Dear Mad Editor,
I’m heading off to a graduate writing program in the Fall and I’m shopping for a new computer. You’ve mentioned your laptop on your blog before and I was wondering if I should get a notebook computer or a desktop. What do you think?
Writer-in-Training
Dear Writer-in-Training:
I can’t think why you’d want my opinion on this matter, but for my two-cents worth, I offer you this:
Desktops are generally more powerful than most notebook computers. If you are gamer, even the best gaming notebook cannot go head-to-head with the best gaming desktop. Most notebooks are crap for playing the newer games. They also have the advantage of being easier and somewhat cheaper to upgrade.
Those are the pros.
The cons are these:
— The problem with desktops is they are not portable. As their name and nature suggests, they sit on a desk in a room. You cannot drag your desktop to class or to a library or the like. You can only use a desktop when you are sitting at a desk in the room in which your computer is located.
— In addition to being difficult to move (and indeed the reason why they are difficult to move), desktop computers are bulky and take up space.
— You are going to school to write, not play games.
Notebooks are portable. They are great for taking with you wherever you go. I’m using mine right now. I have a notebook and a desktop and I like my notebook PC much better. However, truth be told, I use my desktop more. My laptop is great for writing and surfing the ‘net away from home, but the truth is, it really doesn’t have the computing muscle to handle all the apps and business that my desktop handles. So I have both because I need both. I cannot choose between them. I’d tell you that if you can afford to buy both (I couldn’t actually afford both, myself — the laptop was a gift), own both a desktop and a laptop, but that’s me. For your purposes, I’d be leaning towards the notebook for the sake of convenience. Writing programs are just that, writing programs. Mostly all you will be doing is writing, writing and more writing, and having to meet insane deadlines. You need to be able to take your work with you. Writing in a paper notebook with a pen and transcribing onto a desktop later is an inconvenient waste of time. You need to be able to write quickly on-the-fly so a desktop, for all it’s merits, is impractical for a writing student.
In making your choice, consider the campus you are going to. What’s their situation? Do they have a decent number of computer labs? PCs or Mac? Granted, you cannot absolutely rely on campus computers to do your work 100% of the time. However, if they have a good set-up, a laptop should suit you fine. Just make sure that whatever computer you get is a reliable model. Make sure your set-up is compatible with the campus. You will have to hook-up to the campus’s network and you’ll have to install their software onto whatever machine you buy, so you’ll have to have a machine that can run it. Having some old piece of crap from the Jurassic age of computing you picked up at a yard sale and running Windows 3-point-nothing, will not due at all. Make sure your specs are powerful enough to meet your academic and entertainment needs. That means having a big enough hard drive, processor, video card, etc. Have a good printer. Like I said, you can’t always rely on the computer lab to do handle your business 24/7. At the very least you need a solid ink jet printer. These are cheap and usually reliable.
Hope this helps.
