Does my son or daughter need a laptop?

[KenyaQuin]

In my day, I had a computer when I came home from High School - it was a Commodore 64 with a tape drive

And in mine way back in 1984 was a Sinclair ZX Spectrum with a tape drive as well . For the geeks out there Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

[jono]

even though i had my laptop when i was at uni. i still took all my notes on paper. i found i remembered them better that way.

but i did usually have my laptop open as well. in case i needed to clarify something, a quick search was handy.

Jehna is right. at uni you are responsible for your own learning. if you choose to waste upwards of $2000 a unit by playing games, your the one who is going to have to pay for the unit again at the end of the day isnt it?

but even now i am not at uni my laptop still is a lot more convenient for me. as i use it for work, and it has all my music on it. and there is a lot less domestic incidents

[laura]

Laptops are pretty handy....storing assignments, lecture notes, iLectures, study notes etc, all correspondence to & from lecturers is online and everything you need for assignments ie. journal articles are predominantly all online access only. Your storage allowance is limited too so if you need more than 10 articles you have Buckley's of being able to save them to the hardrive. BLR you said about getting an external hard-drive but that isn't any good if you have nothing to plug it in to. Curtin library is 7 stories (students only have access to 5) and any day of the week you are battling to get a computer unless you get there before 10am in which case you are battling for a car park, (which isn't a problem for me) before you even get to the library. Oh and on Wednesday's every single student has a break from 12-2 which means every man, his dog AND his fleas is trying to get a computer.

There are ques to use the express computers, the printing computers and even the computers where you are limited to only Curtin websites or journal searches. So unless you have a laptop you have naff all chance of getting anything done in the library.

Re: the powerpoint thing...At Curtin you need to take your own laptop if you want to have a powerpoint for your presentation, otherwise you can have overheads or nothing.

(anti-Curtin rant over)

Agree with Jono & Jehna about the games thing, if you want to waste your money paying for units you aren't even going to bother attempting to put any effort in for, then thats your own problem and you can foot the bill.

[jono]

its a lost easier to make a powerpoint on a laptop than having to work from a flash drive or a hard-drive as well.
there is more freedom as you can use your own music and your own animations and such.

laptops for uni are a great resource. but how much do they want one? enough to pay for it themselves?

[BLR]

BLR you said about getting an external hard-drive but that isn't any good if you have nothing to plug it in to.

Well people managed for many decades so I think you are over-reacting a tad, a laptop is an unnecessary luxury, if anything is needed get a simple desktop, much cheaper and does the same thing as a laptop besides the portability thing.

Agree with Jono & Jehna about the games thing, if you want to waste your money paying for units you aren't even going to bother attempting to put any effort in for, then thats your own problem and you can foot the bill.

Remember that University is very different between the US and Australia. In the US University bills are often footed by the parent and even in Australia the fact people take it as a debt instead of up front really doesn't work as an effective motivation, I've seen multiple people with laptops playing games during class and I know that I would do it myself if I was in that situation.

Isn't University in the US mostly on campus accomodation anyway? They can simply go to their dorm rooms desktop to use the cheap and basic desktop computer if need be. Sorted.

[pieter blackie]

In my day, I had a computer when I came home from High School - it was a Commodore 64 with a tape drive

And we played Gostbusters on mine

[LarryNJ]

Well I did end up buying my daughter an MacBook. I've never owned a Mac but my brother has been in education at the University of Hawaii for years. He has always owned Mac computers, and they seem to be a little more popular at colleges. Plus they have a great deal going on for students. You get a rebate and a free iTouch iPod! So I can keep the wife happy too by giving her a present!

BLR is right in most kids stay on campus in the US. At my daughters school it's about 98% that stay in the dorms. It's true that you can save a little with a desktop and most of the time she'll probably use her laptop in her room. But the entire campus is wireless so I think it's worth the extra money for the portability. If you want to go out and work under the tree you can, also I'm sure that the library problems Laura talks about are common at most schools.

No matter what school they are in, staying on campus or at home, with or without a computer, who pays for what, ect. It all comes down to the attitude of each kid and how much they want to learn. If they work hard and study they will do well. If they want to party all the time they won't succeed no matter where they are. I think it's great that many of you paid for your own education, computers, books ect. I'm sure that it's more satisfiyng knowing that you did it yourself. I don't have a problem paying for her college as long as she does her part and works hard.

As for my 13 year old son, he'll have to wait until his mother gets a new laptop and he can have her old Dell. Which may not be too long since she has been eyeing up that MacBook, and she has this mysterious way getting what she wants from me.

[slomo]

KQ, it was also the ZX sectrum we had in our house............

[NeoGirl]

I don't really see what the big deal is. A person should get a laptop for school if they want to use it to study. If they want to play games during class that's their problem.

[BLR]

I don't really see what the big deal is. A person should get a laptop for school if they want to use it to study. If they want to play games during class that's their problem.

Not when they aren't the ones paying for it.

[LarryNJ]

Not when they aren't the ones paying for it.

The laptop cost is peanuts compared to all the other college expenses.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Jehna]

Not when they aren't the ones paying for it.

Then get parents to a) teach their children the value of education so they're not encouraged to play games; b) remove all computer games from their laptop and filter out sites like facebook or; c) if they think they can't do this and their kids will play games then don't buy them one!

Stop punishing all kids by claiming they can't have a laptop because you wouldn't be able to prevent yourself from playing computer games.

[JediKnight]

Kids need to be told what to do....they don't have the thought capacity to make sensible decisions themselves.

[KenyaQuin]

To jump into the discussion late (never mind the Sinclair comment).

From my little experience, I would agree that a computer is vital however thinking along BLR's comments, a laptop might be an overkill. I survived with a desk top at home and if necessary or urgent used the Campus computer facilities ("Computer Lab"). I thought it would be an unnecessary burden to have to lug the laptop around wherever you went (especially when after lecture peer pressure finds you in the pub).

The only time I can think of it being convenient is in the campus library where it would be easier to plagiarise the works you need rather than carry volumes of material all the way home (and all the way back again with the standard late fine to settle).

[Thequeerone]

Kids need to be told what to do....they don't have the thought capacity to make sensible decisions themselves.

Why am I looking forward to meeting your kids - one of the best quotes I ever heard about parenting in Australia was how obedient Aussie Parents are compared with the French