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College and my babies...

Finlandboy

Finlandboy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 14, 2007
291
0
Indianapolis, IN
ok, well ill be moving into my college dorm in a couple of weeks and im bringing my two babies with me...the two in my sig. tht is :D...and im worried about damage and theft. the campus is small and its a pretty close knit community...but theres always the dangers...

so does anyone have any tips and advice about how to keep my comps safe and in my possession. i was prob gona get to two kensington locks or w/e they r called just for a lil protection, but i know they aren't full proof.

i prob wont be carrying them around all the time and i already baby them as much as possible. but again any advice or experience on how to keep my comps safe in the college atmosphere would be great, thanx
 
Be smart is the best advice. Don't flag yourself as a potential mark, don't leave your door open/unlocked, don't do anything stupid around the computer, etc. etc. etc.

BTW, why the need for both?
 
thegoldenmackid said:
This is def. not the right place for this at all, especially given the thread title.
Click to expand...

OH CRAP I THOUGHT I WAS IN THE COMMUNITY DISCUSSION SECTION, MY BAD


well, my g4 i figure id just take for class notes, travel, entertainment...stuff like that. and my mbp i use with an external monitor as my desktop work horse...i plan on majoring in somthing in comp sci or graphic design so i figure id need it
 
Finlandboy said:
OH CRAP I THOUGHT I WAS IN THE COMMUNITY DISCUSSION SECTION, MY BAD


well, my g4 i figure id just take for class notes, travel, entertainment...stuff like that. and my mbp i use with an external monitor as my desktop work horse...i plan on majoring in somthing in comp sci or graphic design so i figure id need it
Click to expand...

You were, you got moved into the PowerBook/MacBook Pro section because that is the right forum for this question.

Look at the other discussions in the Community Discussion Section... you are def. in the right place now.

I would just take 1, there is no need for two you can always unhook the external. Plus the likelihood of a computer being stolen out of your dorm room during the middle of the day is a lot higher then if it's with you.
 
thegoldenmackid said:
You were, you got moved into the PowerBook/MacBook Pro section because that is the right forum for this question.

Look at the other discussions in the Community Discussion Section... you are def. in the right place now.
Click to expand...

:D sry, i wont argue :


well i would do tht, but i really dont like carrying my 15' mbp around...especially since to powerbook is so portable...

and this is a different topic but my mbp's battery really sux... im talkin 2 hrs wit jus the web and music only and brightness all the way down, so....
 
I'll second what the others have said - just take the MBP.

If you take two, that doubles the possibility of something happening to one of them. And like someone said, it's alot more likely to have something happen to it sitting in your room all day unattended than if it's on you. If I lived on a college campus and lived with people I didn't know, I'd take my computer freakin' everywhere with me, or lock it in a safe.

How many cycles are on the battery of your MBP?
 
Have you looked into the possibility of insuring them?

Money can be tight, especially for a college student (I'm one myself!), but if you can gather the funds, or have family help out, there are companies like safeware that provide general insurance for drops, spills, accidents, theft, and hardware failure, etc.

Also, I agree with thegoldenmackid, just be cautious with your things, lock your doors, etc. Try not to worry too much.
 
ddeadserious said:
I'll second what the others have said - just take the MBP.

If you take two, that doubles the possibility of something happening to one of them. And like someone said, it's alot more likely to have something happen to it sitting in your room all day unattended than if it's on you. If I lived on a college campus and lived with people I didn't know, I'd take my computer freakin' everywhere with me, or lock it in a safe.

How many cycles are on the battery of your MBP?
Click to expand...

Or just get another battery. Keeping the G4 around just sounds like absolutely messes...
 
In my dorms, we had lockable top drawers on the desks. That's where I kept my iBook while my desktop was obviously on the desk :p

A cable lock isn't a bad option either, as it will deter the lazy/quick theft type folks.
 
If your parents use State Farm for their insurance they can add it to a personal property insurance plan. It's less than $50 a year and it covers thief and accidental damage.

Also, you should not be getting only 2 hours on your MBP. I have the 2.4 model and I get close to 4 hours with the 9400 card. Surfing, music, wireless and the brightness down low.
 
Get some sort of locking box. Mini safe, or what ever. O, dont put those apple stickers on your car window or door or anything else. Your just begging to be stole from then.
 
Yeah, I'd just bring one.

Make sure to lock your stuff up, and don't purposely draw attention to the fact you have certain things.
 
i'll start off by saying that i'm going in to my 4th year in college and i've lived in the dorms the whole time.

first of all, you definitely won't need two laptops. that just causes too much hassle.. trying to sync data and ****. you won't have time for any of that. there's always so much going on in college (especially living in the dorms) that you'll find you hardly spend any time on your computer. bring your mbp, a decent (sub $100) set of speakers, and a printer. that's all you'll need.

i think that the amount of theft on campuses gets exaggerated on these forums. just lock your door when you and your roommate are away and you'll be fine. i used a cable lock freshman year and i found it was just a pain in the ass, because whenever i wanted to bring my laptop anywhere other than my desk (lounge, friends room, class, library, dining hall, quad, etc), i'd have to undo the lock.
 
I'm sure a lock and not leaving your computer lying around will suffice to avoid theft. I would also take both laptops. I got a MBP, and after wondering whether to sell my iBook, I have decided to take it will me to college. If I ever have a problem I'll have a backup. I would hate to be in college without a computer if one failed or was stolen
 
rick3000 said:
I'm sure a lock and not leaving your computer lying around will suffice to avoid theft. I would also take both laptops. I got a MBP, and after wondering whether to sell my iBook, I have decided to take it will me to college. If I ever have a problem I'll have a backup. I would hate to be in college without a computer if one failed or was stolen
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For your reasoning, maybe, but to use them both simultaneously isn't a good idea.
 
If you're going to have more than one, one should be a desktop in my opinion. two laptops is kind of pointless. I had my desktop set up basically as a file server/tv tuner and dvr. I accessed information and stored information on it and it didn't usually have a monitor hooked up to it (remote desktop was fine)


Nowadays its probably wiser to just get a nice external drive than have a computer act as a server for storage as its main purpose.
 
Ok so Ill start of by saying I'm from the UK so a few details will differ. However, I found that bringing the setup you usually use makes it more homely. So I had a 24" iMac on my desk the whole time (in your case a MBP with monitor) and a MBP that I would either leave next to it or take it with me if I needed it that day.

In the UK we live in Halls in the first year (shared flat but each in separate rooms) and in the 2nd and 3rd year I lived in a shared house.

The precautions I took were simple, don't shout about your kit and when your not around lock the door. I had room insurance for the 3 years with Endsleigh. No need to get paranoid. Just take care and enjoy your time :)

Edit: here is a link of my setup in my uni room in the 3rd year: http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=181858&d=1247144342
 
Just another thing that's not been mentioned: lock your window when you're out and close your curtains :)

Yeah it can be a bit warm when you get back again but better safe, etc :)
 
ddeadserious said:
How many cycles are on the battery of your MBP?
Click to expand...

i got my mbp about 3 weeks ago. it has 16 cycles on it. i hav completely drained and fully recharged it 3 times and it didnt seem to help....i run the 9400 and brightness as low as i can when on the battery power....it really makes me mad tht it sucks that much, and my powerbook gets around 4 hrs with its one yr old battery...


im a very cautions guy so i don't think locking the door and window will be hard to remember.

but i dont see why everyone is so opposed to me bringing my powerbook. i think id use it. i consider it almost like a netbook on steroids that id carry around campus when lounging around and a notebook in class when i dont feel like writing.

and i wouldnt be syncing or anything really. id do all my big work and stuff on my mbp and just transfer the important things from my pb to the mbp. i really only got word, my music, and the web on my powerbook any ways
 
Finlandboy said:
but i dont see why everyone is so opposed to me bringing my powerbook. i think id use it. i consider it almost like a netbook on steroids that id carry around campus when lounging around and a notebook in class when i dont feel like writing.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I never really used my computer to take notes through my first year of college. It was just too much hassle to format everything. On paper, you can draw bullets, arrows, equations, etc. much quicker. I only used my computer when I didn't want to pay attention in class. :rolleyes:

I don't think bringing both will be a big deal, though.. No one I know had their laptops stolen and they often left them in their dorm rooms.
 
Just bring one notebook with you is enough or leave them in your dorm.

As above mentioned, using paper to take note is much faster than computer. I can write an equation, arrow...etc on paper easily, computer....? forget about it. :cool:
 
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