Spend $1,000 on that new laptop, or instead use the same $1,000 to take out less in student loans? That should be a pretty easy choice.

Indeed it is easy - a laptop is available to my (hypothetical) child 24/7 wherever on campus they need or want to use it. It's entertainment, communications, education, etc... etc... in one compact package. It's a bargain at twice the price.

I lack a printer, and thus I rely on the University's printing capabilities. I'm sure I'm not the only one; many students appear to have their own computers, but seem to rely on the University for printing off papers or projects.

Of all things that could be optimized, urls shouldn't have a high priority (unless you want people to enter them manually). I'm pretty sure their HTML, CSS, and javascript could be optimized way more than just their urls. But rather than simply sites, people often what it to be filled with crap (which nobody but themselves care about).

ps, that doesn't mean you should try to create "nice" urls instead of incomprehensible url that contain things like article.pl?sid=09/03/27/2017250

Of all things that could be optimized, urls shouldn't have a high priority (unless you want people to enter them manually). I'm pretty sure their HTML, CSS, and javascript could be optimized way more than just their urls. But rather than simply sites, people often what it to be filled with crap (which nobody but themselves care about).

ps, that doesn't mean you should try to create "nice" urls instead of incomprehensible url that contain things like article.pl?sid=09/03/27/2017250