Portability

• Laptops can be taken to and from class, allowing students to take notes, keep track of classes, and do research on a topic that the teacher is presenting.
  
  

Security

• While an unattended laptop is more easily stolen than an unattended desktop, laptops don't have to be left unattended. It's hard to carry a desktop around when you need to leave your room unlocked for some reason.
  
  

Entertainment

• Students are likely to find themselves stuck on a bus, waiting for a professor, or otherwise forced to tolerate excessive down time without the option of returning home. Most laptops now come with DVD players, providing a welcome distraction.
  
  

Convenience

• Of the students that go to a college that is not in their hometown, most of them will return home during holiday and over the summer. Packing up a desktop computer is a hassle, carrying it much more of one. A laptop can slip into a bag with all its accessories in 15 seconds.
  
  

Organization

• All information put onto a laptop, barring any unfortunate accidents, will stay on that laptop. It is easy to have chemistry notes fall out of a book. It is harder to have chemistry notes fall out of your My Documents folder.