Students who own and maintain their own computer enter university with more confidence and experience in using computers. But you do not need your own computer to succeed in the Software Engineering program. You will be given an account on the university's computing network as soon as you arrive on campus. This will give you 24 hours/day access to computers and the Internet. Also, working in the computer labs will give you a better chance to bond with their classmates. If you do decide to bring a computer with you to university, please review our guidelines on computing needs.

I have started bringing my laptop again, but I make sure I don't get distracted when I use it, and try to make it useful..for example looking up things I am having trouble understanding on the net while I am listening in class to supplement what is being talk.

Yeah, I have to confess that I now bring a laptop to lectures as well. But, you and I are graduate students, and I now find myself doing a lot more presentations that I ever did as a SE undergraduate.

Also for math based lectures it is almsot allways better to use a pencial and paper as you will be spending more time trying to figier out how to get the correct symbols in your word processor then paying antion to the professor.

In my experience sittting at the back of a UW SE classroom, most students had laptops, which they were using to play games, surf, and check social networking sites. So if you want to fit in, yes.

In my experience sittting at the back of a UW SE classroom, most students had laptops, which they were using to play games, surf, and check social networking sites. So if you want to fit in, yes.

wow, i have yet to experience a university class yet, but this seems extremely disrespectful to the professor.

Many I've talked to don't particularly care.

I'm still finding it hard to believe that people would pay to go to class and still slack off like that while it is in progress. I can understand in highschool, but does this really continue on? Why bother going?

Also, just wondering, are we allowed to record a lecture using a laptop with webcam? that would totally give me a reason to buy a laptop.

You had better ask permission of the instructor for something like that.

You had better ask permission of the instructor for something like that.

just wondering, would you allow it? and do you think other instructors in UW will allow it?

There is no need to ask for instructor's permission if you're gonna be recording lectures as long as you keep them for personal use and don't post them on the internet or something stupid like that. You're paying so much money for education that it is unfair to deny you the ability to record lectures for review.