Computers for College Students: A Primer For Parents Part 1

Let me take a break on my audio system series and discuss something else while it's on my mind. The college student computer, since I'm working on this for a client.

Before this even happens, there's a lot to be done in the summer before your kid leaves. There's a ridiculous amount of stuff to buy ranging from the almost insignificant to the really important. In today's world, one of the most important is their computing device(s).

When they think of college, one of the first things that flashes into a parent's mind is this...... a tiny space where two people have to live, keep all their stuff and co-exist..... not necessarily in that order. I know, they may not all be this tight, but this is certainly not the smallest! Believe me, I know! In a former life, I've worked as a residence hall director/coordinator for some few years. I'm all too familiar with these rooms. I'm not even going to reference my days as a college student at Texas A&M University, because we didn't bring electronics (I was in the Corps of Cadets), and personal (versus PCs) computers for students pretty much didn't exist in 1980.

So, the next thing that jumps into a parent's mind is this..... How is he/she going to get all that stuff into his/her room, so the natural inclination is to go with......

..... and that'd be a mistake..... for the following reason(s). Not all students are alike and not all computers have the same capabilities. If your kid is an English/Psychology/Education/Nursing/Family Studies (the list goes on), then you're good. You can stop reading right here, and buy whatever the school is recommending (with one caveat) and mark that item off your list. There is one other little thing, but I'll address it later. However, if your pride and joy is aspiring to be an Engineering/Graphics Design/Animation (anything that's computing intensive), things get complicated. 

This is what I'm recommending (in general), with a few modifications. Why, two computers for "Pete's Sake"!?!

Do you remember that old "college feel" that you were so impress with when you visited? The ivy covered walls, the quaint, late-1800s/early-1900s buildings, or even those big modern looking buildings that held the huge lecture halls that look like this? Go ahead, tell me what you see? Remember, falling asleep in the back of those like I did and knocking your spiral notebook onto the floor making everybody look at you? Imagine that spiral being a $1000 laptop notebook the size of a small briefcase. I'm sure you can image that off of those little tiny fold-up lap-desks right? Then imagine your kid throwing his (it's always the male isn't it) computer into his bag, then throwing that same bag down.... how many times over the course of just one week? The bigger/heavier the computer, the more mass and the great the impact. That's just one factor. 

OK, now imagine your kid schlepping that same computer across this campus from class-to-class every day. You remember, the same one that you struggled to walk across when you guys visited?

Then imagine the laptop in his/her bag being one like this (the Dell Precision M8400 which was one of the top 5 best engineering laptops of it's year), roughly 8 pounds without the giant 1-2 pound power adapter, but that they'd have to carry because the "real world" battery life will be between 1 and 2 hours....... "silence" as the commercial says. Yup. Oh, but they could leave that one in their room and use their phone like they do all the time now, right!?! OK. Chew on this. On a regular basis today, profs will refer to documents that they've prepared and that students must reference (often in class), or a website, or last week's notes on a  PowerPoint that he/she's not putting up because they have today's up there on the projector that you're already struggling to see because you're sitting 120 feet away in that giant lecture hall. So yeah, suffice to say that they need to be carrying a device that they can use all the time to access data at will. 

 

 

In today's world, the there are three candidates for this job. A "convertible" computer such as Microsoft's Surface/Pro, basically a full UltraBook PC in a tablet form that the user can easily attach a keyboard for productivity use. The tablet, in iOS, Android or MS Windows that can do similar stuff, not quite as capable, but can be cheaper/lighter and in an amazing variety of sizes, prices and forms. And the "Clamshell" "Ultra-portable" (at or sub-3lbs) full laptop. These are typically around 12" screens making them OK to carry and use in the classroom. So, that's one computing device. The other?

That's a desktop PC? Yup. This one is the Cooler Master Elite 130 case, less than $50 to buy, about the size of the proverbial breadbox. Don't like the style, buy any number of those ones between $50 and $100, a Mini-ITX motherboard, other parts, build (or have somebody else build) a machine that's going to cost around $600. Spend another $400 to $600 on the other device, and you're done! There is one more option if you have $3000+!

This is an Asus, but Razer started it a year of so ago. What is it? It's an UltraBook, with built-in graphics (read, not good for heavy duty use), but connects to an external enclosure that houses a full-sized graphics card of your choice and therefore giving the notebook PC the muscle to do pretty much anything. Plan on spending around $4000 total to get yourself going. My plan proposes spending $1000. That's the price of a pretty nice laptop computer at Best Buy. There'll be more parts to this concept to come.

Screens Galore

OK, I'll own up to it.....I love screens, the more the better! You remember Hugh Jackman's hacker character in Swordfish, sitting in front of that outlandish rig that he had John Travolta's character put together for him? Something like 7, LCD flatpanels, which was crazy at the time (2001). It'd be even more so, if people know that most of them were the ultra-expensive SGI 1600SW, that sold for $2500 apiece, and that was without the special converter boxes necessary for them to run with normal graphics cards. Otherwise, you'd have to connect them with special graphics cards of which there were only a very few and expensive as well. Other than being a geek/nerd/propellerhead, I noticed them because I happened to have one of these beasties sitting on my desk at home. At that time very few people had LCDs of any kind at home, much less one of these oddities. 

Of course, since that time, LCD monitors have become common and even the use of multiple monitors is not that unusual. However, I'll have to say that I am unusual (a little bit anyway). For me, 1 or even 2 has never been enough. During the time of the SGI, I had that one in the middle and two large 19-20" CRTs on each side. It took three graphics cards to run them, but I did it. A few years back, I had read somewhere that as far back as Windows 98, Microsoft had built in the capability to resolve up to 10 displays! They should have never told me that; I've been on a monitor binge ever since.....especially now that LCDs are the norm and take up way less space.

 

Last year some time, I became aware of the "portable" monitors that were appearing on the market. They began hitting the market in the form of the various 7" Mimo models at first, then Toshiba, along with Lenovo and others. There are more, probably about 5 brands total which are really only coming out of about 2 factories. They are all pretty similar, ranging from 7" to 10", some with touch, some without, but all are USB "bus" powered, taking signal and current from the USB port of the host machine. For obvious reasons, I became enamored of them right away, imagining myself setting up with a laptop and plugging up one of these things along-side like some sort of mini-me version of the big workstation rig at home! 

Then, right around the time that I was busy trying to figure out a way to squeeze the $100-150 out of thin air, lightning struck...or more accurately; Android struck! I started getting the craving for a tablet, and you guys know where that led me. So what? End of the tiny portable monitor dream? Well.....yes, and no. I knew that if I got one of those little monitors, it'd sit in a drawer like one of my many, "love it" toys like the Bluetooth GPS receiver (to name one). The fact is that, it's a "one trick pony", so there are only so many situations in which it can be used. However; a tablet......now that's something that can have a variety of uses. 

Last night, I came up with use number 45 (or whatever it is now)......an extension monitor.....TA DA!!! I've known for some time that you can get apps that allow a tablet to connect to a computer and use it as an external monitor, but last night, I finally did it. I not only did it, but I did it in the most excessive manner possible (for me anyway)! I set it up on my desk next to the keyboard/mouse area. That's the computer that I currently have a 22" (1960 x 1200) screen, a 20" (1600 x 1200) screen, AND 19" (1440 x 900) TV/Monitor on a swivel arm mount for those times when I need a third screen. That one is on a selector box which allows me to switch between the WHS server and the workstation, as well as having the facility to connect to a DVD/VCR or TV. So anyway, I was up late playing around on the internet, when the thought struck me that maybe I should give one of those apps a try. I started out looking at the Redfly Screenslider, but didn't like that you paid the $.99, but then had to pay more to get the rest of the features on the "Pro" version. So I just ponied up the $4.99 for the one that been in this game the longest: iDisplay. After a little bit of fiddling around with the settings, it worked just fine.

So, what does one DO with a small (1260 x 800) 4th monitor? It turns out that I found the perfect use for it. Drag the music player over there and that way, I can manipulate the controls by touch! This leaves the other 3 free for editing picture, placing Adobe palettes, and monitoring file transfers. OK, really, I'll probably use it with my laptop as my extended desktop screen when I'm on the go, but need to get work done. I feel like James Bond and "Q" all rolled in one.

 

Age of the "Slate"

Not even we, are immune the trends. About a month ago, the first tablet came to live at our house. I've alluded to it before, but never fully explained how I got what might be one of greatest "deals" in my Frugal Propellerhead career. So let me back up to the middle of the summer when this all started.

 At that point, my iPad toting brother-in-law who spent the summer here had been around for a month, and my techno-lust had been well-and-truly ignited. Of course, me being me, I didn't really want an iPad that seemingly every pretentious house-wife and fashionista twenty-something was toting around. Even my father-in-law had given in to the the disease and gotten one for his wife. So obviously that was pretty much off of my radar.....even if I could rationalize or afford it. 

What I really wanted was the ThinkPad "Slate" Tablet, by Lenovo. I didn't want it because it was a ThinkPad. I wanted it because of what made it a ThinkPad Tablet. It was everything that the iPad wasn't; it was function first and really pretty utilitarian in design. Not to say it's ugly, it's a bit of a "government agency GMC Yukon" of tablets. Of course you can read about it on one of the many review sites, but let me at least say that I'm more than pleased with the performance. It's equipped with a 10" IPS screen covered with Gorilla glass and packs a dual core processor supported by 64Gb of storage, not to mention the full SD card slot!

However, it's really the "back-story" of how I came to have it that's more interesting....so here goes. When I started looking at tablets. I was originally intent on starting out by purchasing a cheap android clone just to play around with, before I invested in something nicer. In fact, I had found a guy on Craig's List who was trying to sell a little 7" Viewsonic for $30. However, that seller was kind of flaky and never would meet me, so the sale never came to fruition. As many of you are aware, when I get interested in something, I spend a lot of time researching and hours on eBay watching them. Of course I was aware of the ThinkPad Tablet, but couldn't even afford the $250-300 that I sometimes saw them sell for, much less the $550 to $650 that they sold at new. Therefore, they were pretty much a "pipe-dream". Then, one day while scanning the eBay ads, I came across a guy selling a "new-looking", but "non-working" ThinkPad Tablet for $200. Knowing that they hadn't been out for very long, I was curious why the guy didn't just send it in for warranty repairs. We messaged back and forth on eBay; enough so that I was comfortable with him being what he claimed to be......which was someone who goes out to auctions and buys up pallets of goods. He said that it was in a "mixed lot" pallet and the rest of what he had for sale pretty much bore this out. What it means, is that his business is to go to various auctions, bid on pallets of goods that can come from almost anywhere, but commonly, from places that have gone out of business. So they end up with all manner of stuff that they don't have time to test thoroughly. They make money, by "flipping" this stuff as quickly as possible and do it all over again. 

Anyway, the most interesting part was that although he tried.....and ultimately failed to figure out how to work Lenovo's support site to find out the warranty status. Lenovo, like all the other bigger corporate suppliers typically have 1 to 3 year warranty periods which are pretty liberal. So, after a little digging, I figured out that the tablet in question, which by the way was the highest spec 64Gb model was covered till November 23rd of this year! And, before I offered him $150 (which he accepted), I even told him about it! Then began my odyssey with Lenovo warranty service:

1. The day I received it from the seller, I called Lenovo support- 
2. they sent out a box which I received the next day- 
3. that same day I got it back on UPS to the Memphis repair depot (which used to the EZ-Serv division of IBM)- 
4. the following day they acknowledged that the tablet had been received and said it would take a week- 
5. after a week, I saw online that it was "on hold for parts" so I called them to find out what happened- 
6. got escalated to a manager- who called me the next day to say that they weren't going to have that part for some time and they'd talk to Lenovo to see what they could do- 
7. a day later, he called me to say that Lenovo had agreed to replace it with a new unit......shipped directly from the factory in China!!! 
8.  Two weeks after that, I receive delivery of a brand new ThinkPad "Slate" Tablet directly to my house.......after one month of my time and $150 invested!

Do I love it more because it was ridiculously cheaper than what the normal price should have been? Yup, I sure do....but that's not the end of the story. Apparently I don't love it as much as my 9 year old son and 6 year old daughter, so we all know what that means, right!?! You got it......

Daddy-Claus has been busily looking for something for Christmas. After examing a crazy number of different tablets, it came down to what I was willing to spend on two elementary aged kids while making the salary of a teacher. That turns out to be around $100 give or take. Decision parameters?

• Their kids! If we were a part of a different demographic, maybe it'd be a no-brainer and we'd just buy iPads........hmmmmm...........naaaaaawwww.
• It needed to be small for kid hands and so they could carry it around in backpacks etc.
• It needed to have a dual-core processor so it could run something better than Android Gingerbread.
• It needed to be better-built than the usual "no-name" clones that may run great, or may break after a week. 

Actually the device that got me going was the Arnova 7, specifically the 7F G3 that Micro Center had on their sales flier for $100. For those who aren't familiar with them, Arnova, is a low-end branding used by Archos, a French electronics manufacturer. Although, not exactly an iPad killer, it does have a dual-core and comes loaded with Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Therefore, now that I had a legitimate price for a 7" tablet running something other than warmed-over phone Android, from an honest-to-gosh manufacturer, I now had a standard. 

 What I had figured out was this: 

1. I could buy a decent tablet pretty much any time, new or used for around $100. All you have to do is to do a search on the local Craig's List.
2. Unfortunately, at that price, all you'll usually get is an old single-core machine only capable of running Android "Gingerbread"....like the Lenovo IdeaPad A1 (illustrated above).
3. I wanted one built at least as nicely as the Lenovo IdeaPad....
4. But wanted it to be able to run Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) or better.....
5. And of course, I only wanted to spend around $100

So it looked like it was going to be the Arnova 7F G3 for a while.....right up until I came across the Dell Streak 7, being sold by Newegg, "refurbished" for $120. Here was everything I was looking for in one package. As part of the refurbishing, these unit are loaded with Honeycomb. It comes with Gorilla-Glass (just like my ThinkPad Slate), and a full sized SD card slot. And I'm betting that the refurbishing amounted to loading the new OS, flashing the ROM and replacing the backs with one that doesn't have T-Mobile markings! I'd lay even money that Newegg got a sweetheart deal on them when T-Mobile decided to get rid of the ones that hadn't sold yet from their original cost-supplimented deal they had cut with Dell. Anyway; I don't really care. I'm going to look good at Christmas this year is all I know!

Which leaves one thing left to do. You guessed it: A tablet for the wife of course! Let me give you one quote and see if you translate it as quickly as I did. Upon being offered to use my Slate, she said: "No, that's your tablet". The emphasis is mine of course, but you got the message, right? Now I've just got to decide whether to go with any one of the following options:

• A "rooted" HP TouchPad running Android 4.0 (ICS)- Least expensive
• A Motorola Xoom- Middle of the road (cost-wise)
• Or give in, worship at the alter of Jobs and buy her an iPad- Most expensive 

 

Of course, this is a conundrum all to itself and obviously in need of a separate post.