A laptop can be seen as a necessity due to its mobility and a student's need for
1) group work in varying places,
2) studying in varying places, and
3) traveling home at the end of the semester or for Thanksgiving or Easter break.
It quickly becomes tedious packing a desktop and monitor in the backseat of the car when driving home. Mobility is necessary and a laptop fits this requirement.
The need for a desktop becomes minimal when the new workstation laptops are considered.
If you wish for more storage than a laptop can carry, get an external hard drive and leave it in your room or locked up in your dorm. You will need more storage than is currently used, that is certain. If you want to work on a larger monitor and more comfortable keyboard, then get those and leave them in your room also. These things easily hook up to a laptop. I think a desktop machine is necessary only if you need the processing power or the experience configuring a server, which only an engineering student may need.
1) group work in varying places,
2) studying in varying places, and
3) traveling home at the end of the semester or for Thanksgiving or Easter break.
It quickly becomes tedious packing a desktop and monitor in the backseat of the car when driving home. Mobility is necessary and a laptop fits this requirement.
The need for a desktop becomes minimal when the new workstation laptops are considered.
If you wish for more storage than a laptop can carry, get an external hard drive and leave it in your room or locked up in your dorm. You will need more storage than is currently used, that is certain. If you want to work on a larger monitor and more comfortable keyboard, then get those and leave them in your room also. These things easily hook up to a laptop. I think a desktop machine is necessary only if you need the processing power or the experience configuring a server, which only an engineering student may need.