I-Pad 2 for Dental School?

I was thinking about getting a "tablet" for dental school. Any thoughts on this or is it a piece of Junk?

I wasn't a fan of I-Pad1 due to lack of features, but the I-Pad2 seems very convenient, "practical," useful, and resourceful. There are plenty of APPs specific for Dental School Courses (Biochem, Anatomy etc), and the various APPs for notetaking/planning seem really convenient. (My organization/cleanliness is VERY bad. I have tons of loose papers, and always misplace stuff, so this would be extremely helpful to me)

It seems like I don't even need binders/notes. Just take notes on the Pad (via "pencil") and organize via application. It's also lightweight and very portable. 10 hour battery life, complete with internet, video, face to face (I believe), and "seemingly" HD clarity. I saw some dental/med students using them, and it seemed to make life lot easier. Just use your fingers to stretch, open, close various things and bam done!

I was thinking about investing in one...any thoughts?

P.S. I'm not an apple employee trying to sell you an item. Hardy Har Har 😛

Rainee said:

I was thinking about getting a "tablet" for dental school. Any thoughts on this or is it a piece of Junk?

I wasn't a fan of I-Pad1 due to lack of features, but the I-Pad2 seems very convenient, "practical," useful, and resourceful. There are plenty of APPs specific for Dental School Courses (Biochem, Anatomy etc), and the various APPs for notetaking/planning seem really convenient. (My organization/cleanliness is VERY bad. I have tons of loose papers, and always misplace stuff, so this would be extremely helpful to me)

It seems like I don't even need binders/notes. Just take notes on the Pad (via "pencil") and organize via application. It's also lightweight and very portable. 10 hour battery life, complete with internet, video, face to face (I believe), and "seemingly" HD clarity. I saw some dental/med students using them, and it seemed to make life lot easier. Just use your fingers to stretch, open, close various things and bam done!

I was thinking about investing in one...any thoughts?

P.S. I'm not an apple employee trying to sell you an item. Hardy Har Har 😛

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First make sure your school doesn't push thier system onto thier students.

For example, I am pretty sure Detroit Mercy has thier own tablets (lenovo's) for all their entering class (its taken from tuition, very expensive, like $3000). The computer will stay with you till graduation.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/notebooks/thinkpad/x-series-tablet

Typing on an iPad is terrible. Get a real computer.

yayy i have an ipad2 but I dont think it would be sufficient enough for dental school? plus I feel like certain dental schools give you a laptop or some sort of device that youll use the whole time your there with your textbooks on it electronically as well

so i wouldnt buy an ipad for dental school, if anything you may be provided it by some dental school that wants to be hightech & in with the new cool....

dont waste your money on it unless u want it for personal reasons

I'm wondering if the iPad with the Upad app is a viable alternative to handwritten notes. It seems that you could get out of having to carry different notebooks for each class and wouldn't have to take time to print out PDF outlines that the professors post. Whenever you have spare time to study, you would always have all of your class notes available in one place. I'm mainly concerned with whether or not it is comfortable enough to write on for hours a day. Can anybody give some input on this?

UBDent19 said:

I'm wondering if the iPad with the Upad app is a viable alternative to handwritten notes. It seems that you could get out of having to carry different notebooks for each class and wouldn't have to take time to print out PDF outlines that the professors post. Whenever you have spare time to study, you would always have all of your class notes available in one place. I'm mainly concerned with whether or not it is comfortable enough to write on for hours a day. Can anybody give some input on this?

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Why wouldn't you just get a tablet laptop? Writing with my finger all day would drive me insane.

Rainee said:

I was thinking about getting a "tablet" for dental school. Any thoughts on this or is it a piece of Junk?

I wasn't a fan of I-Pad1 due to lack of features, but the I-Pad2 seems very convenient, "practical," useful, and resourceful. There are plenty of APPs specific for Dental School Courses (Biochem, Anatomy etc), and the various APPs for notetaking/planning seem really convenient. (My organization/cleanliness is VERY bad. I have tons of loose papers, and always misplace stuff, so this would be extremely helpful to me)

It seems like I don't even need binders/notes. Just take notes on the Pad (via "pencil") and organize via application. It's also lightweight and very portable. 10 hour battery life, complete with internet, video, face to face (I believe), and "seemingly" HD clarity. I saw some dental/med students using them, and it seemed to make life lot easier. Just use your fingers to stretch, open, close various things and bam done!

I was thinking about investing in one...any thoughts?

P.S. I'm not an apple employee trying to sell you an item. Hardy Har Har 😛

Click to expand...

I recently won an ipad from work and have had it for about a month-ish... so i feel i can weigh in accordingly. First off, the only difference between the gen-1 and gen-2 is the camera, better processor, and it's lighter/thinner, all same apps are available.

When i first got it, i thought it was a godsend... however it has actually been more of a time waster, than saver. I seriously love it, but i definitely don't think it should be used in lieu of a primary computer, but rather as a tool to supplement your personal computer.

I have and continue to spend money on apps to make it school savvy. Here is a list of apps that i have found useful, with price and description:
Atomic Browser, $1, tabbed internet browsing
-Microsoft Quick Office, $15, edit and create word, excel, and pp docs
-GoodReader $3 and Noterize $4, edit and annotate PDF docs, both have different features that i like. GoodReader has a very good doc organizing features.
-UPAD, $5, best note taking app out there (and i bought 4), can write, type, record 30 min of audio per file, and then email it to yourself as PDF. ***Key feature - you can write very large in the tab, it then shrinks it down to regular paper level.
-Keynote, $10, best app for pp docs, much better at editing, and overall more user friendly.
-Dropbox, free, this is the best way i have found to toggle documents between primary computer and ipad.
-istudiez pro, $3 (i think), basically it is a calendar app meant for keeping track of school assignments, grades, etc. Very useful if used properly.

After the past month of trying to figure all this out, i finally feel i have it where i like, however i know things will keep coming out and i will keep refining it.

Also recommend: Calculator Pro, Skype, Pandora, Angry Birds Rio, Words w/ Friends, and Zynga Poker

Now other things to consider.... i was actually surprised at how easy it is to type on. I can type pretty much just as fast as i can on a normal keyboard. However, you have to hold your wrists up in a funky position, and typing for more than 15 minutes gets tiring. So if you plan on doing a lot of typing, buy the wireless keyboard. For writing you have to buy a stylus that simulates a figure, so the tip is pliable and about a 1/4 inch in diameter. It is really not conducive for accurate writing, especially if your writing sucks like mine, that is why UPAD is essential. Even still i don't love it.

It is also important to consider that while browsing the internet, some sites automatically go into "mobile mode", which kind of sucks and i haven't found a way around this yet.

Other random thoughts:
I have the basic 16GB, wifi, straight $500
Now if you are going to use it for school, you might want to go for the 32GB or 64GB, which are much more expensive. Especially if you want to download music or videos on there.... i had to limit my music/vid library to 8 GB. It is nice that if you want the 3G, it is not contractual, it is only a flat fee month to month and you can cancel anytime.

So between the $500 for ipad (free for me), $50 for initial apps, $50 case, and the hundreds more you will spend on apps, music, etc. You have to decide if it's worth it. If you want the 64GB 3G plan on $830 plus $25 a month for the 3G.

Overall, it is awesome and i love it, however, if i had not won it... i would not have bought it for myself. My personal laptop does way more than it can... and i don't have to keep buying apps.

Good luck, hope this helped!

UltimateHombre said:

It is also important to consider that while browsing the internet, some sites automatically go into "mobile mode", which kind of sucks and i haven't found a way around this yet.

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You can get a different browser like Skyfire and there's an option in the settings of the program to change it. So websites recognize your ipad as a mac/pc when you use the skyfire browser and no mobile mode ever comes up.

This is what I did for android, I'm assuming it has the same setting in the iOS version.

AwesomeTeeth said:

Why wouldn't you just get a tablet laptop? Writing with my finger all day would drive me insane.

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Buffalo requires us to get their computer, which I believe is going to be a standard Mac. I was looking at the iPad as a supplement.

UltimateHombre, so would you say the Upad is comfortable enough to take handwritten notes for hours a day?

AwesomeTeeth said:

You can get a different browser like Skyfire and there's an option in the settings of the program to change it. So websites recognize your ipad as a mac/pc when you use the skyfire browser and no mobile mode ever comes up.

This is what I did for android, I'm assuming it has the same setting in the iOS version.

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Ya I think Opera and Firefox also have these options.

UltimateHombre, that's a great break down with some excellent info!

Yes! Thanks guys for the superb info in this thread. I'm leaning towards "I-Pad 2 is more of a leisure item with limited application to supplement my education." Oh well, hopefully I can ALSO win one in a raffle/lottery 😛

I was actually thinking of getting an Ipad 2 as well. My school requires us to buy a specific computer however, so I was going to use the Ipad to supplement the laptop they have me purchase. I figure it may come in handy if the instructur draws things, and would be good to look at for notes.

UBDent19 said:

UltimateHombre, so would you say the Upad is comfortable enough to take handwritten notes for hours a day?

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With my style of note taking, i personally don't write meticulous notes for every lecture. I basically use keynote to highlight, add text boxes, etc. for powerpoint lectures. Then i use UPAD to write down key words, definitions, concepts i don't understand.

So for my style it's perfect, however if you are one of those people who writes down every detail i don't think it would be effective for several reasons:
1. the way UPAD is set up, it basically gives you a writing box, and as you approach the end, it shrinks the text to the top of the page and gives you a new box. Although this process is pretty fast, if you are wanting to take lots of notes, it might not be fast enough.
2. since the iPad is touch sensitive, a touch/graze from your wrist or hand will make a mark. So if you are taking extensive notes, you would probably need a wrist guard of some type.
3. again writing with stylus is fairly difficult (for me at least), so if you are writing lots of notes, regular pen and paper or laptop + word doc is much faster.

However, it's nice to draw, write, type, and record audio all on one file. I love it as a supplement note app.

Winter Wind said:

I was actually thinking of getting an Ipad 2 as well. My school requires us to buy a specific computer however, so I was going to use the Ipad to supplement the laptop they have me purchase. I figure it may come in handy if the instructur draws things, and would be good to look at for notes.

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This is the perfect mindset to buy an iPad.

If money is not an issue, buy the iPad... buy it tomorrow. If money is an issue and you want a solid return on your investment, think twice.

If you are looking for an ultimate machine to save you from the woes of school... the iPad is not for you. If you are looking for a machine that: is a small and compact e-reader, something to watch netflix at school when bored, an ipod, can entertain you with games while on the porcelain throne, will help a little with taking notes at school, and something to impress your friends with.... then the iPad is for you.

Also, Derk and Awesometeeth, thanks for the browser suggestions... i will do some research, purchase one and report back!

For anybody out there that has experience using the UPad app: have you found it to be unreliable? I've read reviews of people taking notes for an hour only to have it crash at the end of class and lose all your notes. Can you save your notes straight to the system memory at any point, like hitting Ctrl+S while writing a word doc?

If you havent already, check out the app Mental Case. It works as a note taking and flashcard app.

As a flashcard app, you can have images, audio, text. I have found it works great for anatomy and histology slides. You do have to build the flashcards, but I find I learn well doing this.

One advantage of this app, is its ability to sync with http://www.flashcardexchange.com/. There are tons of user submitted card sets already, some for DAT, some for boards, ect.

Mental Case works on all the apple plarforms (ipad, mac, iphone).
While i dont have any experience with it, a buddy of mine uses Quizard on his android and seems happy with it.

I just wanted to post this to make everyone aware of one more tool they might be able to use.

thanks for this write-up. i have been considering getting a tablet of some sort for my second year, and an ipad came into my mind. so what exactly would you say the strengths of an ipad over say a 10" tablet pc are?

I have an ipad and I love it for dental school. I use it to go over dental decks on (I have an scanned form of them) and I also use it to review powerpoints when I don't want to get my whole computer out. you could easily take notes on it as well. I wouldn't recommend getting this as a replacement for a computer, but it is great in adjunct with it.

bmr001122 said:

I have an ipad and I love it for dental school. I use it to go over dental decks on (I have an scanned form of them) and I also use it to review powerpoints when I don't want to get my whole computer out. you could easily take notes on it as well. I wouldn't recommend getting this as a replacement for a computer, but it is great in adjunct with it.

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http://diaryofadentalstudent.blogspot.com/search/label/ipad

you can see here how I use it to look at dental decks (flash cards for NBDE I)

Does anybody know if you can connect the iPad to a Mac laptop and use it as a drawingboard, integrating the drawings into notetaking software? That way I could type notes on the MacBook (ideal) but still be able to draw diagrams and other figures that can't be created with a keyboard.

It possible if the ipad 2 was jailbroken you could but out of hte box not that I know of. Of course it depends on someone putting together a program for it.

there are apps that let you do note taking, you'll need a capacitive stytus. but I'm too cheap to buy those stylus and even pay 1 buck or few bucks for the apps. My ipad 2 is strictly a toy.

Its cheaper to just buy like a wacom tablet if you want to draw diagrams and what not on your notes. they are like 50 bucks.