good laptop for pharmacy school???

[livingdaylights]

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This question is for current USC and UCSF students. What labtop do you guys recommend I get for pharmacy school? I always hear stuff about wireless internet. How does that work? Sorry if I sound ignorant I know very little about computer. I am willing to pay 1000~1600, but I want to make sure I get optimal labtop for pharmacy school.

 

[Sukie]

I was wondering the same thing. Is wireless internet available throughout campus (specifically, USC)? Which laptop do you guys recommend? I know that there are computer labs on campus, but it is nice to have your own.... Do people actually take their laptops to class to take notes, or is that just unnecessary? Thanks!

 

[dgroulx]

We're required to have laptops at UF, but I rarely use mine. I prefer taking notes by hand. It is easier for me to remember things that way.

Before I bought mine, I read reviews at PC World to find what brands were the highest rated. I mainly want no problems. I wasn't concerned about performance or playing games. IBM and Toshiba were at the top of the list for reliability, so I bought a Toshiba. At Best Buy, they had a free wireless card with any purchase, plus a $10 rebate on the card. So, in essence they gave me $10 to go wireless. The card I just plugged in and logged on. I was able to change my own network settings, but they have people at school who can do that for you.

 

[rxforlife2004]

As far as I know, a labtop is required at pharmacy schools because a lot of lecture materials will be either downloaded or viewed directly from a URL of the school's website, and to serve the email, online discussion purposes. About the labtop, you can choose any kind that you want. However, the price range is various. My labtop now is Dell Inspiron 5100. I bought it 2 months ago with the price of 1000 dollars. It has wonderful features, such as fast processor, good movie card, etc... My brother has an HP labtop, which cost more...around 1500....but it works faster and has more features.

As of wireless network, I believe majority schools will have such service for students. All you need is a wireless card (cost around 30-40 bucks now), install it to your labtop...then configure the internet settings based on your school's instruction...then you can have it available while you are at school...

🙂 have fun shopping

 

[Sukie]

Thanks dgroulx. PC World has the top five notebooks in three different categories on their website right now. I didn't know IBM ranked so high... I always thought it was so-so....

I'm going to wait until the summer. Hopefully they will have back-to-school offers and rebates and all that jazz.

 

[Superflyjsc]

Laptops are required by most pharmacy schools? Thats interesting. Well if thats the case, then I assume that one will not be using their laptops for nothing more special that surfing the internet or using it to type up lectures?
If thats the case then you do not need any special or even moderatly decent laptop.
I already have a really good desktop so do you people think that if i just buy any dinky $500 laptop for pharmacy school be good enough for the classroom work?
Im assuming I would not be using it to do anything much else besides surfing the net or typing up lectures as I had mentioned before.
Thanks for any advice.

 

[jdpharmd?]

My impression is that laptops are required by schools that don't have enought computer lab space to go around. There are pretty much two types to consider when you're looking. The "desktop replacement" is typically very fast and powerful but also large and heavy. This would be like the Dell Insprion 5100 or 5150 series. They're both great and use the intel pentium 4 processor but they are not considered ultra portable.

The 300m and 600m are very portable and have great battery life, but they are a little less powerful and much more expensive. They use the intel pentium M processor. The speed ratings are not really comparable between an M processor and a P4 processor because of different architecture, so don't think that a 1.6 GHz Pentium M processor sucks... it doesn't.

Keep in mind that some schools also expect that you have MS Word and MS powerpoint installed. I tried to get away with Wordperfect because it was so cheap, but I had forms to fill out in Word format or email attachments that had to be in Word format. You can buy Microsoft Office 2003 Student Edition for 99 bucks at most places, so DON'T pay $250+ to get in pre-installed on a new machine. Office includes Excel, Word, Outlook, and Powerpoint. I've heard that IBM has some great laptops, but I don't have any experience with them. Try for 512MB RAM so that you won't have to upgrade for a while. 30 gig HD is fine for most things. Wireless can either be integrated or on a PCMCIA card. Either one is usually less than 60 bucks.

 

[jason UCSD2000]

At least UCSF, I don't think that you need a laptop. You are required to have a computer that meets certain requirements, but laptops are not required. Having said that, most people have laptops. They are just more convenient. UCSF has wireless access in the library, in some of the classrooms, and other areas around campus. No one really brings their laptop into class to take notes (except for Neonam, sometimes🙂 ). The majority of the information that we receive is online (through emails, websites...etc), so having computer and internet access is pretty important. UCSF has computer labs in the library and the pharmacy school has a computer lab just for students, so you could get away with not having a computer.
UCSF also allows one to increase the amount of Unsub Stafford loans to cover the cost of a computer/printer...etc up to $3000.
-jason

 

[scuba_smitty]

I have a friend that works with computers a lot and he says that toshiba and IBM are the most reliable while dell, hp, and gateway are the least, if you want some real feedback go to

www.resellerratings.com

Just search some of the manufactuers and you will hear the pro's and con's

 

[jdpharmd?]

Originally posted by scuba_smitty
I have a friend that works with computers a lot and he says that toshiba and IBM are the most reliable while dell, hp, and gateway are the least, if you want some real feedback go to

www.resellerratings.com

Just search some of the manufactuers and you will hear the pro's and con's

IBM is probably the absolute most expensive, but they are very nice. Toshiba are nice also and a little less expensive. I really don't think that you can go wrong with any name brand. A friend of mine bought a HP for something like 899 (a year ago) and it works very well.

 

[livingdaylights]

Thanks!!! very hepful! I am gong shopping today, expecting to spend around 1000~1200🙁