Med School Laptop

[Psai]

All graduate students ever get macbook pros. It's how we feel elite, even though we usually feel incompetent.

The logo doesn't even light up anymore, what are you even paying for?

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[RangerBob]

Macs are not going to be as financially wise of an investment. They are very reliable, but I believe Toshiba and Lenovo are the most reliable brands. I have a Macbook Pro and when I bought it in 2009 for about $1k it was a great investment--it's only now starting to run a bit slower after 7 years. I'm replacing it when the last generation Macbook you could actually upgrade the RAM and HD yourself (and lets me re-use the SSD I bought two years ago), since that makes it much more affordable ($1k) and lets me keep using Photoshop and Lightroom as well as some specialized scanning software I don't want to have to re-buy at this time. But that computer is from 2012, even though you can buy it new (but not from Apple anymore--they stopped selling it right when the new Macbook Pro's came out, which in my mind are a complete waste of money--it'd cost at least $2k to get a Mac laptop with the same specs I have now!) But it does kill me--imagine how much a 2012 PC would cost. Apple tax...

So if you want to be smart, get a cheaper laptop. If you really want a Mac and want to annotate your notes, consider a Wacom Tablet. I bought a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet for photo editing and it works far greater than any screen tablet I've used. You get used to writing on the tablet while looking at the screen very quickly. The size of the tablet I got fits perfectly on top of the keyboard so it really doesn't take up any extra space, and I used that tablet to annotate all of my notes in medical school. I purchased a program called Curio which lets you import the ppt files, and then preserves the pressure-sensitive aspect of the stylus/tablet, which I find makes reading your notes much easier/more pleasant. Most annotation options within pdf/ppt readers don't offer that, so your writing is the same density/pixel width and just looks funky (to me).

The above worked great for me--all I need to do is surf the web (do we still surf it? kind of dating myself here), watch Netflix, read/write e-mails, use standard Office programs, and scan and edit very large digital photo files. I don't do video editing or gaming.

I just don't get why Apple is so obsessed with smaller/thinner/lighter. My 2009 Macbook Pro is more than small/light enough, and I'd rather they make new laptops with the same dimensions but better specs, battery life, and user-changeable batteries/HD/RAM, like the older generations of Macbook Pros.

 

[I'm On My Way Up]

Get one of the Lenovo laptops. I recommend any of the Thinkpad lines.

 

[Lnsean]

All graduate students ever get macbook pros. It's how we feel elite, even though we usually feel incompetent.

Honestly...that was like 8 years ago. I had a mbp too and carried it around proudly because Apple was an underdog and I usually like to support underdogs. Now days, everyone has a mbp...you can buy it used if you want to...i see kids with mbp...and Apple isn't the underdog anymore...nor is it as good or as elite as it once was. It's not special anymore.

 

[FindingNismo]

anybody own a surface book? thoughts on which trim is best? i'm telling myself i need the dgpu (for data analysis, of course, definitely not gaming) but i'm not convinced it's worth it

 

[libertyyne]

anybody own a surface book? thoughts on which trim is best? i'm telling myself i need the dgpu (for data analysis, of course, definitely not gaming) but i'm not convinced it's worth it

You always need the dgpu for data analysis !!! Don't forget the extra ram or the i7 either.

I have been trying to convince myself to get a surface book as well but I can't bring myself around to spending 2 k .

I think they have a trade in a macbook for 600 towards a surface book and might offer some student discounts.

 

[JustAPhD]

Get one of the Lenovo laptops. I recommend any of the Thinkpad lines.

I'm a big fan of the Thinkpads. Had one a while ago when they were still by IBM and it never failed me. I think one of those will be my next laptop.

 

[GrumpyGus]

This is a lot of discussion for a porn box

 

[I'm On My Way Up]

I'm a big fan of the Thinkpads. Had one a while ago when they were still by IBM and it never failed me. I think one of those will be my next laptop.

I have the Thinkpad T460 and it is a fantastic machine for work (especially research and software engineering), school, and even a bit of gaming. I got it last year when it was on its opening sale for around $1000. i7 6600u processor, 256 GB SSD, 24 GB RAM, ~15 hour practical battery life, and a keyboard that hands down beats almost everything else on the laptop market.

 

[UberUdder09]

You always need the dgpu for data analysis !!! Don't forget the extra ram or the i7 either.

I have been trying to convince myself to get a surface book as well but I can't bring myself around to spending 2 k .

I think they have a trade in a macbook for 600 towards a surface book and might offer some student discounts.

I use a MacBook Air with an eGPU GTX 980. I can use MATLAB *and* play Crysis 3 on max settings(not really j/k)