Ipad, netbook or new laptop for med school?

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I will be starting med school this coming fall and was wondering whether I should get an ipad, netbook, some other tablet, or a new laptop for med school. What would be the device that would make studying/note taking most efficient?

Originally Posted by monkeyMD

I will be starting med school this coming fall and was wondering whether I should get an ipad, netbook, some other tablet, or a new laptop for med school. What would be the device that would make studying/note taking most efficient?

Laptop.

Originally Posted by monkeyMD

I will be starting med school this coming fall and was wondering whether I should get an ipad, netbook, some other tablet, or a new laptop for med school. What would be the device that would make studying/note taking most efficient?

Laptop. And I go to a school with an iPad curriculum. Although the iPad is nifty and can be a cool study tool (mine is loaded with my textbooks, apps, etc), nothing beats a laptop.

I bring my laptop to class to take notes and use it heavily for studying. I use my iPad for the textbooks/apps/flashcards, or to podcast/view slides while I'm taking notes on my laptop.

How effective is the laptop for notetaking when the professor starts going really fast in a power point presentation? I mean, you wouldn't be able to circle things quickly or make quick labels on the slides because you would be using a mouse and keyboard. On the other hand, if you have a tablet, you can just use the stylus and quickly jot notes and circle and make arrows for diagrams.

My question is, when the professor starts going fast, and there are diagrams that need to be labeled and notes to be made on them, is the laptop still the fastest and most effective tool (versus the tablet)?

Originally Posted by monkeyMD

I will be starting med school this coming fall and was wondering whether I should get an ipad, netbook, some other tablet, or a new laptop for med school. What would be the device that would make studying/note taking most efficient?

I would go with a MacBook Air.

If you wait till Q1 of 2013 you can have both a tablet and a laptop all in one device. It's where laptops are headed.

Windows 8 will come out in October which is all about touchscreen support. Ultrabooks are already designed to be super-low voltage and long battery life (macbook air is an example of an ultrabook, but there are many cheaper options out there).

Personally, I'm all fired up to buy the Asus Zenbook UX31A, but I'm impatient.


Check out the link for a list of what's around the corner in the computing word:

http://ultrabooknews.com/2012/06/04/...-up/#more-3847

Here's a particularly cool computer on the horizon:
http://ultrabooknews.com/2012/06/04/...een/#more-3818

Good luck!

Originally Posted by premed21

How effective is the laptop for notetaking when the professor starts going really fast in a power point presentation? I mean, you wouldn't be able to circle things quickly or make quick labels on the slides because you would be using a mouse and keyboard. On the other hand, if you have a tablet, you can just use the stylus and quickly jot notes and circle and make arrows for diagrams.

My question is, when the professor starts going fast, and there are diagrams that need to be labeled and notes to be made on them, is the laptop still the fastest and most effective tool (versus the tablet)?

The thing is writing on a tablet (or an iPad from my experience) isn't as easy as you would think. You have to write on the iPad with a stylus without resting your palm on it, which makes it hard to write fast. And it's not as sensitive, so the writing comes out really sloppy.

I also like to write on diagrams, draw arrows, etc., so I actually printed out my notes for the first half of the year. But I've switched over to the laptop to save on paper and printer ink. I have a macbook, so I just edit the lecture PDFs on Preview. It's really quick and easy to add text boxes anywhere you want on the slides (so you can label any diagrams, put notes next to relevant points, etc). You can even quickly add arrows, underline, highlight, circle things, etc with one or two clicks. And it's actually more efficient since I type way faster than I write. But that's just me.

Originally Posted by Bza

The thing is writing on a tablet (or an iPad from my experience) isn't as easy as you would think. You have to write on the iPad with a stylus without resting your palm on it, which makes it hard to write fast. And it's not as sensitive, so the writing comes out really sloppy.

I also like to write on diagrams, draw arrows, etc., so I actually printed out my notes for the first half of the year. But I've switched over to the laptop to save on paper and printer ink. I have a macbook, so I just edit the lecture PDFs on Preview. It's really quick and easy to add text boxes anywhere you want on the slides (so you can label any diagrams, put notes next to relevant points, etc). You can even quickly add arrows, underline, highlight, circle things, etc with one or two clicks. And it's actually more efficient since I type way faster than I write. But that's just me.

Interesting.

What are some simple Windows PDF editors that people use for note annotations? Or do folks use adobe acrobat?

Note: Telling me to use a mac is not helpful. I am not so inclined.

Laptop. And take your notes on paper.

I tried the netbook thing and it wasn't good.

Originally Posted by sam500

What are some simple Windows PDF editors that people use for note annotations? Or do folks use adobe acrobat?

I use PDF X-change for Windows (and have introduced it to several of my classmates). You can take notes, draw shapes/arrows, use different color annotations, etc.

I'd also suggest getting a netbook or lighter laptop - one that you can bring to and from class every day without getting tired - unless you plan on doing some heavy duty work on your computer. I basically only use Word/Excel/Powerpoint and a web browser, so this netbook is my full time computer. Anything that needs more processing power, I do in the library or computer lab.

Keep in mind though, your note-taking habits might change during the year. I started off marking up every powerpoint lecture on my computer, but realized that it was very low yield to go through each slide (of a 100-slide lecture, x4 every day) compared to reading class notes or review books. Don't settle on a study habit before you've even started class.

I got a laptop, but really wish I'd gone with an iPad. Lots of people in my class had iPads with cases that also act as stands/keyboards (like http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00604...dir_mdp_mobile ), and it really seemed like the best of all worlds. They could type OR write/circle things with their fingers/etc. The people I talked to with them LOVED them. I just finished MS2, if it matters.

Thanks for all the input. My laptop is being crappier than crap and going through spontaneous shut downs recently. I am going to get it fixed but was also wondering whether it is worth it to buy something else as an additional unit...or to just buy a new laptop all together (but my laptop is only 1.5 yrs old and was decent until it started with the sudden shutdown crap).

I usually write notes on paper (normal lined notebook)...or I did during undergrad anyway. If they had ppt slides, I printed them and wrote on them. We also had readers for some classes with all the slides that we had to buy. But I have no clue what will happen in med school and was wondering whether I need a better study tool...ie., tablet, ipad, netbook or something else.

Originally Posted by monkeyMD

Thanks for all the input. My laptop is being crappier than crap and going through spontaneous shut downs recently. I am going to get it fixed but was also wondering whether it is worth it to buy something else as an additional unit...or to just buy a new laptop all together (but my laptop is only 1.5 yrs old and was decent until it started with the sudden shutdown crap).

I usually write notes on paper (normal lined notebook)...or I did during undergrad anyway. If they had ppt slides, I printed them and wrote on them. We also had readers for some classes with all the slides that we had to buy. But I have no clue what will happen in med school and was wondering whether I need a better study tool...ie., tablet, ipad, netbook or something else.

If I used lecture notes (sometimes I didn't because the lecturers sucked) I would print PPs out and write on them. It sounds like it worked for you just like it worked for me in undergrad. If that's what you're comfortable with I would stick with it unless your lectures really suck. The only thing this really doesn't work for is histology or anything you need color pictures unless you want to print in color.

If you like taking notes on paper then I would definitely stick with that instead of buying an iPad for that purpose. Like other people have said, the iPad isn't really the tool of choice for notetaking. If you're a fast writer (like me) use paper and if you're a fast typer than just use your laptop. An iPad isn't really an advantage in either of those categories, it's more of a really light way to carry powerpoints and pdfs around with you when you want to look at them (among lots of other things of course).

Skip iPad. Worthless little toy. Returning mine.

I am thinking about getting a lenovo convertible tablet. Either the X220 or X230. Can anyone recommend it? How well does the digitizer work?

Originally Posted by tharms

I am thinking about getting a lenovo convertible tablet. Either the X220 or X230. Can anyone recommend it? How well does the digitizer work?

**BY FAR** the best convertible tablet on the market. I highly recommend it. Writing is just like pen and paper.

I have been a fan of paper and pen for a while, but I'm thinking about making the switch to a computer. I was thinking about using the Samsung Slate with OneNote. I have been watching a bunch of videos online and playing around on OneNote and they both seem pretty efficient. I think tablets are better for media consumption while ate PCs that can run full Windows would be better for taking notes.

Did anyone see the new MacBook pro retina hd video? It looks epic. I'm pretty sure I'll be going with one of those-- probably going to get it to run windows so I can use OneNote (which I will also run on my desktop pc with dual 24" monitors )

Originally Posted by RandomHero117

Did anyone see the new MacBook pro retina hd video? It looks epic. I'm pretty sure I'll be going with one of those-- probably going to get it to run windows so I can use OneNote (which I will also run on my desktop pc with dual 24" monitors )

$2200 seems pretty expensive just so you can run windows and OneNote

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

Originally Posted by Slev

$2200 seems pretty expensive just so you can run windows and OneNote

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

the beautiful thing about this machine is that I can use it for more than one purpose.

i can paint a room in my house green and that doesn't mean i don't need all of the cone cells in my eyes.

Originally Posted by Sergeant D

**BY FAR** the best convertible tablet on the market. I highly recommend it. Writing is just like pen and paper.

I've never used a convertible tablet or digitizer.

How does it work? What software do you use? Can you mark up pdf's using the stylus just as you would a pencil on notepaper? I know onenote is meant to be stylus friendly. Is this your program of choice? Practically, how user friendly is this set-up?

Cheers guys,
Sam

Originally Posted by premed21

How effective is the laptop for notetaking when the professor starts going really fast in a power point presentation? I mean, you wouldn't be able to circle things quickly or make quick labels on the slides because you would be using a mouse and keyboard. On the other hand, if you have a tablet, you can just use the stylus and quickly jot notes and circle and make arrows for diagrams.

My question is, when the professor starts going fast, and there are diagrams that need to be labeled and notes to be made on them, is the laptop still the fastest and most effective tool (versus the tablet)?

This is where Podcasting comes in. Slow down, speed up, pause, annotate, and never miss anything. All from the comfort of your home in your PJs and slippers (or whatever).

Med school lectures tend to be pretty fast and detail oriented. I really never learned much (if anything in lecture). This is why most people never go to class; lecture attendance is just not productive (sorry to go off on a tangent).

I tried making it work with an iPad.... Definately should have saved my money. Go with the laptop.

Originally Posted by necoli

I tried making it work with an iPad.... Definately should have saved my money. Go with the laptop.

Totally possible to use just an iPad. I finished 2nd year with a 4.0 and used nothing else. I have FA 2012 and uworld on here which I am using for step 1. So nice to have everything in 1 place... Books, notes, ppts.

Posted from my iPad

Originally Posted by shenanigi

Totally possible to use just an iPad. I finished 2nd year with a 4.0 and used nothing else. I have FA 2012 and uworld on here which I am using for step 1. So nice to have everything in 1 place... Books, notes, ppts.

Posted from my iPad

Ya, I absolutely LOVE my iPad, I use it for everything!

Sager NP9130
$1250 gets you the new 3610qm quad core processor IVY bridge, and 670m video card that can handle all your photoshop and gaming needs from here to 2015.

If you're into good sound for your laptop, wait for the Toshiba Qosmio to come out with the new ivy bridge.

Originally Posted by bobow98

Sager NP9130
$1250 gets you the new 3610qm quad core processor IVY bridge, and 670m video card that can handle all your photoshop and gaming needs from here to 2015.

If you're into good sound for your laptop, wait for the Toshiba Qosmio to come out with the new ivy bridge.

Haha yeah man except the thing weighs like 7-8 lbs and the power adapter is the size of a small book. Don't get me wrong, I'm typing on one right now but I keep it at home and use my old laptop for around campus. Definitely not in the "whip out and take a few notes on category".

Originally Posted by bobow98

Sager NP9130
$1250 gets you the new 3610qm quad core processor IVY bridge, and 670m video card that can handle all your photoshop and gaming needs from here to 2015.

If you're into good sound for your laptop, wait for the Toshiba Qosmio to come out with the new ivy bridge.

Why not just buy a desktop?

I say:

Ipad + Laptop + Desktop.

Only way to live.

OWTL

Originally Posted by kautionwirez

Why not just buy a desktop?

I say:

Ipad + Laptop + Desktop.

Only way to live.

OWTL

I would except I have nowhere to put a desktop right now and I lug the laptop over to my friends' places to play so I decided to go with the laptop. Could have probably saved about 300-400 bucks with a desktop though.

Originally Posted by calvnandhobbs68

I would except I have nowhere to put a desktop right now and I lug the laptop over to my friends' places to play so I decided to go with the laptop. Could have probably saved about 300-400 bucks with a desktop though.

Next to your 46" HDTV and 7.2 surround sound speakers. (not that I have these)

Gaming galore.

Probably won't happen until during or after residency.

Originally Posted by calvnandhobbs68

Haha yeah man except the thing weighs like 7-8 lbs and the power adapter is the size of a small book. Don't get me wrong, I'm typing on one right now but I keep it at home and use my old laptop for around campus. Definitely not in the "whip out and take a few notes on category".

How often are you ever really going to whip out something like this and take some notes without a table/desk present to just put your laptop on? Are these few occurrences really worth the price of an iPad?

Originally Posted by Narmerguy

How often are you ever really going to whip out something like this and take some notes without a table/desk present to just put your laptop on? Are these few occurrences really worth the price of an iPad?

I use my old laptop which is basically a pretty thin normal 14" laptop. A laptop is definitely more functional than an iPad in the sense that I can open up like 15 tabs on my laptop when I'm looking for research papers or something. There aren't many places where you don't have a desk/table to put a laptop on. If you're talking about a Sager I don't know if you've ever seen one...it's a pain to take it anywhere.

I personally don't think an iPad would be worth the price to me right now but I'm still strongly tempted to get a refurb one for $320. In that price range its more worth the "coolness" and portability factor to me. I wouldn't put out $500 though...I bought the old laptop that I use now for about $500.

mac book pro

Laptop. The best value is Linux. I suggest Ubuntu/Kubuntu. They have many of the advantages found in Macs (almost no viri, pactically don't crash, don't get slower with each update (à la Windoze), etc. The OS and the GUI are free and there are many completely free applications rivalling commercial ones found on other systems. You can get Open Office and extensions for all your office needs. Ask me about alternatives to Outlook, if you absolutely need it. You don't.

If you can afford it, get a Mac.

I just got the lenovo X230t, which offers the best of all worlds

-laptop with latest specifications and windows 7 professional (15 dollar upgrade to windows 8 when it comes out)
-flip it around and write like pen and paper
-weighs very little and has a long battery life
-hook it up to an HDTV or any other external monitor for a bigger viewing screen at home
-fingerprint reader for security

it's a very neat device

Originally Posted by Rumalum

I just got the lenovo X230t, which offers the best of all worlds

-laptop with latest specifications and windows 7 professional (15 dollar upgrade to windows 8 when it comes out)
-flip it around and write like pen and paper
-weighs very little and has a long battery life
-hook it up to an HDTV or any other external monitor for a bigger viewing screen at home
-fingerprint reader for security

it's a very neat device

I agree.

I just bought one as well.

Any suggestions as far as digitizer capable software?

The 11" MacBook Air is a fantastic machine. I'd highly recommend it - tiny, fast, and no moving parts to break down.

You can always get a monitor and an external hard drive for when you need it.

I'm not sure how the new one stacks up to the old one, but I love mine.

I am in the same dilemma myself - have a four-year old laptop that is not looking happy at all

I was looking at the new 13-inch MacBook Pro. I was wondering which of the two options to take: intel core i5 ($1229) or i7 processor ($1529)

Is it worth it to put the extra $300 for the i7 processor?

I have a Lenovo T400s. It's light enough to make it easy to commute with but has all the features of a regular laptop (disk drive, full size keyboard/screen, etc) and I've been very happy with it. I got it at half price from the Lenovo outlet, so I really can't complain.

Some of my classmates have Ipads and bring them to class to take notes, but I don't know anyone who would use one entirely in lieu of a computer. Some powerpoint files don't load properly on Ipads and, if you have a link to anything requiring flash, you're out of luck.

The ideal solution I think is to get a laptop with a tablet screen, like on of the previous posters mentioned, as this can make marking up powerpoints easier. However, I've found using the "draw" feature and a mouse (allows me to be more precise than with either my touchpad or trackpoint) is a good substitute.

Last year I bought a 15" MacBook Pro for school. 2.3GHz quad core i7 processor, 8GB RAM, 750GB HDD, 1GB Graphics Card etc. It's a pretty sweet machine.

This year I sorta wish I'd bought a baseline 11 or 13" MacBook Air. The 15" breaks my back, and I've never needed anywhere near the type of power this computer has.

My computer just needs to run microsoft office effectively. Anything can do that.

Originally Posted by SLC

Last year I bought a 15" MacBook Pro for school. 2.3GHz quad core i7 processor, 8GB RAM, 750GB HDD, 1GB Graphics Card etc. It's a pretty sweet machine.

This year I sorta wish I'd bought a baseline 11 or 13" MacBook Air. The 15" breaks my back, and I've never needed anywhere near the type of power this computer has.

My computer just needs to run microsoft office effectively. Anything can do that.

I hope so. It costs a few thousand.

Just ordered a x230T today. Hope i made the right choice even with all the new technology coming out.

Originally Posted by JackShephard MD

I hope so. It costs a few thousand.

I know right? I guess I just thought I'd have some sweet 3D anatomy software to use or something.

It's OK though, I do a lot of photo and video work and this laptop is suited to that kind of thing. I still enjoy it, but in the context of school, a small MacBook air would have probably been better.

Did anyone use the ebook version of Netter's Atlas? It's around $60 for the Kindle book, which I can get on my iPad, but I'm not sure if it would be better to have a tangible book or a super portable version.
EDIT: I just realized that I can access the ebook on my MacBook as well through the Kindle app (sorry, I'm a bit slow in tech-world) so I'm thinking that the ebook would be super convenient? Just wondering at this point if anyone knows of any faults with the ebook versus the paper book.

Originally Posted by Ismet

Did anyone use the ebook version of Netter's Atlas? It's around $60 for the Kindle book, which I can get on my iPad, but I'm not sure if it would be better to have a tangible book or a super portable version.
EDIT: I just realized that I can access the ebook on my MacBook as well through the Kindle app (sorry, I'm a bit slow in tech-world) so I'm thinking that the ebook would be super convenient? Just wondering at this point if anyone knows of any faults with the ebook versus the paper book.

Haven't bought that version, but make sure you read some ebook reviews before purchasing. Some ebook conversions are very bad, and you need full size images and indexing for Netter's to be useful.

There are other ways to get it too, such as various apps, etc.

Originally Posted by Ismet

Did anyone use the ebook version of Netter's Atlas? It's around $60 for the Kindle book, which I can get on my iPad, but I'm not sure if it would be better to have a tangible book or a super portable version.
EDIT: I just realized that I can access the ebook on my MacBook as well through the Kindle app (sorry, I'm a bit slow in tech-world) so I'm thinking that the ebook would be super convenient? Just wondering at this point if anyone knows of any faults with the ebook versus the paper book.

I continue to debate this in my head. Do I need the physical book or can I trust the iPad to handle this? I guess only time will tell.

Originally Posted by Papist

I continue to debate this in my head. Do I need the physical book or can I trust the iPad to handle this? I guess only time will tell.

I did some more searching and I found the Netter's iPad app for $80. There is a limited free version, so I got that to try it out, and it's beautiful. You can zoom in closely on the diagrams, highlight, take notes, make bookmarks, and there's even a quiz feature. It has mostly 5 star reviews, and the only complaints are that the app updates clear the saved bookmarks. I can see how that can be annoying, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up getting it based on all the reviews that said it's more useful than the hard copy. It would be so perfect for portability. Check out the free app!!

The great thing about the ipad is you can load pdf files of your books onto it......so your entire textbook collection...consolidated into 2 lbs? Sure, this can be done with any old computer too, but the ipad is just so much more convenient....my only contention is that they haven't updated ibooks to let you view 2 pages at a time (its a problem when the text makes reference to figures on the next page....it can be annoying to jump back and forth....but hopefully they will update that soon....oh and the echocardiography atlas app is pretty awesome too

There are much better apps for PDF viewing than iBooks.

I would use GoodReader or Papers (if storing pubmed articles).

Originally Posted by johnnydrama

There are much better apps for PDF viewing than iBooks.

I would use GoodReader or Papers (if storing pubmed articles).

These are available for the iPad? free?