It's great. I've been using a laptop in school since middle school. My notes are always so organized.
My only suggestions: Get a cheap, small laptop with great battery life. Or a really expensive durable one, like Macs. As much as they cost they really are durable so long as you give them one of those nice sleeve cases. Macbook Airs are even better considering they are SSD-based entirely.
Don't be one of those morons that buys a Dell 17" laptop that is made of plastic and is powered by a loving Pentium. Just buy a cheap netbook, use a durable computer, and all in all have a great battery life.
Oh and for theft, keep your stuff with you 24-loving-7. My laptop is ALWAYS in my backpack which is ALWAYS in my sight. I never leave it alone.
I didn't fall for Dell's tricks. I went with a Lenovo. Looks nice, has an i5 w/ Built in Overclock, 800 GB of HDD, Secure Drives, Port Locks(needs finger print to accept a USB Memory Stick. No print, will reject), 6 Gigs of RAM, and a metal case w/ Shock Sensors that stop spinning the HDD if I start moving with it, or it is falling.
I am excited to bring mine. The only fault is the 4 1/2 hour battery life. I'm just going to buy an alternate, and swap them out at Lunch. It will never leave my site. It supports 4G, so I am not under the schools restrictions, and I can map it within a few seconds. Our school issues locked lockers, and we are recommended to use locks in PE. I intend to lock it in my locker. Will also have a Kingston tamper alarm on it, so if someone tugs at the lock, or tampers w/ it, it will cause a scene.
I'm using API to develop some more security software(Laptop has a motion sensor). Like if I have to go to the Bathroom, and I lock it. I will hook it to the desk w/ the Kingston, sending a clear "Don't touch me" message. If it detects movement, it sets off an alarm for 10 seconds (console beeper).
Also, if I am away and it is locked, and someone moves it, it has a feature to silently start recording for ~30 seconds each. Emails me the videos as they come. Also, I have the option to Bio-Encrypt files. So I can hide things on it. Not to mention the bio-encrypted hidden HDD.
I don't think I will have much of a problem w/ theft :p
I am excited to use it. Developing a Schedule Program, and using WAMP Server to save important stuff on my server at home.
Talked to a teacher about it who loves the idea. Every student said they would like it as well.
Just worried about battery length, and vandalism.