I went out n got myself one and i have to say it is 'useful' but not 'nessesary'.
Because building 10 has pretty good equiptment for ppl to just sit down with a laptop it is useful when u want to print something but there are no terminals in any of the labs.
Or when you are with a group of friends and want to work on an assignment in private yet still be connected to the UTS network etc etc...
Wireless would also be useful it they had coverage in lecture theatres, but so far they do not.
And considering u no longer can leech (kazaa) using the UTS connection a laptop is 'less useful' than when you could
.
So i think if you were to purchase a laptop just get one for less than 1000 dollars because really you probably wont use it as much as you would have thought. And you will only be doing things like internet surfing and taking notes really so nothing flash is needed.