPU requirement, I think it's more along the lines of no iBooks, though even that is stupid, since they can use MS Office, which is what almost all college campuses use. My school has a computer owner rate of 90% in the first-years and 75% in the seniors, with something like 15% of the campus having two or more computers (I only have one myself).

Again, screw the laptop, tell them to f-off, and get a Palm Pilot if you need to take in-class notes in an electronic fashion. Geez, not even my school is stupid enough to require laptops for certain majors... and we have some pretty bad major requirements (like B.A Music Ed majors needing to prove that they can play at the same level as B.M Performance majors, which spend all their time on music, as opposed to Music Ed, which is a more Liberal Arts education (hence the B.A. part of it). This makes performance auditions required to be allowed into the major... argh... nevermind). Anyway, keep building your dream machine, and if you require a laptop, just tell them that your computer has moved from your house to dorm many times, and is therefore mobile.

-SammyBoy
 

dhlucke

Polypheme
Go to a furniture store and offer to buy one of their "fake" plastic laptops that they use for displays and carry that around with you everywhere. They'll never know the difference.

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HonestJhon

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HAHAHAHAHAHA...yeah...
or even better....
get some wood, and paint it to look like a laptop, and just have it in your bag...
if the laptop gestapo asks you if they can see your laptop, flash them the piece of wood in your bag...
AHYUK!
or buy a dvd/cdrw drive for a laptop, and then hire a stripper, and have the stripper give you a LAPDANCE during class, while she holds the cdrw drive. and when the teacher asks you what you are doing, say, HEY...THE REQ FOR THE MAJOR SAID LAPDANCE WITH A CDRW/DVD DIDNT IT?
LOL...you would make instant friends. :wink:

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-
 

FatBurger

Illustrious
On a more serious note, getting a USB2.0 DVD/CDRW drive (if you can find one) might save some cash, since you can share them between the two.

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The_MaguS

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Thanks for advice everyone. I'm not buying a laptop yet, and I'll show up to the first day of school without a laptop. I'll find out whether the laptop is absolutely necessary (though it says required).

For computer engineering, I can sorta picture everyone with their laptop, and the prof walking around and helping people, but I dunno.

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74merc

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I don't know if they get kickbacks from Dell or not, but that login code should save you a few hundred on the laptop.

I got mine through my job at a school, took over $300 off the final bill + I got Win2K at no extra charge.
came out to $3083, I worked it up without the school discount(as we've had problems with the "discount" costing more than retail) and it was total of 3400-3500, depending on tax and shipping and such, didn't go that far after I saw the price difference.

<i>Better to be silent and thought an idiot than to speak and remove all doubt.</i>
 
G

Guest

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Requiring a notebook isn't that odd - several engineering schools do it (Rose-Hulman is an example) - although it is odd they tell you to go and buy one instead of providing you with one that includes their standard engineering software and including it in the student fees . If they say you need it, you will - there will be computer lab courses where your notebook will be the only computer available. Still, it's better to wait - you might change your mind on your major and prices on current technology are always dropping so you can either get one cheaper later or get a better one for the same price.