odd duck. you are asking a forum why YOU might want a laptop? who knows? to chat, to carry around to look cool, to actually do work with, to play games...hell, the reasons are numerous. wait....was that a rhetorical question in the first place akin to what might the sound of one hand clapping be?
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Why should i get a laptop?
- Thread starter jsook724
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Honestly, this is a HORRIBLE mindset to have.
You might not like it, but change that. Put it all away in a savings, get a notebook when you feel like you need one.
In college, you don't even always necessarily need one. Perhaps if you're in a computer or graphics-based program yes, but anything else, computers are provided for you on campus, many, many, many professors prohibit notebooks in their room. Period. A lot of colleges and universities have 24hr computer labs so you can get it done whenever you need to. I'm saying this as a current Psychology/Biology double-major going pre-med. I only use my notebook in my calculus course and chemistry because my school provided me a Maple 13 license, and my professors use it religiously. I type faster than I write, but I don't remember anything well when I type it as opposed to writing it.
Try putting it in a savings account. Out of sight, out of mind. It'll be there when you need it, it's not leaving. You can always get a better computer this way too.
I'd either save the money or spend it on a desktop. You're only in 8th grade and really won't need a laptop for quite some time. I got a laptop when I was around that age because I thought it would be fun to carry it around and have it whenever I needed it - truth is, I ended up only using it at home and it was basically a makeshift desktop.
3 years later, I got a desktop and have been very happy with it and used it happily throughout the rest of high school. Only now am I missing the mobility and in need of a laptop because I'm off to college in a few months.
So unless you really do travel places, a laptop really isn't that useful to you. You could get a desktop for less money that would be even more powerful and it would satisfy you until you really have the need for a laptop.
However, your needs may be different than mine were.
Basically, just get what you want if you feel it will be useful to you in the years to come and don't get it just for the novelty factor of owning a macbook.
3 years later, I got a desktop and have been very happy with it and used it happily throughout the rest of high school. Only now am I missing the mobility and in need of a laptop because I'm off to college in a few months.
So unless you really do travel places, a laptop really isn't that useful to you. You could get a desktop for less money that would be even more powerful and it would satisfy you until you really have the need for a laptop.
However, your needs may be different than mine were.
Basically, just get what you want if you feel it will be useful to you in the years to come and don't get it just for the novelty factor of owning a macbook.
Your parents need to take your money away and put it in their investment of choice until you wise up and learn to save. Wait until you actually need a laptop before spending the cash.
+1. Even if you worked and earned the money, your parents should invest it for you, instead of you spending it on something as expensive as a MBP that you dont even need at the moment.
By the way, where is the OP? He just started this and disappeared. May be he is busy spending money somewhere
You don't need a laptop in high school. I got a laptop in 8th grade, a cheap Dell that cost about $1000. It was really slow, and I almost never used it away from my desk. At the time, the same money would have gotten me a fairly good desktop, and in fact I bought a midrange desktop a couple years later because the laptop was unbearably slow. That doesn't matter much these days since a 13" MBP is about $1000 and it is not much sower than any other MBP. But it still has many of the downsides of a laptop--It can't really be upgraded, and there is no expandability. With a desktop, you can upgrade the processor, add a new optical drive (like a blue-ray burner), and add all the hard drives you need. You can also cheaply swap out broken parts. An equivalent desktop is still a whole lot cheaper than a laptop.
I never took my laptop into school. There was just too much risk of it getting stolen/damaged, it wouldn't work with the school wireless network, and there was simply no need. If a class needed a computer, there would be one provided. The school had laptop carts that teachers could check out for projects or presentations.
You probably can't see anything else you might spend the money on right now, but trust me, once you buy the laptop you will want to buy something else, but then you won't have any money. I think it is good to have your own computer in high school, and if you get a midrange desktop and save/invest the rest of the money, you will probably be a lot better off in the future.
If you are savvy enough, you can build your own desktop. You probably won't save much money over getting, say a Dell, but you will learn a lot and you will have more options for upgrades in the future. Dell tends to limit the expandability of their cheaper computers, for example they might only have 2 SATA connectors, while even most entry level motherboards have 4 or more. Newegg.com is a great place to get parts, and make sure you understand what you are buying and are sure everything will be compatible. If you are not sure, ask someone (this forum is not the best place) or buy a computer already built.
If you are really set on a Mac, you might be able to get OS X to work on your desktop. We can't talk about it on this forum, but there are plenty of resources out there, and you can probably get it working if you have enough patience.
I never took my laptop into school. There was just too much risk of it getting stolen/damaged, it wouldn't work with the school wireless network, and there was simply no need. If a class needed a computer, there would be one provided. The school had laptop carts that teachers could check out for projects or presentations.
You probably can't see anything else you might spend the money on right now, but trust me, once you buy the laptop you will want to buy something else, but then you won't have any money. I think it is good to have your own computer in high school, and if you get a midrange desktop and save/invest the rest of the money, you will probably be a lot better off in the future.
If you are savvy enough, you can build your own desktop. You probably won't save much money over getting, say a Dell, but you will learn a lot and you will have more options for upgrades in the future. Dell tends to limit the expandability of their cheaper computers, for example they might only have 2 SATA connectors, while even most entry level motherboards have 4 or more. Newegg.com is a great place to get parts, and make sure you understand what you are buying and are sure everything will be compatible. If you are not sure, ask someone (this forum is not the best place) or buy a computer already built.
If you are really set on a Mac, you might be able to get OS X to work on your desktop. We can't talk about it on this forum, but there are plenty of resources out there, and you can probably get it working if you have enough patience.