Ideal Laptop for a Dental student???

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dongiovanni81

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Hi Yall

I'm going to UCSF Dental School this Fall and I was hoping to know what kind of LAPTOP would be ideal for a dental student.

Any recommendations or advice?

Thanks in advance. =)

_____________________________
UC Berkeley '04
UCSF School of Dentistry 2010
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laptop? hrm no need for one -- stay off sdn! :) unless your school requires it..
dongiovanni81 said:
Hi Yall

I'm going to UCSF Dental School this Fall and I was hoping to know what kind of LAPTOP would be ideal for a dental student.

Any recommendations or advice?

Thanks in advance. =)

_____________________________
UC Berkeley '04
UCSF School of Dentistry 2010
Click to expand...
 
rocknightmare said:
stay off sdn! :)
Click to expand...

Take your own advice. Shouldn't you be studying micro? ;)

To the OP - It doesn't really matter at my school, especially since we have a computer lab. You should try to ask some upperclassmen at your school in case it differs.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
dell has some great laptops

check out techbargains.com for deals on them then pick the one THAT YOU LIKE.
 
dongiovanni81 said:
Hi Yall

I'm going to UCSF Dental School this Fall and I was hoping to know what kind of LAPTOP would be ideal for a dental student.

Any recommendations or advice?

Thanks in advance. =)

_____________________________
UC Berkeley '04
UCSF School of Dentistry 2010
Click to expand...



I think laptop is extremely important for me. I use it to view my patho/micro slides etc , surf the net for dental resources..all at the comfort of my own room. I am using IBM R50 series. Super..
 
Alright, jot this techno-babble here down. Tell the place you want your laptop to have

2 gig of RAM
80 GB hard drive (at least)
256 MB video card
17" wide screen
DVD burner
Built in wireless

Then get yourself a stack of the best games out there on the market right now. Your computer will do anything you want it to and entertain you when you just can't take studying any more. That's what mine does.
 
Beestieboy said:
Alright, jot this techno-babble here down. Tell the place you want your laptop to have

2 gig of RAM
80 GB hard drive (at least)
256 MB video card
17" wide screen
DVD burner
Built in wireless

Then get yourself a stack of the best games out there on the market right now. Your computer will do anything you want it to and entertain you when you just can't take studying any more. That's what mine does.
Click to expand...

Those are some sweet specs...
 
If you're looking for something especially for school, I'd definitely go with a screen size of around 14" (or smaller). I've got a Sony with a 13.3" screen, and it's perfect. The keyboard is still full size, and the computer slips easily into my backpack. For school I think 17" is wayyyy too big - you'll be less likely to want to lug around a computer with those specs, and will wish you'd gotten something smaller when you see the computers your classmates have got. Definitely go to a store like Best Buy and check out sizes before you buy something online.

Definitely go for at least 1 gigabyte of RAM - that will give your computer more longevity. If you don't plan on playing the latest games, don't worry about the video card.

Like Beestieboy said, look for something with built-in wireless. This will save you the hassle of having to plug a card into your USB port everytime you want to use the Internet.
 
check out the new Sony Vaio SZ Just go to Sonystyle.com
13.3" screen
metal enclosure (optional carbon fiber enclosure)
Intel Core Duo processors (up to 2.16ghz)
built-in webcam
up to 2gb DDR SDRAM
up to 120gb hard drive
dual layer DVD burner
optional biometrics scanner
Hybrid GeForce Go 7400 graphics and Intel graphics (can switch to maximize battery life)
wireless internet, bluetooth
 
Stay away from dell.

I have a latitude D600. Paid $1800 for it 3 years ago. Well I have had over $2000 in repairs to it, thank goodness all covered under warrenty. Only thing that is that my warrenty runs out in June and the damn thing is still acting up and they won't replace it. They only replace what breaks down and essentially almost everything has broke down atleast once, some twice!
 
Maybe if you listed what you want to fo with the laptop we could tailor the suggestion better...
 
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3rdMolarRoller said:
Stay away from dell.

I have a latitude D600. Paid $1800 for it 3 years ago. Well I have had over $2000 in repairs to it, thank goodness all covered under warrenty. Only thing that is that my warrenty runs out in June and the damn thing is still acting up and they won't replace it. They only replace what breaks down and essentially almost everything has broke down atleast once, some twice!
Click to expand...

I agree! STAY AWAY...I repeat STAY AWAY from dell. I have a dell laptop that's less than a year old and I have had so much stuff replaced on it already. Every month there is a new problem. T just got it fixed the other day and now the CD-drive won't read any CD. So, i'll have to fix it again soon. I HATE DELL :mad:
 
I had similar horror story with dell as well. Although I just opened it out of the box and the damn thing kept going to the blue screen of death. I called an bitched out dell, and the had the gaul to tell me that it was something I did. After a 20 minute debate about business ethics and the customers always right they agreed to fed ex overnight a brand new dell computer. I had it for for about a month and I have to say its pretty nice... Records tv which is nice and has really great graphics for games.

I guess the one they sent me was a lemon or it was built on friday. Funny everyone of my family members have dell and they had no problems with there computer.

HD
 
I honestly wouldn't get anything but a Mac. They freakin rock. A lot of people at our school have a bunch of other computers that are crap. (Gateway, Dell). They may be a bit more expensive, but you get what you pay for!
 
I grew up on Mac and loved it, but for the past 10 years or so haven't touched one. I'm trying to decide which laptop to get for d-school & wondered if anyone could give pros/cons/suggestions on either a Mac Powerbook vs. one of the new Sony Vaio SZ's.

Any takers?
 
get a MacBook Pro if you're a Mac type of person. Those lappy's look sick.
 
FCIllini said:
I grew up on Mac and loved it, but for the past 10 years or so haven't touched one. I'm trying to decide which laptop to get for d-school & wondered if anyone could give pros/cons/suggestions on either a Mac Powerbook vs. one of the new Sony Vaio SZ's.

Any takers?
Click to expand...


I was in the same boat you are in. I grew up on macs, but once I went to college, I used a dell laptop (which sucked, and went in for repairs multiple times). Here are Buffalo, we are required to buy a laptop, and they only give us two choices, a 15'' mac powerbook, or a 15'' IBM thinkpad. Well, i got the mac and love it, and all the people who got the macs love them. I know of a few people who got the IBM and have already had bring them in for repairs. Go for the Mac. You won't regret it, expecially since you grew up with them and loved them... it's not that hard to relearn the mac OS.
 
Beestieboy said:
Alright, jot this techno-babble here down. Tell the place you want your laptop to have

2 gig of RAM
80 GB hard drive (at least)
256 MB video card
17" wide screen
DVD burner
Built in wireless

Then get yourself a stack of the best games out there on the market right now. Your computer will do anything you want it to and entertain you when you just can't take studying any more. That's what mine does.
Click to expand...

Don' forget a processor :)
 
Haha that's a great vid :thumbup:
 
Personally i would get an IBM tablet. You want something that has as long of a battery life as possible. That suped up laptop listed above will weigh A TON and have a battery life of 2 hours AT BEST. Keep that in mind.

As far as the above posters saying dell is crap I don't agree with that at all. If you know what you are doing they are fine. The first thing I did when I got my 600m during the 750 off 1500 deal was upgrade the ram to 1GB, drop in a new 60GB 7200 Rpm hitachi drive and then install XP pro and necessary software. Since I have added a 2nd battery (fits in the CD drive space). For what I spent on it (About $1050 total with upgrades) I couldn't be happier.

Every computer you can BUY comes with so much trash installed you would be crazy to not format it the second you open the box. :laugh:
 
yeah, I would not get the Dell 17" monstrosity Anything above 7lbs is not good for portability.
here are my suggestions:
if you want a tablet, IBM Thinkpad would be a good bet
if you want a nontablet portable Windows laptop, get the Sony VAIO SZ. That computer is a beast for like 4lbs.
if you want a Mac, get the MacBook Pro

Personally, I'm gonna order a 2ghz MacBook Pro in the next few days. Hopefully it will ship by early March.
 
Are there any dental computer programs that are only configured to run on a Windows platform? I like the idea of a secure Mac system, but I"m worried about the speed if I have to run a program built for Windows through the simulator thing. Any comments...?
 
gatorchc27 said:
Are there any dental computer programs that are only configured to run on a Windows platform? I like the idea of a secure Mac system, but I"m worried about the speed if I have to run a program built for Windows through the simulator thing. Any comments...?
Click to expand...


I'm sure there are TONS of practice management and imaging software programs that are windows only. Windows computer are plenty secure as long as you have them correctly configured and of course you always want multiple off and onsite backups. Yes you are right about windows simulation programs. Thats a sure way to kill tons of CPU power. Also macs are so much more $ than standard PC boxes and really offer nothing more in teh world of dental applicability than a PC. I challenge someone to give me any example of why a mac is significantly better than a PC which is directly applicable to dentistry and therefore justifies its high cost.

And don't say spyware or looks. Those are the 2 most over rated ones. Thats all they shout at you when you go into the apple store in the mall. Spyware, spyware, spyware.
 
If a school requires you to run Windows dental programs, they'll likely require you to purchase a PC instead of a Mac. For example, I know that NYU and Stony Brook require PC's. As far as the simulator goes, right now, there isn't one available for the new Intel Mac's. I'm pretty sure Microsoft is making a new Virtual PC that is supposed to run Windows at near full speed because they no longer need to translate instructions from X86 to PowerPC. I would check with the school for their computer requirements.

The only downside with the Mac's is the lack of games...oh well

here's a nice list of dental softwares available on the Mac
http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/macsimum_migration_dental_software_part_i/
 
DrTacoElf said:
I'm sure there are TONS of practice management and imaging software programs that are windows only. Windows computer are plenty secure as long as you have them correctly configured and of course you always want multiple off and onsite backups. Yes you are right about windows simulation programs. Thats a sure way to kill tons of CPU power. Also macs are so much more $ than standard PC boxes and really offer nothing more in teh world of dental applicability than a PC. I challenge someone to give me any example of why a mac is significantly better than a PC which is directly applicable to dentistry and therefore justifies its high cost.

And don't say spyware or looks. Those are the 2 most over rated ones. Thats all they shout at you when you go into the apple store in the mall. Spyware, spyware, spyware.
Click to expand...

I also would like to know how they justify the $ gap between PC and Mac. The guy at the apple story didn't say much to convice me (he was wearing a skirt and babbled something about apple taking over the world). I think the only reason apple doesn't have the virus problem is because 95+% of the population uses Windows, where's the satisfaction in pissing off a mere 5% of the population? My bf got a PC (Toshiba) around Christmas time for about $800 and spent pennies on anti-virus software (after all the rebates) and has had no problem so far. Any hard core Mac users care to take on the challenge?
 
DrTacoElf said:
I'm sure there are TONS of practice management and imaging software programs that are windows only. Windows computer are plenty secure as long as you have them correctly configured and of course you always want multiple off and onsite backups. Yes you are right about windows simulation programs. Thats a sure way to kill tons of CPU power. Also macs are so much more $ than standard PC boxes and really offer nothing more in teh world of dental applicability than a PC. I challenge someone to give me any example of why a mac is significantly better than a PC which is directly applicable to dentistry and therefore justifies its high cost.

And don't say spyware or looks. Those are the 2 most over rated ones. Thats all they shout at you when you go into the apple store in the mall. Spyware, spyware, spyware.
Click to expand...

With the new Intel Macs there's also the problem of running Microsoft Office which is built for the Mac OS, but not for Intel...so now you have to run through the Rosetta program. I wonder how motivated Windows is to help Mac out and come out with a new Microsoft Office...?

I also would like to know how they justify the $ gap between PC and Mac. The guy at the apple story didn't say much to convice me (he was wearing a skirt and babbled something about apple taking over the world). I think the only reason apple doesn't have the virus problem is because 95+% of the population uses Windows, where's the satisfaction in pissing off a mere 5% of the population? My bf got a PC (Toshiba) around Christmas time for about $800 and spent pennies on anti-virus software (after all the rebates) and has had no problem so far. Any hard core Mac users care to take on the challenge?
 
From what i've heard, Office runs just fine using Rosetta. And Microsoft has committed more than 5 years to develop software for Apple. (Rosetta even handles World of Warcraft respectably.)

as far as the $ gap...if you get the iBook, that costs around $1000. MacBook Pro pricing is comparable to other high end Core Duo laptops coming out. Plus, you can use educational discount to get $200 off, which is totally sweet
 
In all fairness I will say that Mac notebooks (powerbooks) are without a doubt the best "designed" computers in terms of looks, slimness (slot load drives are sweet) and available ports (full size firewire :)).
 
Here is my plan for notebooks in the future.

With all these sales going on, you can get a bottom end Laptop at Best Buy, Circuit City, etc... for about $500

If I have to replace that thing once a year (highly doubtful) It still comes out cheaper than buying a Dell like mine every 3 years. I paid $1800 for it 3 years ago and its outdated big time. Even a $500 laptop blows mine away now.

Until the day I die, its cheap from here on out and replace it a lot because it comes out cheaper and I have better, faster technology!!!!
 
Hi everyone! Its my first reply on this forum :). I discovered it today :).

Well, I use a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo A laptop with a 15" screen , AMD Athlon Mobile 2400 (1800Mhz), 512MB DDR-Ram, 40GB, DVD-ROM. I bought it 2 or 3 years ago for 1500euro. I think it's ok. I'm not only use it for my studies though, for some ebooks, atlases, and dental links on the net, generally web-browsing, music etc. I think you should think if you really need one or buy a desktop instead. I'm studying away from home that's why i took the laptop.
 
Get a light laptop. But you say: "wait, I want it suped up with wide screen, loads of space and memory. They're nice."

I say: "yeah they are, get a widescreen panel - 24 inch, and put it at home. but while you are away you'll have a light laptop to use."

I have a 15 incher, and I tried a light vaio that's only 11 inch. The 11 inch is so much nicer for day to day, school, notes, and everything. The weight outweighs the functional capabilities.
 
Opps, I did forget a processor in my first post there. LOL, can't forget that.

Actually, in contrast to the others that posted here about Dell, I've had great luck with them. I currently use 2 Dell computers at work (First year starts in the fall, so I still have to work :() My wife uses one at home, and I have an ultra beefy Inspiron 9000. Yep, it's the 17" widescreen monster that weighs in like a desktop. Can't argue with that, it's strong suit is not the weight. But for gaming...... can't be beat. Anyways, I have never had a problem with any of the Dell's I use and neither has my family (they all have Dell laptop's too). The price on them can't be beat. Just do a search for a Dell laptop coupon code and you'll get a screamin' deal. If you want a portable laptop from Dell, look into the Inspiron 6000 and make sure to google for some coupon codes. I just helped a friend of mine order his and it's absolutely sweet for about $1100 loaded with enough goodies to keep him up to date for years into the future (and a 2 year at home warranty included).

Other people I know that really love their laptops use IBM thinkpads. They are rock solid, but cost a lot. Those are the two that I have the most experience with and they have both done well with all applicaitons I have used them for. HP/Compaq I'm not quite as hot on.
 
Make sure you get at least a 128mb video card. You will need a least a few games to get through dental school. Call of Duty 2 is the only reason my buddies and I even show up to class/clinic nowadays.
 
www.slickdeals.net

Every few months you will find a smoking deal on a dell laptop using $750 off coupon codes. I'm currently typing on an Inspiron 6000 that I paid $700 for. Pretty loaded, too. The 6000 is NOT very portable, contrary to what has been posted previously. 15" widescreen weighing in around 7lbs. If you love Dell and want portable, go for the 600 or 710. I'm actually not a fan of Dell, but I wasn't about to pass up a $700 loaded notebook.

I also work for IBM (Lenovo now), so if any of you need to purchase a Thinkpad notebook or tablet, boardmail me. Thinkpads are the best in the industry, but are typically more expensive too.
 
i'm also looking for a laptop, especially a tablet pc. anyone care to tell me their experiences with it in dental school?
 
dongiovanni81 said:
Hi Yall

I'm going to UCSF Dental School this Fall and I was hoping to know what kind of LAPTOP would be ideal for a dental student.

Any recommendations or advice?

Thanks in advance. =)

_____________________________
UC Berkeley '04
UCSF School of Dentistry 2010
Click to expand...

BU DENTAL provides us with IBM Thinkpads -- this year we got the T43. I had a thinkpad during undergrad too and I am very happy with them. I think its a great laptop for students. check it out....
 
I already found the website for the computers I will be using through dell. It is a d610 with a pretty decent set-up. 1.86 centrino, 2 ghz ram, x300 ati graphics card, 2 6-cell batteries, dvd rw, 80 gb 5400rpm hd, wireless, bluetooth, for under $2k. Should I just buy this and sell it on ebay, then use the money to buy a sony? I keep seeing all the comments on sdn saying dell 600 series suck. is this true?
 
UOPDDS09 said:
I already found the website for the computers I will be using through dell. It is a d610 with a pretty decent set-up. 1.86 centrino, 2 ghz ram, x300 ati graphics card, 2 6-cell batteries, dvd rw, 80 gb 5400rpm hd, wireless, bluetooth, for under $2k. Should I just buy this and sell it on ebay, then use the money to buy a sony? I keep seeing all the comments on sdn saying dell 600 series suck. is this true?
Click to expand...
Hey UOP.
Just my unbiased opinion.
I spent a couple of weeks at a friends place last summer. He has a dell laptop which seemed to be pretty nice. I did not have a comp. at the time, so i was basically using his ALL the time. At least 2-3hrs/day.
When I got back home, I got a VAIO, with comparable specs, and let me tell you that there is no huge difference between both. Probably just the screen (being better on the sony) and the VAIO is slimmer.
For a couple hundred bucks less, i'd go with the dell.
Coincidently, i'm joining UOP this July, and will be selling the VAIO for some money, since the dell comes out of my loans. Be my guest. :)
 
Nile, I know the Dell comes out of our loans. But I've been seeing that the d600 series has had many problems, hopefully they have been ironed out on the 610 series. I just wanted to know if anyone had the 610. It looks pretty decent. If you want to check out the laptop we will be getting go to dell.com/pacific. See ya in july!!
 
I am going to UNLV this year, and I thought that we are required to buy a laptop directly from the school without any choices. Am I wrong? If anybody knows what kind of laptop will we get.

Thanks.
 
UOPDDS09 said:
Nile, I know the Dell comes out of our loans. But I've been seeing that the d600 series has had many problems, hopefully they have been ironed out on the 610 series. I just wanted to know if anyone had the 610. It looks pretty decent. If you want to check out the laptop we will be getting go to dell.com/pacific. See ya in july!!
Click to expand...
Thanks ... great link.
I was curious what we would be getting in July.
 
my family and i have all had dells for almost as long as we have had computers and we have not had many technical problems, and when we did the phone service people were always really helpful. also, once my boyfriend's screen on his dell blacked out (after 3+ years of use) and they came out and replaced the screen at no charge. i've got the latitude d400 now, i got it at a discount from their refurbished section and have not really had any problems. I would say if your school doesn't require any specific computer, go with whatever type and brand you're comfortable with but make sure you research the specs to make sure you're getting all the features you need. also i definitly recommend going with a smaller screen like a 12", everyone i know who has a 17" wishes they had gotten a smaller one unless you plan on leaving it at home most of the time or if you're gaming.
 
hey guys do you think a 12.1" screen would be too small for dental school? i was thinkign about getting the dell 710m. but i'm not sur eif it's tooo small for lab work or whatever is involved in dental school.
 
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