do you need a smartphone in vet school and other tech questions

[laitmanvet]

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The AMAZING thing about the new MacBook Air (Which I will be purchasing this summer) is that it is the only computer out there that comes standard with a 'solid state harddrive', which basically means it doesn't spin like every other harddrive out there. Therefore, it's perfect for students (esp vet students towing it back and forth all the time!) because you don't have to turn it off to carry it around. It's the fastest computer to turn on, start from sleep, and some other things. My boyfriend works at the apple store and recommends it for students. Also, it comes in an 11" and 13" model, depending on backpack size and what not, and different solid state harddrive capacities. It's also extremely light-weight, and they call it like the laptop of the future...whatever that means lol. Also, in the summer, you get the student package which comes with a free ipod touch and printer. So you could still access all those iphone/ipod apps for vet school, without the need to buy a smartphone. Although, you'd have to find wifi, where the iphone has 4G and internet everywhere (depending on the service provider, Verizon works best in NYS, but I think ATT works better in other states). I think I'm still going to buy an iphone though, I'm a little apple crazy. I hope i don't sound like a sales person, I've just been looking into this for a long time. Just remember if you buy a PC or other computers that have a rotating hard drive, they're much more sensitive to movement and can die easily. Mine died 2 days before finals of my sophomore year in undergrad. And I mean, of course vet school is going to be messy, but there are a lot of pretty awesome covers out there so you could be typing on iphone/macbook during anatomy and not have a problem. Technology is pretty awesome nowadays.

Def. completely not true about solid-state v. std harddrives. When you close the lid to a laptop it goes into "sleep" mode. Basically turns off and uses no battery and enables you to carry it around i.e. all moving parts stop moving...while still being able to turn it back on very quickly. I have an "ancient" dell laptop...5 1/2 yrs old now. It works wonderfully! I carry it with me every day all over the place. I've moved it around even open and on and it has no issues with failing hard drive parts. It's basically the most amazing computer ever. Supposedly though the solid-states should last longer as they don't have the moving parts that are most often the reason for failure in regular HDs.

However, I am too going to go with a mac later this summer. Most of my friends have them and many programs that I use for work won't run on a PC (and I plan on going back to research post-vet school.) I have to use the mac we have in the lab to do a good portion of my work. After using the one at work I just really like the operating system. Plus, I'm in love with Papers...a mac program.
My cousin has the 13" macbook air...she loves it. Granted shes only had it for a couple months now but she still says its incredibly fast and lightweight.

 

[anjabryn]

I thought that the Macbook Air would be too slow since it only has a 1.4 GHz processor. Does anyone have one?

 

[twelvetigers]

It does fine with the processor it has (I don't have one, but y'know) but make sure you get the solid-state drive... if it even has any other options, I dunno. But especially since it runs OSX, it does fine. Do your research and make sure it's what you want, though. 🙂

 

[anjabryn]

Well I went with a Macbook pro 13 inch. I traded in my iMac which is 7 years old. The Macbook pro doesn't have the solid state drive or at least not the one I chose. (SSD was too expensive)
This will be my first laptop and I'm in my 30's!

 

[twelvetigers]

The Macbook Pro has the same drive as the Macbook Air, anyway (I think).

If you like Macs, you'll be happy. Solid-state is nice, but yeah, it costs a lot - especially in the Macbook Pro.

 

[LetItSnow]

The Macbook Pro has the same drive as the Macbook Air, anyway (I think).

Nope. The base configuration drive on the Macbook Pro is SATA. The base config drive on an Air is SSD. Apple will happily take money to put an SSD in a Pro for you as an optional config, of course. 🙂

 

[twelvetigers]

The newest Macbook Air uses flash storage anyway, my bad.

I lose most of my computer commentary when the husband goes to bed, lol. Was your previous job computer related, LIS?

 

[AngSchmange]

Def. completely not true about solid-state v. std harddrives. When you close the lid to a laptop it goes into "sleep" mode. Basically turns off and uses no battery and enables you to carry it around i.e. all moving parts stop moving...while still being able to turn it back on very quickly. I have an "ancient" dell laptop...5 1/2 yrs old now. It works wonderfully! I carry it with me every day all over the place. I've moved it around even open and on and it has no issues with failing hard drive parts. It's basically the most amazing computer ever. Supposedly though the solid-states should last longer as they don't have the moving parts that are most often the reason for failure in regular HDs.

However, I am too going to go with a mac later this summer. Most of my friends have them and many programs that I use for work won't run on a PC (and I plan on going back to research post-vet school.) I have to use the mac we have in the lab to do a good portion of my work. After using the one at work I just really like the operating system. Plus, I'm in love with Papers...a mac program.
My cousin has the 13" macbook air...she loves it. Granted shes only had it for a couple months now but she still says its incredibly fast and lightweight.

I should have mentioned it but I was kinda comparing it to my white macbook. My harddrive kicked the bucket the night before finals my sophomore year (when it was only 2 years old!) and they said it was probably from carrying it around and not turning it off. I have def heard things about pc's going into sleep mode, but idk if my Macbook just doesn't do it. Sometimes I can still hear it spinning . I haven't had a PC in forever so I know nothing about the harddrive nor can I really compare since I haven't had experience, sorry, should've mentioned I was comparing to my regular macbook.

Although you must be the rare case, cause after a quick google search I found a lot of "studies" (have no idea the credibility as it was a very quick search...late to class and that) that show the benefits of SSD under difficult tests (movement, using it more, turning it on faster)

http://www.micropctalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1766 is one. A couple other websites say that SSD is worth the cost because it doesn't have to start spinning like a regular hard-drive thus cutting down turn-on time even without you realizing it, along with some other reasons, but some people said it didn't last as long, but since mine only lasted 2 years I think anything longer would be fantastic!

 

[sumstorm]

I should have mentioned it but I was kinda comparing it to my white macbook. My harddrive kicked the bucket the night before finals my sophomore year (when it was only 2 years old!) and they said it was probably from carrying it around and not turning it off. I have def heard things about pc's going into sleep mode, but idk if my Macbook just doesn't do it. Sometimes I can still hear it spinning . I haven't had a PC in forever so I know nothing about the harddrive, sorry, should've mentioned I was comparing to the regular macbook!

My PC (lenovo tablet) actual senses any movement and freezes the hard drive until the tablet is stable again.

 

[AngSchmange]

My PC (lenovo tablet) actual senses any movement and freezes the hard drive until the tablet is stable again.

You're lucky lol. Mine pretends...but I think it forgot how to do that 😀

Is that the tablet you can switch around and write on with a stylus?

 

[su_grad2007]

For those of you who have tablets, which one do you have? I need to get a new computer for school, and I want a tablet. I definitely want to use one note, too. And I don't want the tablet to be so heavy that it kills my shoulders. Suggestions?

I'm a little bit late to this thread, but I have a Fujitsu Lifebook T4310 which was recommended to me by my husband the former computer salesman/comp sci guy. I love it very much. One Note is also amazing although I haven't played with it all that much yet.

My tablet also doesn't get turned off when I move it around, it has a motion sensor that retracts whatever it is that needs to be retracted when it detects motion.

 

[LetItSnow]

Was your previous job computer related, LIS?

I've been a staff engineer at a large telco for the last 13 years, working in the data networking side of the house. I do systems stuff that relates to our (primarily) Internet-related products (DSL, etc.). As excited as I am to shift into vet medicine ... I'm probably more than a little crazy to give up a solid, decently-paying career with a company that has treated me as well as this one has. But I think I'd hate myself if I rode this out until retirement and then ... what ... travel? Read books? Putter around in my garage? Yuck.

Oops. Starting to rant. Sorry.

 

[twelvetigers]

Ah. My husband does wireless networking, so pretty similar, perhaps. He's actually at the vet school now, changing out some APs.

 

[CurrySpice]

Def. completely not true about solid-state v. std harddrives. When you close the lid to a laptop it goes into "sleep" mode. Basically turns off and uses no battery and enables you to carry it around i.e. all moving parts stop moving...while still being able to turn it back on very quickly. I have an "ancient" dell laptop...5 1/2 yrs old now. It works wonderfully! I carry it with me every day all over the place. I've moved it around even open and on and it has no issues with failing hard drive parts. It's basically the most amazing computer ever. Supposedly though the solid-states should last longer as they don't have the moving parts that are most often the reason for failure in regular HDs.

However, I am too going to go with a mac later this summer. Most of my friends have them and many programs that I use for work won't run on a PC (and I plan on going back to research post-vet school.) I have to use the mac we have in the lab to do a good portion of my work. After using the one at work I just really like the operating system. Plus, I'm in love with Papers...a mac program.
My cousin has the 13" macbook air...she loves it. Granted shes only had it for a couple months now but she still says its incredibly fast and lightweight.

I just looked up the "papers' mac program and it looks extremely similar to EndNote, but with less compatibility. Are there any other advantages?

When the macbook air first came out, I remember them selling it as a secondary computer. Has it progressed far enough that it can now be your only computer? I will have my Lenovo for at least 18 more months (4 year warranty... and then until it dies post-warranty), but I have always loved the Macbook air.

 

[laitmanvet]

I just looked up the "papers' mac program and it looks extremely similar to EndNote, but with less compatibility. Are there any other advantages?

When the macbook air first came out, I remember them selling it as a secondary computer. Has it progressed far enough that it can now be your only computer? I will have my Lenovo for at least 18 more months (4 year warranty... and then until it dies post-warranty), but I have always loved the Macbook air.

I've never used Endnote. It looks like a similar idea to Papers, organizing PDF files. But I'm pretty sure Papers is a mac-only program. I've used it on the Macs at work and I just love the organization.
My cousin has the macbook air as her only computer, she's a college student. I haven't heard any speed, storage, etc complaints from her.

 

[sumstorm]

I've never used Endnote. It looks like a similar idea to Papers, organizing PDF files. But I'm pretty sure Papers is a mac-only program. I've used it on the Macs at work and I just love the organization.
My cousin has the macbook air as her only computer, she's a college student. I haven't heard any speed, storage, etc complaints from her.

I'd switch if they had one note. I'd love a mac tablet (I realize the ipad is somewhat similar to a tablet, but not quite there...and I love my ipad)

 

[withoutane]

Actually, Microsoft just came out with OneNote for iPads/iPhones earlier this year. No OneNote for Mac computers though...

 

[Ricegrad]

When the macbook air first came out, I remember them selling it as a secondary computer. Has it progressed far enough that it can now be your only computer? I will have my Lenovo for at least 18 more months (4 year warranty... and then until it dies post-warranty), but I have always loved the Macbook air.

I think a lot of the reason it was marketed as a secondary computer was because it doesn't have an optical drive. However, I haven't used the optical drive on my Macbrook Pro a single time, and I've had it for almost 2 years now.

 

[AngSchmange]

I think a lot of the reason it was marketed as a secondary computer was because it doesn't have an optical drive. However, I haven't used the optical drive on my Macbrook Pro a single time, and I've had it for almost 2 years now.

Yea, the only time I've used a drive is to update my OS X, but an external drive is not that expensive. Oh and MAYBE to rip some DVD's....

 

[heylodeb]

Back to the OP:
I believe that there is a typo in your question..

I think you meant to say "Do you need a smartphone to find the meaning of life?"

and the answer would be ....YES.

My iPhone and I are never further than 10 feet away from eachother. I even accidentally still had it in my pocket for my WSU interview. (not my fault, they called me in 15 minutes early!!)

Now you can all roll your eyes and think to yourself "Oh. So she's one of THOSE."