Laptops in School

[aimeeandbeatles]

Bolded parts are the important parts, for people who are too lazy to read the entire thing

I am thinking about getting a small laptop mainly for school work. My handwriting is very messy, and I can hardly read it, so I could type my notes on the computer and print them out. And I could also use it for other things as well (playing Civ at lunch, anyone? j/k!)

All the school computers have Novell installed in thim, and you have to login with your account, and they track everything you do! Which is another reason why, the computer rules say you don't have any expectation of privacy. I don't do anything bad, but I really really don't like that.

I know my school has a wi-fi network. (I asked the librarian.)

However, no other students carry laptops around. Cellphones and iPods, but not laptops. There is nothing in the rules about it, and I'm very careful not to lose my stuff. (It'd get lost in my house, more likely. )

I know a little computer store in town that's really good so I can get it from there on a payment plan. Although if I started paying now, I prolly wouldn't get it until next semester, at least.

Would it be a good idea?

 

[Zelig]

Not worth it.

Even in university, laptops are mostly unnecessary. Sure, if you have/need a laptop, and you think it will be useful at school, bring it, but I wouldn't buy one for that purpose.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well, I'd also use it for other things. But it would be mainly for school.

 

[Macha]

The main problem with laptops in schools are:

• The damage risks. Enough said.
• School networks and notoriously insecure. You'd need to buy a up-to-date firewall if you don't already have one or you'll get a virues in ~30 seconds.
• In most schools the only people using laptops are those who have a medical reason (dyslexic students for example) and if you bring one in, people will assume you have a disability. This may or may not be a problem in your school but I know where I live people have a very backwards attitude to people with disabilities.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I'm very very careful with electronics. Although I've dropped CD players, that's the only thing I broke, unless you count the time when I was 8 when I decided to take apart the computer mouse. Mom wasn't too happy.

I'd put a firewall on it.

I do have a "disability", although I don't like calling it one. Everybody already knows, LMAO! I don't care what they think anyway.

 

[Bigfoot3814]

I think you should bring your laptop to school ONLY so you can play Civ at lunch. Otherwise it's not really necessary. If you use it in class it can be really distracting to other people.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

The school computer policy says you can't use their computers for gaming, but it didn't say anything about using your own computers for gaming. LOL!
I love finding loopholes.
I'd have to mute the audio, though.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

If you want privacy, set up a VPN at home and connect to it trough a portable client. That way, the only way for them to track you is through keyloggers and i doubt many schools are as draconian as that.

I've had the same problems as you do with the school computers. Last year, they were really crappy too and everything was slow. I also thought about getting a laptop and figured it just wasnt worth it. It was just much cheaper to circumvent their security measures instead of bringing a clean machine with me. So technically, all I had to buy was a large enough USB drive which was pretty cheap.

The gaming bit is pretty nice though, but if you think about it: A gaming laptop is heavy. YOu're going to be carrying this laptop all around. Probably not a good idea.
Sure, weaker and smaller laptops can also play some games, but those kinds of games you can probly stick on a 8gig USB drive and play them from there ( I do this with AOE2)

 

[LucyDuke]

(playing Civ at lunch, anyone? j/k!)

You play Civ?

the time when I was 8 when I decided to take apart the computer mouse.

What did you find?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

You play Civ?

Yes.

What did you find?

Nothing excitiing, but my mother was very unhappy when she couldn't put it back together.

 

[dwaxe]

Yes, bring the laptop to school.

Weight is nothing--you can probably carry 10 more pounds in your backpack. And you'll be able to throw away most of your papers!

But if you think there is any chance of damage, get a cheaper one. $400~$800

 

[Shadylookin]

I don't think it's worth the cost. Plus they're easily distracting because the temptation to ignore what the teacher says and check your email(facebook, cfc, or a million other things) is too great.

When it comes to taking notes in my experience they're more of a hindrance. Unless you cough up a lot of cash for a tablet pc as soon as your teacher draws a diagram you're screwed because trying to draw anything in ms paint with a laptop is damn near impossible.

it's especially not worth it to take one to a math class because it's hard to draw mathematical symbols. Even at the college level I've had professors forbid them because they think you'll just use them to play games and distract other students.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well, for drawings, I could do by hand and then scan to my other computer and transfer it over. Or use the scanner I saw in the school somewhere. I once asked if it was for studnets and they said yes.

The main reason why is because I have very bad trouble writing by hand, it comes out really really messy, impossible for me to read. I have to use computers to write assignments on, or else I might fail.

 

[Lone Wolf]

I use one (rather cheap - 7000 roubles, that'll be 280$ at current Russian Central Bank exchange rate) at my University. It doesn't have teh Internetz, so the distraction part is pretty much gone. (Althrough I do play chess variants from Zillions of Games in pauses between lessons). Like Aime's my handwriting is pretty much messy, too.

I write Math classes stuff by hand in the copybook, through.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I asked mom to consider putting the first payment for a laptop for Christmas. Since the store I want to get it from on installment, and won't be able to pick up 'till it's paid. We'll have to see.

Even if not for school, I could use it elsewhere.

 

[kulade]

If I didn't have my laptop in class, I would have to bring a deck of cards to play Solitaire.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

I use one (rather cheap - 7000 roubles, that'll be 280$ at current Russian Central Bank exchange rate) at my University. It doesn't have teh Internetz, so the distraction part is pretty much gone. (Althrough I do play chess variants from Zillions of Games in pauses between lessons). Like Aime's my handwriting is pretty much messy, too.

I write Math classes stuff by hand in the copybook, through.

What kind of laptop did you get for that? My uncle was looking for one that didnt cost over 10000 roubles. His only requirement was that it be fairly mobile and not overly expensive.

 

[Quintillus]

If I didn't have my laptop in class, I would have to bring a deck of cards to play Solitaire.

That's what I recommend actually - a deck of cards. After awhile it shouldn't be too hard to have a card-playing group at lunch every day. If card-playing is against the rules, making flashcards with numbers in various different languages so you're learning languages while playing cards and it's academic. Never had any problem with the "no cards" rule after I started playing with those cards.

It probably would be most prudent to put a bit more effort into handwriting - even in college laptops in class are generally fairly rare. I had a friend who did take one to high school regularly, and used it effectively for notetaking, but he never left it entirely unattended (i.e. with no one nearby) just to be safe. I wouldn't count on being able to connect to the wireless network - there's a decent chance they'll only give the connection criteria out to teachers.

And yeah, even in college laptops in class aren't that common. There's something to be said to being able to cross out notes and draw diagrams on paper easily, so long as you can keep it self-legible.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Get a tablet notebook and write notes on it like you would in a notebook.

 

[Trajan12]

At the private schools a couple of my friends go to, they're given tablets for school uses. At our school, we can bring them. I'd like to, it seems really convenient as I can type SO much faster than I could ever write. But, no frackin' way I would bring anything worth any money on a bus in Detroit...so....