Best computer/tablet for dental school?

[DozingDentist]

Question regarding technology for dental school for all of you.

Would you consider a tablet (ipad w/ apple pencil or microsoft surface pro) or laptop to be of more importance.

Currently, I have a 5 year old macbook pro that is still in decent condition. Would definitely work, but it is getting older and a bit slower/heats up quick/etc. I'm debating between upgrading to a new laptop or purchasing a tablet (leaning towards ipad pro w/ pencil) and to supplement it with my current laptop when needed. Is using only a tablet/ipad daily at school a viable option? Any expereinces or advice will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

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[2jz]

I bought a surface pro to replace my old surface around Black Friday the year before starting dental school, turned out the school I was accepted to a month later requires us to buy specific laptops. I barely touch my surface now, so if you can wait until you're accepted and know more about what the school requires... It might save you some money

 

[FanOfCostco]

Awww that's cute. You think you will be study instead of playing LoL or DOTA in class.

Call me old school but you can probably do a lot more with an laptop than a tablet.

 

[TanMan]

Awww that's cute. You think you will be study instead of playing LoL or DOTA in class.

Call me old school but you can probably do a lot more with an laptop than a tablet.

Haha, it's very true. Most of the time, we were watching movies in the back, playing games or sleeping when it was a mandatory class.

Get a laptop. It's faster to type than to write. Also, you have the flexibility of gaming and watching movies if you get a desktop replacement. Only downside is it's heavy and noisy. It's embarassing when you're in the middle of a game (or something graphics intensive) and the cooling fans are blasting full blast on your laptop and making a bunch of noise.

@2jz is right. You should know the school requirements and whether they will require some kind of school mandated spyware in the name of HIPAA. If they have school mandated spyware/software, just get the mandatory laptop for whatever is required and buy yourself a fun laptop to use during the downtime/mandatory class.

I remember we recorded a video of a paper airplane flying behind a professor's head -- we were recording it on our laptops. I gotta find that video and post it on here. Man, the memories of dental school. It was some course on public health.

 

[FanOfCostco]

Haha, it's very true. Most of the time, we were watching movies in the back, playing games or sleeping when it was a mandatory class.

It's only embarrassing if you slam the screen shut because some jerk plays you on his smurf account...... not speaking from experience

 

[deleted767916]

Wait why do they want specific laptops?

I bought a surface pro to replace my old surface around Black Friday the year before starting dental school, turned out the school I was accepted to a month later requires us to buy specific laptops. I barely touch my surface now, so if you can wait until you're accepted and know more about what the school requires... It might save you some money

 

[2jz]

Wait why do they want specific laptops?

I don't really know the specific answer to be honest. It could be software, it could be minimum hardware requirements to run said software. They have their own in house IT who I'm sure would be a lot less helpful than they already are if they had to work across so many systems.

Almost all of our exams/weekly quizzes are PC based, we have ehr software on our laptops too, etc.