Quote:
Originally Posted by tubemonkey
We used $500 slide rules. The $400 models weren't up to the task.  |
No student
needs a computer, as there are computer labs all around any campus. Getting time on one of those labs during the hours they're open, especially when a project is due in a couple of days... is a bit difficult to say the least.
However, if the student is in the (hard) sciences or math, a netbook simply won't cut it. I was an engineering major, and had to learn 4 different CAD programs during school. You can't do CAD on a netbook, there's simply not enough processing power to run the display, let alone compute the Finite Element Analysis.
My friends in Chemistry/Physics/etc. also wrote quite a bit of code; most of it in MATLAB. This is not a lightweight IDE. Sure, you could write it on a netbook, but it would take a loooooong time to execute a script. They also used CAD a little bit.
As far as textbooks... Yeah, they cost as much as a mid range laptop every term. My costs averaged $600 a quarter. The structural engineers had ONE class where they were required to spend $450 for two texts. Add in your other three and you're closing in on a grand for the term.