Best laptop for dental school?

[Auntymarkovnikov]

What laptop do you believe is the best for dental school and why? Going laptop shopping soon

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[ChewyDrop]

One with alot of ram and good processor (imo i-5). You'll be having alot of internet tabs, software, and pictures opened

 

[hashtagpredental]

I own a Macbook right now, but I'm thinking of switching to Surface Pro when I start dental school. There are rumors that the new one will come out sometime this spring/summer. I think it will be more convenient and flexible while writing notes for lectures (especially if most if not all lectures will probably be through powerpoint slides, you can just write on it with the Surface pen). I also like how you can use it as a tablet, but it can still replace your laptop.

I'm getting a bit tired of apple, since they haven't done much to their laptops in the past few years (not a fan of their Touch Bar).

 

[PreDentTechySon]

We had to have iPads for our school. It was helpful to use with notability to take notes and study with.

 

[DenTalFluoride]

Not in dental school yet, but I was close to buying a used MacBook on eBay. I decided it was more cost effective to stick with my undergrad Asus laptop. Instead of wasting $1500, I spent about $400 on some upgrades to get it to run like new. I took it apart to replace the old HDD to a SSD, 8gb ram to 16gb, a new battery, and fresh cpu thermal paste. I will most likely buy an iPad to use as a supplement though.

 

[Life of Pablo]

MacBook - come on aunty! You’re going to go to school in the Bay Area; you have to support Apple

 

[Auntymarkovnikov]

I own a Macbook right now, but I'm thinking of switching to Surface Pro when I start dental school. There are rumors that the new one will come out sometime this spring/summer. I think it will be more convenient and flexible while writing notes for lectures (especially if most if not all lectures will probably be through powerpoint slides, you can just write on it with the Surface pen). I also like how you can use it as a tablet, but it can still replace your laptop.

I'm getting a bit tired of apple, since they haven't done much to their laptops in the past few years (not a fan of their Touch Bar).

I’m actually looking in to the surface pro and the surface laptop

 

[Auntymarkovnikov]

MacBook - come on aunty! You’re going to go to school in the Bay Area; you have to support Apple

The last thing I need is to have the ability to text from my laptop lollll. Macbooks are overpriced for what they offer

 

[FanOfCostco]

Depends what games you play during class. Lucky for me my school "gave me" a laptop. It worked well for all the games I played.

 

[MLC45]

My school said to either buy a MacBook Pro or a Dell latitude 5480. Also the school said it can’t be more than 2 years old. I’ll be going with the MacBook Pro.

 

[8_man]

Pretty sure 70% of my class reps a macbook pro, and I love mines. Cmon, you're already gonna spend $200-400K on tuition and $1500 on a pair of glasses! What's another $1000ish for a mac?

 

[Life of Pablo]

Pretty sure 70% of my class reps a macbook pro, and I love mines. Cmon, you're already gonna spend $200-400K on tuition and $1500 on a pair of glasses! What's another $1000ish for a mac?

Yes! Exactly. Once you go Mac, you never go back

@LuckBloodandSweat

 

[dentalhopeful23]

Does anyone know how stable the keyboard is for the iPad?? I’m also debating between a surface and an iPad

 

[schmoob]

The iPad pro, Pen, and PDF Expert are a great combo.

 

[DenTalFluoride]

What size iPad pro is preferable?

 

[MTdental]

What size iPad pro is preferable?

I have the 12.9 ipad pro, and I like it...but it is a bit big for hauling around on campus. If I was going to buy again I would buy the smaller size ipad pro for note taking.

 

[PreDentRN]

I had the same question. I am trying to decide between an iPad Pro, Surface Pro, or Dell Inspiron 2 in 1. I want a touchscreen so I can write/draw on my powerpoints. Does it just come down to personal preference? I know the PC's have more capabilities than Apple products, but I don't use my laptop I have now for games or anything like that. I type word documents, browse the internet, and email. Given that, the iPad sounds like that is all I would need, but I don't want to get going in school and realize I need more than the app ecosystem supported by an apple tablet. Any other input from anyone? Btw, I don't have any particular product loyalty, my school just does not allow for androidOS. They will run Examsoft and some other programs. Thanks

 

[caffeine jitters]

Does anyone recommend a keyboard case to go with the iPad Pro? I’ve found that the smart keyboard isn’t so smart...

 

[blablabla1]

I wouldn’t go with an iPad. They’ve improved software-wise with iOS 11 but it’s still very limited as an operating system.

If writing on the screen is an absolute must (I personally hate doing that), get a surface as they are optimized for writing on the screen unlike other Windows PCs.

If you don’t care about writing on the screen, I’d get a MacBook. My school forced us into Dell XPS 13s and while the screen is great and the computer is quick, it cost us 1700 dollars and it has weird little problems that pop up all the time. And if you have any experience with Windows, you know that the way they force updates on you is the most consumer unfriendly thing ever.

 

[MTdental]

Does anyone recommend a keyboard case to go with the iPad Pro? I’ve found that the smart keyboard isn’t so smart...

I have the logitech create ipad pro keyboard/case and I like it. It protects it well and functions well.

 

[PreDentRN]

I wouldn’t go with an iPad. They’ve improved software-wise with iOS 11 but it’s still very limited as an operating system.

If writing on the screen is an absolute must (I personally hate doing that), get a surface as they are optimized for writing on the screen unlike other Windows PCs.

If you don’t care about writing on the screen, I’d get a MacBook. My school forced us into Dell XPS 13s and while the screen is great and the computer is quick, it cost us 1700 dollars and it has weird little problems that pop up all the time. And if you have any experience with Windows, you know that the way they force updates on you is the most consumer unfriendly thing ever.

What sort of problems? I also want to write/draw because that is how I normally take notes as opposed to just typing. What problems do you run into with Windows systems in terms of school and notetaking, etc.

 

[Incis0r]

While having the ability to annotate PDFs is a bonus (Especially for classes like anatomy), I'd recommend getting something with a keyboard. Instructors/lecturers can go at a million miles per hour and you don't want to fall behind in lecture trying to write down what they said two sentences ago.

If you can get something with both keyboard and pen functionality, then obviously that would be the best. Surface Pro line is a good one for that.

I personally use a MacBook Air. Lets me take notes easily & also supports Anki which is an absolute lifesaver.

 

[caffeine jitters]

In general, how big is notetaking in dental school? I was never much of a notetaker in undergrad, aside from the occasional sentence I would write in the PP notes. My dental school has recorded lectures so I feel like a tablet might be a waste of money, especially if I could just re-watch stuff.

 

[Life of Pablo]

I felt like I had to post this here....

Good video on the note taking capabilities of the iPad. @Auntymarkovnikov @caffeine jitters
@juustinkim @yaya97

 

[Auntymarkovnikov]

I felt like I had to post this here....

Good video on the note taking capabilities of the iPad. @Auntymarkovnikov @caffeine jitters
@juustinkim @yaya97

Wow I’m shook. I never knew the iPad could do these kinds of things

 

[MTdental]

I do love my ipad pro! I really love that I can write with my wrist down, just like writing on paper...no need to hold it up with the apple pencil. I know that seems like not a big deal, but it is.

 

[artist2022]

Bumping this thread with a question for current dental students: How useful is it to get a touchscreen laptop? To those that use a computer w/o a touchscreen, do you wish you had gotten one with it?
Definitely going to be getting one with a good processor + enough storage/RAM etc but just wondering how much a touchscreen actually helps (or doesn't make a difference).

Thank you

 

[Captain Underplants]

Bumping this thread with a question for current dental students: How useful is it to get a touchscreen laptop? To those that use a computer w/o a touchscreen, do you wish you had gotten one with it?
Definitely going to be getting one with a good processor + enough storage/RAM etc but just wondering how much a touchscreen actually helps (or doesn't make a difference).

Thank you

My laptop has touchscreen that I barely ever use, however I don't really regret it (I got the Dell XPS 13 -9360 model), great light powerful laptop, slightly expensive but definitely worth it.

 

[artist2022]

My laptop has touchscreen that I barely ever use, however I don't really regret it (I got the Dell XPS 13 -9360 model), great light powerful laptop, slightly expensive but definitely worth it.

Thank you for your input! Do you like the 13.3" size or wish you had gotten the 15.6" (? I think the XPS-15?) version instead?

 

[Captain Underplants]

Thank you for your input! Do you like the 13.3" size or wish you had gotten the 15.6" (? I think the XPS-15?) version instead?

Definitely happy with the size. It’s light enough that I can keep it in my backpack and take it everywhere but small enough to pull out on the train or plane versus the larger 15”

 

[Auntymarkovnikov]

Anyone have experience with the Microsoft Surface Pro or the Surface Book?

 

[hmmmidk]

I would actually like to know any insight on surface pro also.

 

[hashtagpredental]

Same

 

[DocDoom]

For when we need programs that only work on PC, isn't it alright to just run bootcamp on a mac?

 

[Captain Underplants]

Anyone have experience with the Microsoft Surface Pro or the Surface Book?

I had the surfacebook for school before. It’s a great laptop but I found I wasn’t using the tablet mode at all (school made us buy iPads too) so I was literally paying extra for a feature I wasn’t using and carrying the extra weight (it’s pretty heavy for a 12” device) so I sold it and got the XPS I mentioned above

 

[ModifiedBass]

Anything that runs PowerPoint and Adobe PDF Reader. You don’t need anything more than that.

 

[schmoob]

The new iPad supports Apple Pencil and is much cheaper than a Pro. Use that along with PDF Expert.

 

[BasicG]

Anyone have experience with the Microsoft Surface Pro or the Surface Book?

I would actually like to know any insight on surface pro also.

Same

I have a surface pro 3 and my girlfriend has an iPad pro 10.5inch. Honestly, both are very similar when it comes to note taking, with the exception of the apple pencil needing to be charged every few days while the surface pen has a battery life of 9ish months. Surface battery lasts roughly 6 hours, which sucks but gets the job done. The keyboard is awesome on the surface and it's nice to have a track pad to navigate websites!

 

[DDSDCMUU]

Does the Ipad mini work the same as an Ipad? Anyone have experience with this?

 

[hmmmidk]

To anyone looking for a 15in macbook pro, I ended up getting this one:Apple MacBook Pro 15 with a promo code: APINSIDER. Ended up costing me $1900 with no tax (apparently if you are outside of ny, u don't pay tax lol). It isn't the latest version (late 2016 model). However, the only significant difference I noticed between the latest and this was the cpu (skylake to kabylake). Hope this is somewhat helpful.

 

[Auntymarkovnikov]

Update: just purchased the Microsoft Surface Pro 8GB ram 256GB storage. This thing is a note taking power house. 10/10 recommend

 

[OMFS@2018]

MacBook Air

 

[spicyfish]

I used a macbook pro during dental school and it was great, but I think any laptop within your budget should be fine.

 

[DeSi#1]

Has anyone used or is using the HP Spectre 360 with the bamboo pen? If so, what do you think of it? Do you think it is better to get the Surface Book 2/Surface pro or a macbook pro?

 

[ChewyDrop]

ipad 2018 w/ notability = Divine.

 

[pikaboo]

I use the Surface pro, I got the pen and two keyboards one is Bluetooth and has to be connected to the surface. Its the best laptop for a student really. You can type or write down the notes, the screen is very good you basically can go completely paperless. Performance is pretty solid, I normally open OneNote Evernote Chrome and two PDFs at the same time, no problem what so ever, smooth.

 

[fit2]

iPad Pro with one note. Been working for me so far