Desktop or laptop for med school?

[ace22pmike]

So I'm trying to decide what kind of computer to buy going into med school this fall. Any suggestions on which would be better?

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[JohnMadden]

laptop with desktop docking station...

 

[maestro1625]

they still make desktops?

 

[Chris418]

Get a Mac laptop... can't go wrong.

 

[JohnMadden]

Get a Mac laptop... can't go wrong.

a Mac will be fine at institutions with dual IT support. If you attend a school that is purely PC, you will have some issues.

 

[brains]

I say go with a Mac. They're just really awesome whether you go with a laptop or the iMac (which I LOVE)

 

[kidthor]

I could be wrong, but don't a lot of med schools have a particular laptop that they want you to buy (that's loaded with their software and such)?

 

[evade]

a Mac will be fine at institutions with dual IT support. If you attend a school that is purely PC, you will have some issues.

I have no idea if my school has dual IT support, because my Mac has never needed it!

That said, OP, you will need a laptop for medical school. Virtually all schools have online histo/pathology labs these days, and your lectures will almost assuredly be powerpoint slides (which you may want to take notes on). I've known a few people who soldier through without a laptop for a while; the biggest holdout in my class lasted the entire way through first year (and then he caved).

Some schools do have laptop preferences, and some will insist you buy theirs with their software. Mine did not. Wait till you know where you're going, call the IT department, and consult them.

 

[Dr2Bee]

Get a laptop. That way you can bring it to class, library, and lab when you need to. My personal favorites are Apple, Dell, and Sony. Don't forget to get a student discount if you go with Dell or Apple.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Get the laptop that has the longest battery life, with the smallest screen you can tolerate.

The drawback is that you may discover the joys of running an NES emulator during lecture...if you are susceptible, consider a desktop.

 

[ADeadLois]

So I'm trying to decide what kind of computer to buy going into med school this fall. Any suggestions on which would be better?

Get a laptop. Desktops are slowly being phased out of the home computer market. Apple just released new MacBooks; I'd recommend one. HP is probably the way to go right now on the PC side.

 

[postbacker]

Get a laptop. That way you can bring it to class, library, and lab when you need to.

What percentage of med students carry their laptops to class?

I had a laptop in college, and it never once left my dorm room or apt. I liked it because it took up less space than a desktop, but that is less of a problem today with iMacs, etc. But I do remember buying the laptop thinking I would carry it to lectures, to the library, etc., and I never did...

 

[Dookter]

What percentage of med students carry their laptops to class?

I had a laptop in college, and it never once left my dorm room or apt. I liked it because it took up less space than a desktop, but that is less of a problem today with iMacs, etc. But I do remember buying the laptop thinking I would carry it to lectures, to the library, etc., and I never did...

Same thing here. My ugrad laptop was essentially a mini desktop. However, Duke basically makes us have our laptops everyday. We do everything on them. But even if I went to a school that let me do whatever, I'd still want a nice laptop. Medical school is so long and crazy sometimes that I cannot imagine being chained to one spot with a desktop. I'd feel like I was in jail more than I already do.

 

[Critical Mass]

Notebook

 

[meowkat444]

as an additional suggestion, consider a tablet -- it allows you to write/type/draw on the diagrams on your screen

 

[Poolboy]

I use my Mac laptop for everything - I love it - just don't forget to unplug it once in awhile if you sue it at your desk a lot - keeps the battery longer.

 

[doinmybest5840]

as an additional suggestion, consider a tablet -- it allows you to write/type/draw on the diagrams on your screen

Tablets are iffy. My brother has one, and although it's held up pretty well through his first two years of undergrad, the screen is not doing so hot. It has things that get stuck under it somehow, and he said that in retrospect, he's not sure it's worth all he paid for it. Then again, he bought it two years ago, so I don't know how much the price/quality of tablets has changed.

 

[Critical Mass]

I don't care for the tablet.

 

[DreamyKid]

get a non-mac laptop

 

[Critical Mass]

get a non-mac laptop

👍 Wintel rules.

 

[Cirrus83]

Actually, you might want to consider getting both...that's the route I think I'm going to go.

They have really cheap laptops nowadays (memorial day sales prices of like $350 or $400 from what I can tell), but they aren't quite speed demons (still plenty fast compared to old computers though, things have gotten crazy fast lately). And you can build/buy a very fast desktop for much cheaper than it'd cost to buy a powerful laptop that doesn't weigh a ton (because you don't want to drag along a 12 pound laptop).

Anyways the light and powerful laptops cost so much that it might actually be cheaper to buy a powerful desktop for cheap, then buy a light but weaksauce notebook that you use just to type notes on and watch powerpoint slides or something.

Of course I guess for a lot of people a cheap notebook is all they'll ever need so this whole buying both thing is probably just for the computer nerds amongst us who have to have dual processors and 500GB hard drives. Try getting a laptop with large hard drives and it'll cost you a ton of money since large laptop drives are super expensive.

So yeah, I'll get a small and cheap ~$400/500 laptop and build a fast and cheap $500/600 PC (I'm cheating a little since I already have a monitor from my old computer and cooling and whatnot). The light and powerful laptops start around that range too, except they're not even going to be close to as powerful as my desktop, and when I'm at home the larger monitor will definitely be useful for watching videos and whatnot (err I mean studying).

Downside to my plan is that I have to carry up a desktop, but whatever.

I used to have a laptop (before the screen ribbon got worn down and basically killed my laptop since the screen replacement would have cost more than the laptop) that weighed around 6 pounds and I did carry it around but it definitely wasn't as enjoyable as carrying a lighter laptop. So if you want to actually bring a laptop around aim for around 4 pounds or less. Of course, to actually be less you're talking about spending a lot of money, so 4 pounds is pretty much what you can get that's still going to be affordable.

Of course if you're from a wealthy background then go crazy and go buy that all-carbon-fiber Sony or something that weighs 2 pounds lol.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

Agree with Cirrus. I was going to bring both. My Desktop is still pretty decent and I don't plan on letting it rot away at home (my parents never even touched a computer, and my brother has his own). My plan was to use the laptop strictly for school business and I can store all my CD burning programs/games/videos/E-books and any other crap that ultimately leads to the death of my PC on the desktop.

But if you were only going to bring one, get a laptop. PC, I like Macs but having to hold control as a right click irks me. Oh, and definitely check the computer specs your school requires. Some schools require a PC and some require a mac.

 

[deleted77919]

School dependent. At NYU it really doesn't matter. Perhaps 10 people or so bring their laptops to lecture. We are given printed power point slides ahead of time. Histo lab we used microscopes, laptops were optional. I used my laptop in a study space for a while, but found I was more efficient at home so long as I made a study schedule and stuck to it.

Final point (I've mentioned this in other threads) if you are handling 500 meg power points the intel based macs running office are pretty slow (due to the Rosetta emulation). This will be corrected once a universal binary version of office is made available at some unknown point in the future.

Also, if you are running Vista, do yourself a favor and get 2 gigs of RAM.

 

[tkatchev]

Get a laptop. Desktops are slowly being phased out of the home computer market. Apple just released new MacBooks; I'd recommend one. HP is probably the way to go right now on the PC side.

Desktops phased out? WTF are you talking about? I don't even want to dignify that with a long response.

 

[TMP-SMX]

I'd go with a desktop. It has much longer shelf life, more power, and more for the money.

Laptops are nice for certain things, but I'd try to reduce expenses as much as possible. I'll be getting an iMac when they are updated in late June.

 

[doinmybest5840]

I'd go for a laptop. You can't take desktops to class, or the library, or anywhere else for that matter. What if you go on vacation or home during a break, are you going to take it apart, pack it up, and reassemble it when you get it back home? That seems like a lot of unnecessary work to me, when a laptop can just be thrown in a little carrying bag (or in with your books, if you have one of those cool Timbuktu messenger bags! Yeah, I'm a nerd.)? Although desktops are cheaper, I just feel like overall a laptop is more useful as a medical student, especially since I've heard some schools require them to be brought to class. But hey, I'm just a lowly pre-med applying in the upcoming cycle. What do I know? 🙂

 

[dantt]

Actually, you might want to consider getting both...that's the route I think I'm going to go.

They have really cheap laptops nowadays (memorial day sales prices of like $350 or $400 from what I can tell), but they aren't quite speed demons (still plenty fast compared to old computers though, things have gotten crazy fast lately). And you can build/buy a very fast desktop for much cheaper than it'd cost to buy a powerful laptop that doesn't weigh a ton (because you don't want to drag along a 12 pound laptop).

Anyways the light and powerful laptops cost so much that it might actually be cheaper to buy a powerful desktop for cheap, then buy a light but weaksauce notebook that you use just to type notes on and watch powerpoint slides or something.

Of course I guess for a lot of people a cheap notebook is all they'll ever need so this whole buying both thing is probably just for the computer nerds amongst us who have to have dual processors and 500GB hard drives. Try getting a laptop with large hard drives and it'll cost you a ton of money since large laptop drives are super expensive.

So yeah, I'll get a small and cheap ~$400/500 laptop and build a fast and cheap $500/600 PC (I'm cheating a little since I already have a monitor from my old computer and cooling and whatnot). The light and powerful laptops start around that range too, except they're not even going to be close to as powerful as my desktop, and when I'm at home the larger monitor will definitely be useful for watching videos and whatnot (err I mean studying).

Downside to my plan is that I have to carry up a desktop, but whatever.

I used to have a laptop (before the screen ribbon got worn down and basically killed my laptop since the screen replacement would have cost more than the laptop) that weighed around 6 pounds and I did carry it around but it definitely wasn't as enjoyable as carrying a lighter laptop. So if you want to actually bring a laptop around aim for around 4 pounds or less. Of course, to actually be less you're talking about spending a lot of money, so 4 pounds is pretty much what you can get that's still going to be affordable.

Of course if you're from a wealthy background then go crazy and go buy that all-carbon-fiber Sony or something that weighs 2 pounds lol.

I do something pretty similar to that. Laptop for notes, powerpoint, library. Desktop for when I'm really typing and doing major computer work. Get the lightest, longest battery lasting laptop you can possibly find. I sacrificed a little bit of battery to get a dual battery so my laptop will actually last 8 hours. I swapped out the dvd drive because honestly, how often does one use a cd/dvd drive? I also got a small hard drive for my laptop because I store all of my data on my desktop where the hard drive is much more resilient. Laptop hard drives are subject to greater heat and shock than desktop ones in addition to costing more. You can even set your computer up so you can remote access your desktop and be able to access your data from anywhere.

 

[Jejton]

Get a laptop. Desktops are slowly being phased out of the home computer market.

I find this hard to believe because everytime I go into Best Buy or Circuit City they have as many desktops, if not more, as laptops. Personally I have a laptop ( 3 years old but still good enough ) so I will get a desktop as a home computer for my wife and for any programs which require large screens and then use my laptop for classes. You can still get more bang for your buck with desktops than laptops but of course you cant bring them to class.

 

[nlax30]

I do something pretty similar to that. Laptop for notes, powerpoint, library. Desktop for when I'm really typing and doing major computer work. Get the lightest, longest battery lasting laptop you can possibly find. I sacrificed a little bit of battery to get a dual battery so my laptop will actually last 8 hours. I swapped out the dvd drive because honestly, how often does one use a cd/dvd drive? I also got a small hard drive for my laptop because I store all of my data on my desktop where the hard drive is much more resilient. Laptop hard drives are subject to greater heat and shock than desktop ones in addition to costing more. You can even set your computer up so you can remote access your desktop and be able to access your data from anywhere.

I agree, get a slim/lightweight laptop. When I got mine over a year ago I purposely stayed with a 14" screen and got a unit that I swap the DVD drive out for an extra battery. If I were to get a new one I'd stay with this size or probably go even a little smaller to a 12" or 13" screen. Depends on the school, and probably won't be an issue as much in med school, but at my large state undergrad campus, every ounce mattered when walking around with my laptop everyday.

 

[medanthjoint]

As far as the laptop/desktop question: get a laptop. As far as which one: check with your school's IT department before you shop around.

My school REQUIRES that we buy new laptops. They buy them in bulk, we choose from four options (2 PCs, 2 Macs), and they set them up with software and bill us. So much of the curriculum is computer-based that they want to make sure we all have laptops with certain specs.

 

[maestro1625]

just a correction to whoever said that mac laptops make you hold down ctrl to right click... the newest macs let you right click by tapping with 2 fingers.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

just a correction to whoever said that mac laptops make you hold down ctrl to right click... the newest macs let you right click by tapping with 2 fingers.

It was I. Too good to scroll down to identify me by name huh? 😛

Just kidding, I stand corrected then.