Just got my new laptop.

Happy (early) Birthday! Hope you're enjoying your new laptop, it does feel nice to finally own your own things.

Thanks Jim. And yes it feels great.

You may need a desktop for college in order to do intensive graphical design work and to run certain 3D software image programs needed for architecture / landscape design purposes. It's impractical to run these programs efficiently on a laptop. The main advantage that a laptop has over a desktop is portability. The professor in our java programming class wrote everything on the board and there was barely enough time for us to even try using jEdit in order to test the examples he used in class. I ended up just writing everything in my notebook and then doing the homework in my room or in the computer lab. Usually laptops are abused more than used efficiently. In one of my introductory science class, people were using it for facebook and one individual in particular was watching Sailor Moon episodes. No surprise that half the class fails when it comes to exams. You don't need a laptop for college even if you are an IT or CS major. Regardless of how much Apple will spam you "COLLEGE ESSENTIALS" with their overpriced third rate materials used to make most of their laptops and desktops. Also... Information Technology? Why not Computer Science?

Well, here in the Netherlands we have this thing called "Informatica" which is basically IT, CS and some other stuff under one single name, which branches of later on(at the place I go to, that is). Most people just stay in the general area for the first few months(you have to choose your direction after 10 weeks) but they gave everyone the option to be put in a "Game Developement" class beforehand(which I did)(you can still switch later). Apparently we're not going to do a lot with graphics in the first year, but I'm planning to get a good desktop as soon as possible. I also have to sit in the train for at least 2 hours a day(Amsterdam is a freaking expensive place when it comes to finding a place to live) so having a laptop might allow me to do some work while I'm traveling. That and I have to cope with the fact that the router is in the living room and the printer is at the other side of the house(while my bedroom is in a totally different spot) so having a desktop would be impractical(in my house, that is). B>campus for the HvA(Hogeschool van Amsterdam, which translates into Highschool of Amsterdam, but the Dutch school system is weird like that).