LAptop for med school

I plan on buying a tablet pc. I lose notes really easily so having them in one place will be really helpful.

Check out the tech forum (where this will probably get moved anyway) they talk about this a lot.

I'm personally getting a MacBook Pro 15" Its a bit overkill for what I'll need as a med student, but I want the faster speed. I'm getting the MacBook because it will be more than sufficient for power point, notes, and of course internet that I'll need during med school. And I'm a bit sick of the problems I've had with PCs.

But whatever you get is really a personal choice - my understanding is that there isn't that much you'll need the computer for as a med student - mostly just some interactive study programs and power point slides.

I agree with the above posts. However, coming from an engineering background, I need my technology, no matter how little I will actually use it in school.

For ppl who are technologically challenged like myself and apparently the OP, Mac is the way to go. PC is too crazy.

FemalesCANTDriv said:

For ppl who are technologically challenged like myself and apparently the OP, Mac is the way to go. PC is too crazy.

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PC is easy...

Though I've considered getting a macbook pro - it just looks great and I really like the features. But I'm not sure I really want to switch to mac though - Probably get a sony vaio.

I just love technology, I always have to have the latest and greatest

when that day comes, i will be very sad to let my Dell go.
but i would totally get the tablet.

I would be careful about getting a Mac, because no matter how much they say all programs are compatible, they just aren't. Some of my friends have had problems with this, although its not as bad in the new Apple generation.
I have a super old IBM Think Pad and it still works well. The only thing it is weighs like a thousand pounds. And the Sony's are way over rated! They are pretty though.

mikkey said:

I would be careful about getting a Mac, because no matter how much they say all programs are compatible, they just aren't. Some of my friends have had problems with this, although its not as bad in the new Apple generation.

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Yeah but most programs have workarounds - you just need a techy to help you out. And you can almost always find a mac fanboi to help you.

Plus nowadays with bootcamp they definitely are ALWAYS compatible even without fanboi help. Got a program that only works with Windows? Boot windows up on your Mac!

LisaMD said:

Does anyone have a tablet they personally recommend? I want a screen that's bigger than 12.1" though like most of them. I am looking at the Gateway or Toshiba because they have 14" screens. Any suggestions/comments from computer geeks?

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One of my professors is testing a Toshiba tablet for lecturers in the physiology department and she said one huge flaw with it's easy to accidentally press buttons that are on the underside of the lid under where your palm would rest while you use the stylus. If you're in a powerpoint presentation, the program stops responding and you have to exit out.

I'll go ahead and ask her this Wednesday if she's had any other problems with it and get model information for you if there's more than one out there.

I just purchased an hp dv2000t customized from the hp shopping website. I had picked out what I wanted while talking with one of the computer geeks at Best Buy and then bought it online. I asked them about a tablet, and the guy recommended against it since there have been some problems with the screen on the current models. Best Buy actually stopped stocking them in the stores because of these problems.

I've got a Toshiba and I love it. (My sister has abused the hell out of hers and it's survived unscathed. The thing won't die!) I hate to give mine up, but I'll have to get whatever LSU tells me to... they don't give us a choice. We fork over an ungodly amount of money, but they give us nice laptops w/ awesome warranties.

ive ordered a Macbook!

Doctormo24 said:

ive ordered a Macbook!

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I would cancel that order if you still can. Macbooks will be upgraded sometime in mid-late May with the Santa Rosa intel chips - will speed up the start-up and program opening speeds. I think its worth waiting for.

I have a toshiba and LOVE IT! and it was only like $500 at best buy.

LisaMD said:

Does anyone have a tablet they personally recommend? I want a screen that's bigger than 12.1" though like most of them. I am looking at the Gateway or Toshiba because they have 14" screens. Any suggestions/comments from computer geeks?

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I have a Fujitsu T4215. I've only had it a couple months but so far it has been great.

I did a ton of research on tablets before breaking down and buying one. I'm not sure if it will be that useful in med school but it's a pretty cool toy. Anyway, it only has a 12.1" screen which I didn't really want but I did want something light, so I was willing to sacrifice screen size. It's really not bad at all. I had a huge widescreen laptop before so I thought it would be a bad adjustment and it hasn't been.

I decided against Toshiba and Gateway mainly because of the weight. It would depend on the school, but my school requires you to take the computer to class. I didn't want a big computer if I had to take it with me everyday. The Fujitsu is only 4 pounds. I think Toshiba also had a model that was pretty light but from what I remember the reviews weren't as good as the Fujitsu and it was just about the same cost.

HP's tablet is brand new so I didn't trust it (which from reading a previous post here was probably a good instinct). The ink technology was supposed to be different than other tablets also. Actually, Gateway does not use wacom (which is the ink technology most tablets use), which is apparently the way they get their prices lower but reviews about how it functions were a little iffy.

Then there are the thinkpads which seemed pretty nice - if you don't mind using an external optical drive. I didn't want to do that at all so those were cut from my list pretty quickly.

Asus has a tablet that gets great reviews - seemed comparable to the Fujitsu.

I ultimately went with Fujitsu for several reasons - small size, built in DVD burner, wacom technology, and excellent reviews (I didn't find a single negative review).

Sorry that was so long!

I would like to suggest ThinkPad T60p or ThinkPad X-serie (for ultraportable)

Maximum battery life

Minimum weight (with smallest screen size you can tolerate)

These are the most important. You can hook it up to a larger monitor and such at home.

I have the Lenovo older tablet - the X41. I would never go back to a "normal" laptop again. And the 12" screen is a pretty nice size for carrying it around. I didn't care about external optical drive; I never used an optical drive when I was actually AT school before, so why cart around the extra weight? Get a flash drive for file transfer.

i think ultimately it depends on the school you're going to...

Bigger the screen size, the heavier the laptop/tablet (no **** Sherlock!?!) and the sorer your back and arms will be carrying it around campus. No manufacturer includes the weight of the power cord, etc, in the weight of their laptop/tablet. Some even remove the optical drives and battery pack before providing a weight for their product (these could add an extra 3 pounds to your laptop). So the lighter the laptop to start out with, the better. Keep hard drive space to a minimum (30GB or thereabouts). Why? Because you can always have a huge external hard drive (500GB external HDs are cheap these days on techbargains.com, spoofee.com, slickdeals.net) at home. I don't see why you would want to carry around your entire video and photo library on an 80GB harddrive on your tablet everyday, anyways. Plus it adds weight and increases power needs. Make sure the tablet has excellent battery life. Microsoft's programs on newer more powerful processors are power hungry beasts and you don't want to have to always sit at the end of the rows in lectures just to have access to a power outlet.

Get a light laptop, with a decent processor, some hard drive space, and maybe a DVD burner (if you absolutely have to burn DVDs on the laptop. I have an external DVD burner and it will do great to keep the tablet's weight down). So if you're going to carry it around, you may want to keep these things in mind. But if you want a gaming laptop, that's a whole other lecture!

For those tech-savvy out there, particularly the Mac lovers, I'm hearing rumors about flash-memory Macs coming out, possibly this year? Would it be better to hold off buying one of the Macbooks right now, if this is in the works?

MicroBugs said:

For those tech-savvy out there, particularly the Mac lovers, I'm hearing rumors about flash-memory Macs coming out, possibly this year? Would it be better to hold off buying one of the Macbooks right now, if this is in the works?

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Yeah, thats why I told the other person he might want to cancel his order.

It should be coming out mid-May or so.

On May 8th Intel is releasing Santa Rosa:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino

Which includes NAND flash-memory caching branded as Turbo Memory. The cost of these flash type chips is dropping sigificantly leading both to the release of Santa Rosa and the inevitable uptake of these chips by apple.

Most mac enthusiasts think that the Santa Rosa chipped Macbook Pros should be out as soon as the Tuesday after May 8th, with Macbooks following shortly thereafter.

A good source for info like this is the Mac Rumors Buying Guide

Most med students do not use laptops when they study, although I do. If you do not plan on carrying yours to the library, then buy one with a large screen (15 inch). If you do plan on carrying it around, then get a small, light one. Dell has some cool models where you can pop out the DVD drive and insert a second battery, although most libraries have enough outlets (coffee shops not so much).

gary5 said:

Most med students do not use laptops when they study, although I do.

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Really? I had heard that most schools use power points with lectures and the vast majority of students spend hours studying off their computer.

lord_jeebus said:

Maximum battery life

Minimum weight (with smallest screen size you can tolerate)

These are the most important. You can hook it up to a larger monitor and such at home.

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So true. I have a 20 inch LCD flatscreen TV that doubles as a monitor, which will be quite convenient.

alwaysaangel said:

Most mac enthusiasts think that the Santa Rosa chipped Macbook Pros should be out as soon as the Tuesday after May 8th, with Macbooks following shortly thereafter.

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Normally, I would totally agree with that statement. However, the nice employees at my local Apple Storeare telling me that Leopard (new version of OS X) just got pushed back to October because of FCC problems with the iPhone. I suspect that they'll release the new line of macbooks with santa rose with Leopord, but that's just my opinion. I personally plan on switching to mac when leopard comes out (anytime before and I'll have to pay full price for leopard, not worth it and I'll wait).

schooltill30 said:

Normally, I would totally agree with that statement. However, the nice employees at my local Apple Storeare telling me that Leopard (new version of OS X) just got pushed back to October because of FCC problems with the iPhone. I suspect that they'll release the new line of macbooks with santa rose with Leopord, but that's just my opinion. I personally plan on switching to mac when leopard comes out (anytime before and I'll have to pay full price for leopard, not worth it and I'll wait).

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apple is probably going to want the latest processor in their macbooks for the upcoming $chool year

LCD TV resolution is too low usually to act as computer monitor. I would rather get 22''+ LCD monitor instead. You could just get a videocard that you can connect cables to.

I have T60 Thinkpad as my primary computer (i love it!). I don't have a desktop at home (which would be ideal), but I have a workstation setup with keyboard, 24'' LCD monitor and mouse (and speakers for entertainment). This way, I didn't have to spend extra money for desktop.

schooltill30 said:

Normally, I would totally agree with that statement. However, the nice employees at my local Apple Storeare telling me that Leopard (new version of OS X) just got pushed back to October because of FCC problems with the iPhone. I suspect that they'll release the new line of macbooks with santa rose with Leopord, but that's just my opinion. I personally plan on switching to mac when leopard comes out (anytime before and I'll have to pay full price for leopard, not worth it and I'll wait).

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Yeah Leopard got pushed back to October, but I doubt that will keep them from doing hardware updates.

It would really surprise me if they waited that long to do any updates. Its already hit its average length of time between updates for the MacBook Pro (188 days), and to release nothing on or before WWDC on June 11th would be pretty weird. And then to wait all the way into October past back-to-school computer purchases, etc?

I would be really shocked if they did that - it would leave them losing a lot of sales while waitinf for leopard - and it would put it at almost a year before updating the MacBook Pro which they have NEVER done before.

I am relatively certain something will come out early this summer and the Santa Rosa chips are most likely since its a straight forward, high yield update (and this is the same thing that most Mac analysts and fanbois are saying if you go to any fanboi site).

And yeah I considered waiting but I'm incredibly sick of fighting my PC and even though Tiger was pretty good when it came out - it had its bugs, somethign I'm not willing to fight with during my first semester of medical school. So I'm getting one this summer as soon as they update the hardware and then will buy Leopard 6 months or so after its release once all the bugs are out. Tiger is an AWESOME OS as it is and I don't really feel like I'm losingo out by having it instead of Leopard. But yeah to anyone who isn't really tech savvy enough to deal with bugs but wants the latest MacBook - I would recommend doing the same.

alwaysaangel said:

Yeah Leopard got pushed back to October, but I doubt that will keep them from doing hardware updates.

It would really surprise me if they waited that long to do any updates. Its already hit its average length of time between updates for the MacBook Pro (188 days), and to release nothing on or before WWDC on June 11th would be pretty weird. And then to wait all the way into October past back-to-school computer purchases, etc?

I would be really shocked if they did that - it would leave them losing a lot of sales while waitinf for leopard - and it would put it at almost a year before updating the MacBook Pro which they have NEVER done before.

I am relatively certain something will come out early this summer and the Santa Rosa chips are most likely since its a straight forward, high yield update (and this is the same thing that most Mac analysts and fanbois are saying if you go to any fanboi site).

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Yeah, you're probably right, but it just seems that having really big upgrades (hardware and OS) in a period of five months is just a waste of release profit. Whatever, you seem like you know more than me about it, so I guess we'll just have to see.

And yeah I considered waiting but I'm incredibly sick of fighting my PC and even though Tiger was pretty good when it came out - it had its bugs, somethign I'm not willing to fight with during my first semester of medical school. So I'm getting one this summer as soon as they update the hardware and then will buy Leopard 6 months or so after its release once all the bugs are out. Tiger is an AWESOME OS as it is and I don't really feel like I'm losingo out by having it instead of Leopard. But yeah to anyone who isn't really tech savvy enough to deal with bugs but wants the latest MacBook - I would recommend doing the same.

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The thing I'm most excited about in Leopard is the improved Boot Camp. It'll basically solve all of the compatibility problems that have plagued users for years. But it'll cost a pretty penny if I wait, especially after putting out 2 1/2K for the laptop itself.

MicroBugs said:

For those tech-savvy out there, particularly the Mac lovers, I'm hearing rumors about flash-memory Macs coming out, possibly this year? Would it be better to hold off buying one of the Macbooks right now, if this is in the works?

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http://www.thinksecret.com/
http://www.macrumors.com/

If there was one coming out, I'd wait. But I'm not sure about how pricey that would be...

schooltill30 said:

Yeah, you're probably right, but it just seems that having really big upgrades (hardware and OS) in a period of five months is just a waste of release profit. Whatever, you seem like you know more than me about it, so I guess we'll just have to see.

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Yeah I don't really think it makes sense to release separately - but it follows their usual pattern.

The thing I'm most excited about in Leopard is the improved Boot Camp. It'll basically solve all of the compatibility problems that have plagued users for years. But it'll cost a pretty penny if I wait, especially after putting out 2 1/2K for the laptop itself.

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Yeah, I'm hoping to not have too many compatibility problems and fortunately my bf is a Mac geek so he'll be able to help me work the current bootcamp and I won't have to worry about the update. But yeah - the built in ability to double load is going to be awesome.

Well seeing this thread finally caused me to break down and buy a ThinkPad X60 Tablet which I have been eying for the past months.

Actually they have a sale atm which kept it right at the 2k (Ouch!), but that of course did not include the 4 year warranty I purchased and sales tax....

I think that I'm going to have a annual tradition where I smash my LCD on my laptop just so that I can take advantage of the free replacements for the duration of my warranty.

Anyways, I just wanted to let the OP know that I blame you for forcing me to eat Ramen until I start Med School in the fall.

Mardi-Bob said:

Well seeing this thread finally caused me to break down and buy a ThinkPad X60 Tablet which I have been eying for the past months.

Actually they have a sale atm which kept it right at the 2k (Ouch!), but that of course did not include the 4 year warranty I purchased and sales tax....

I think that I'm going to have a annual tradition where I smash my LCD on my laptop just so that I can take advantage of the free replacements for the duration of my warranty.

Anyways, I just wanted to let the OP know that I blame you for forcing me to eat Ramen until I start Med School in the fall.

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Haha! Ramen's not that bad for the X60. The X60 is an awesome tablet. great choice. good price too. Hmm......where did you buy it from, Mardi-Bob?? Did you get a university discount?

I agree.

No discount. Just an internet sale. I did have a way to buy them discounted, but its a supply basis only with no customizing. So I decided to be patient and wait for a sale period to buy it. That way I was able to get ever feature I wanted and nothing I didn't.

I do agree they are great if not the greatest, but I would not buy one if you aren't Tech Savvy.

My macbook is my baby...but I get a 20% discount and have ins with apple. Great size, great performance, can run both operating systems (if you'd really want) Tablets are hit or miss....I looked into them but the price versus performance recieved doesn't really workout for me...that and well..I just like paper. Computers distract me.....I don't know about you guys but notes on your laptop seems like a great idea until you are trying to study and have the calling of facebook, news, instant messenger and whatever else at your fingertips. It is up to you..I'm not going to knock windows, but stuff just works with mac os...it really is quite nice. I have restarted my laptop for the first time in 8 weeks just now...it was starting to slow down a bit.