Surface pro 3 vs MacBook for med school

[n618ft]

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Sold my new MacBook and got a 17" laptop. Will never look back. Multitasking on a large screen with a flexible operating system is invaluable.

 

[PL198]

ok 17'' is where the computer starts to not be portable. like I used a 15'' right now but can see 13'' as being a little more ideal. 17'' computers are always gigantic alienware bricks of power consumption. 10 lb computer and 2 hr battery life

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Sold my new MacBook and got a 17" laptop. Will never look back. Multitasking on a large screen with a flexible operating system is invaluable.

17 inch enters the realm of desktop replacement in my opinion. It's going to be heavy and it's going to require you lug around the power cord everywhere you go. My boyfriend's 17 inch cannot manage more than 4 hours of function before needing a charge and it's new. Two years down the line it'll be 2 hours.

But again it depends a lot on the person and their needs. If you have a desktop you don't need an ultra powerful laptop.

If you don't you may want to opt for a replacement type device.

 

[username456789]

My boyfriend's 17 inch cannot manage more than 4 hours of function before needing a charge and it's new

I would strongly recommend he see a physician if it does last longer than four hours.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I would strongly recommend he see a physician if it does last longer than four hours.

Thank you!!!! I really hoped someone would make this joke bahah

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Thankfully I am not the only dirty mind here heh... That is impressive though... 17 inches and 4 hours of function. Not many people can boast such a claim.

 

[Lucca]

I avoid tablets/hybrids for the reasons many have listed above and I prefer paper for note taking.

The new chrome book pixel 2 looks dank AF but for that price I would just grab the Mb Pro retina display lol. I use a MacBook air and I'll probably keep it through med school but it's awesome. I like my Mac because I've had it for three years and it still runs smoothly, it stil looks good, and I have never had an issue doing my work or doing what I need to do for school/life. The iPhoto app makes uploading pics super easy but it's not like it's hard on a windows. Plus OSX is a *.nix environment and I code A LOT for my research and I enjoy not having to start PuTTy everytime I need to code, debug, or ssh into something. Idk if that's something you do or not.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I avoid tablets/hybrids for the reasons many have listed above and I prefer paper for note taking.

The new chrome book pixel 2 looks dank AF but for that price I would just grab the Mb Pro retina display lol. I use a MacBook air and I'll probably keep it through med school but it's awesome. I like my Mac because I've had it for three years and it still runs smoothly, it stil looks good, and I have never had an issue doing my work or doing what I need to do for school/life. The iPhoto app makes uploading pics super easy but it's not like it's hard on a windows. Plus OSX is a *.nix environment and I code A LOT for my research and I enjoy not having to start PuTTy everytime I need to code, debug, or ssh into something. Idk if that's something you do or not.

Chrome book pixel makes absolutely no sense. The chrome android os is something that is targeting a gradually declining population.

People are starting to understand computers more and do much more things at home with them. Offering them half an os just because they want to just surf the internet mainly and not do anything else is becoming less and less a reasonable standard.

This not even beginning to examine the fact that their half os computer is more expensive than every intro to mid ultra book on the market. Let's be frank, you'd have to be an idiot to buy a chrome book when you can get either a MacBook Pro, asus zen, hp specter, samsung ativ pro, dell xps, Lenovo yoga, and others for less and having everything that pixel is trying to sell but better...

Idk. They'd be better of inventing a real os or just straight going for Linux.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Chrome book pixel makes absolutely no sense. The chrome android os is something that is targeting a gradually declining population.

People are starting to understand computers more and do much more things at home with them. Offering them half an os just because they want to just surf the internet mainly and not do anything else is becoming less and less a reasonable standard.

This not even beginning to examine the fact that their half os computer is more expensive than every intro to mid ultra book on the market. Let's be frank, you'd have to be an idiot to buy a chrome book when you can get either a MacBook Pro, asus zen, hp specter, samsung ativ pro, dell xps, Lenovo yoga, and others for less and having everything that pixel is trying to sell but better...

Idk. They'd be better of inventing a real os or just straight going for Linux.

Not to mention, you can just do the web surfing job on a cheap tablet, or heck, even your phone. I cant understand how the chromebook thing is still alive.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Not to mention, you can just do the web surfing job on a cheap tablet, or heck, even your phone. I cant understand how the chromebook thing is still alive.

Mostly because there a lot of dinosaurs who need computers without the hard stuff or doing anything besides skyping their kids and looking up a recipe.

 

[AM508]

...or just straight going for Linux.

Yeah. That.

 

[Lucca]

Chrome book pixel makes absolutely no sense. The chrome android os is something that is targeting a gradually declining population.

People are starting to understand computers more and do much more things at home with them. Offering them half an os just because they want to just surf the internet mainly and not do anything else is becoming less and less a reasonable standard.

This not even beginning to examine the fact that their half os computer is more expensive than every intro to mid ultra book on the market. Let's be frank, you'd have to be an idiot to buy a chrome book when you can get either a MacBook Pro, asus zen, hp specter, samsung ativ pro, dell xps, Lenovo yoga, and others for less and having everything that pixel is trying to sell but better...

Idk. They'd be better of inventing a real os or just straight going for Linux.

The display is real nice. I agree about the Chrome OS, especially at the pixel price range. I'd just load Ubuntu onto it like all the CS kids do and take advantage of the hardware.
Totally agree though, I'd take the mb pro over it any day.

 

[AM508]

The display is real nice. I agree about the Chrome OS, especially at the pixel price range. I'd just load Ubuntu onto it like all the CS kids do and take advantage of the hardware.
Totally agree though, I'd take the mb pro over it any day.

That's a pretty valid point, afaik you can boot Ubuntu right from a USB stick, no need to partition or install at all.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

That's a pretty valid point, afaik you can boot Ubuntu right from a USB stick, no need to partition or install at all.

I imagine that you'd invalidate all of your supposed "features" tho. Also is that room to upgrade the memory. It essentially just has a boot drive.

 

[AM508]

I imagine that you'd invalidate all of your supposed "features" tho. Also is that room to upgrade the memory. It essentially just has a boot drive.

Yeah, I am not sure as I have never done it or even looked at a Chromebook. I know that my friend has a little netbook that he stripped down and runs Ubuntu on it and its great. We use that to interface with our Linux servers.

 

[einsteinm]

Have a 13" MBP. Thinking about just upping the ram to 8gb from 4gb, and throwing in an SSD for $100 total instead of getting a new one.

 

[0ncogene]

Go mac and upgrade ram to 8gb. I got my first macbook when I started medical school, and I am very glad I made that decision. A lot faster. More user friendly. Don't have to worry about getting virus protection either.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Have a 13" MBP. Thinking about just upping the ram to 8gb from 4gb, and throwing in an SSD for $100 total instead of getting a new one.

I was considering this myself, the only issue is that I think the 2008 macbook pros aren't ventilated as well as the new ones. Though I can get apparently 300 bucks for it and then 100 for my old phone via trade in. So getting a new macbook pro wouldn't end up being much more expensive than getting an intro low end ultra book.

 

[LSDiVinci]

I have a surface and a MacBook Pro. I bought the surface specifically so I could draw on my notes. It seemed like it worked well enough; however, I ended up going back to my Mac and just typing my notes--I would convert all my files to PDF and type on the PDF. The BIGGEST reason why I went back to my Mac was that I found that hand writing and drawing was slow and distracting. I can type a lot faster than I can write, so it allows me to pay attention to what is going on and still get ALL the notes down as opposed to missing half of what is being said because I'm still trying to hand-write the previous thought. I still use my surface, but not to draw on. I mostly use it for its size when I want to comfortably review.

 

[jtm0021]

In the totally same boat! I was considering getting a Macbook pro and an iPad mini or just one of the new Surface pros (hopefully they will be faster). As I am not in medical school could anyone tell me of a reason when you would actually need a tablet? Besides just portability? Would we need one for charting on any sort of practice patient encounters in the professional skills class?

 

[ridethecliche]

I've been using my SP3 since the start of school and I love it for studying. I have an external monitor at home for working there (as well as a laptop that I use as a dock). I honestly think the SP3 is awesome for a student since it has great battery life and with a keyboard/mouse dock and a monitor at home it should be more than adequate.

The SP4 looks bloody clutch as well. I'd have waited for that, but I really didn't want to have to change studying methods 2 months into school.

I can't recommend the setup enough tbh.

 

[FistLength]

I was in the market and had to make the decision between surface pro 4 or mac (air most likely). I went with the surface pro 4. Simply could not compete with the ability to write notes directly in one note, which I use heavily for all study notes. Super excited for it, comes in Monday. 10% student discount helps. Everyone who has a surface raves about it. I also wanted something I can take with me everywhere (tablet form) and still be completely functional to write on and read from.

 

[amichel]

Regardless of what you get (surface if you like to handwrite, Mac if you like to type, imo), get a big monitor to plug in to. Life changing.

 

[cbarne01]

I have an external monitor at home for working there (as well as a laptop that I use as a dock).

Can you explain our point me to a link about how this dock stop works? Thanks!

SP4 souls arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.... I'm so excited! No more printing!

 

[jtm0021]

You guys speak very highly of the SPs. I think I might have to go that direction and just get a monitor.

 

[LuluLovesMe]

For anyone who is looking for windows options, my suggestions would be the following:

1. Surface Pro 4 (2.3 pounds) + Dock + Monitor (You want a large screen when working in your room) ~$1500
2. XPS 13 (3.3 pounds) + Monitor (If you don't need tablet functionality) ~$1100

If you really need to run some applications that require a dedicated GPU or heavy usage of more than 4 threads, get the following:

1. XPS 15 (4 pounds) + Surface 3 (2 pounds) (The XPS 15 is light enough to bring around if you need the power, but the S3 will be the main tablet/portable computer to use everyday) ~$1900
2. MSI GS60 (4.2 pounds) + Surface 3 (2 pounds) (If you are a gamer the GTX 970m on the GS60 will be 70% faster than the GTX 960m on the XPS at the cost of battery life and some weight) ~$1900
3. Build your own desktop + Surface 3 (2 pounds) ~$1400

 

[BluMist]

seriously considering a Surface Book at some point, versatility, power, and battery life...

 

[Firegrove]

Go mac and upgrade ram to 8gb. I got my first macbook when I started medical school, and I am very glad I made that decision. A lot faster. More user friendly. Don't have to worry about getting virus protection either.

Realizing that many MacBooks have their RAM soldered in, do you know if official Apple stores are willing to upgrade a 4gb to 8? Do many 3rd party stores offer these services? I'm very content with my 4gb air but would like to know I have the option to upgrade.

 

[ridethecliche]

For anyone who is looking for windows options, my suggestions would be the following:

1. Surface Pro 4 (2.3 pounds) + Dock + Monitor (You want a large screen when working in your room) ~$1500
2. XPS 13 (3.3 pounds) + Monitor (If you don't need tablet functionality) ~$1100

If you really need to run some applications that require a dedicated GPU or heavy usage of more than 4 threads, get the following:

1. XPS 15 (4 pounds) + Surface 3 (2 pounds) (The XPS 15 is light enough to bring around if you need the power, but the S3 will be the main tablet/portable computer to use everyday) ~$1900
2. MSI GS60 (4.2 pounds) + Surface 3 (2 pounds) (If you are a gamer the GTX 970m on the GS60 will be 70% faster than the GTX 960m on the XPS at the cost of battery life and some weight) ~$1900
3. Build your own desktop + Surface 3 (2 pounds) ~$1400

My i5 SP3 was like 850 or something...

An SP4 might be a bit nicer, but it's hardly necessary. The SP3's functionality is fine. I get decent battery life out of it as well. I don't have a dock, just an external monitor and a usb mouse. I'd get a USB keyboard/mouse if I didn't have an old laptop at home that I'm using as a work station.

I like the setup, tbh.

Having said that, I think I might have bought the SP4 if I was doing things now. The price differential is too high to justify at this time imho, but it's certainly nicer. The surface book is another option, but that's 1500.

 

[LuluLovesMe]

My i5 SP3 was like 850 or something...

An SP4 might be a bit nicer, but it's hardly necessary. The SP3's functionality is fine. I get decent battery life out of it as well. I don't have a dock, just an external monitor and a usb mouse. I'd get a USB keyboard/mouse if I didn't have an old laptop at home that I'm using as a work station.

I like the setup, tbh.

Having said that, I think I might have bought the SP4 if I was doing things now. The price differential is too high to justify at this time imho, but it's certainly nicer. The surface book is another option, but that's 1500.

Yeah SP3 is fine now. A shame Microsoft has a Skylake processor in the SP4 but no Thunderbolt 3 or DDR4.

 

[ridethecliche]

Yeah SP3 is fine now. A shame Microsoft has a Skylake processor in the SP4 but no Thunderbolt 3 or DDR4.

While those things would be nice, the performance upgrade would be slight relative to the cost and to the additional utility. If my SP3 had skylake, I'd be stoked. The additional battery life would be really nice.

With my SP3 on flight mode, I can get through lectures in class fine all day. Then I can turn it the wifi back on and review in the library after. I easily get 5-6 hrs of run time at school with a bunch of juice left in the tank.

Honestly though, if you have a laptop that currently works and has crappy battery life, then just use it as a dock for an external monitor at home for stuff or just leave it plugged in for stuff and use an SP3 for class stuff and mount to the external monitor if you ever need to.

I honestly find that I watch lectures on my external monitor (connected to laptop) when I'm home and take notes on my SP3 (i like writing by hand). I used to connect the SP3 to the external monitor to review things but now I just use it as a tablet in the library.

A few other students in my class have SP3's and really like them. I think some people have a regular surface, but I would recommend against that, especially if it's going to be your main/only computer. They're just too small.

 

[LuluLovesMe]

im gonna buy my sister a laptop for christmas. nothing to do with medical school. i just want something with long battery life, functional, and fast. she just needs it to store pics and surf the net, **** like that. i can pay $1000-1200. What should I get for her? macbook air?

If that's all she is doing with it but you have over 1k to spend on it, you can get her something with really nice build quality.

On the OSX side get the Macbook Pro 13" or Macbook (Skip the air, it's a 900p screen with huge bezels).

On the Windows side, get the Asus X305, Dell XPS 13, Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon X1, or the HP Spectre x360. I'd skip the Yoga Pros since they don't offer great build quality for the price.

 

[whitecupcake]

Hey guys, I am not a tech person, but I can share some real experience on here, hopefully not too late.

I went through the first year of med school at Georgetown University ( I was on the master program but taking classes with the med students) with my surface pro 2.
These are the things the helped me the most: OneNote. Which I know some medical school actually have entire tutorials on how to use OneNote, and having a surface was definitely a life saver for taking notes in class. I downloaded the ppt before class, flipped the surface around to be notebook style, and used the pen to take notes straight on the ppt. Also, if the professor happened to make his own drawings, I had plenty of space to simply copy the drawings, math equations and others as well. The pen has multiple colors to choose from when writing and the line thickness changes according to how much strength you put into the paper.

On days I wanted to type, I would just type next to the slide on OneNote and it was very easy to rapidly grab the pen and add drawing if needed. The switch from type to pen is instantaneous, I never had any lagging.

I did have friends who tried iPad, and most had to download the ppt in PDF style first them pass them to the app they were using (not familiar with which app that was). This worked for some, but they did not have the option to type fast enough if they so decided to do. All students who used iPad, had to have another laptop/notebook/computer somewhere, almost as to complement their studying, where if you have a surface, you do not need another notebook at home for tests or anything.

Another feature of the Surface I absolutely love, is being able to divide the screen in half and have two different software open at the same time. During anatomy, I could have Essential Anatomy open ( a must app for any medical student, it allows you to rotate parts of the body and add your own notes please check it out everyone) to understand what the professor was referring too, and I had the ppt on the other half of the screen for notes. It also helps when listening to lecture capture and taking notes at the same time, tricky to do but doable as well.

It is true the screen is slight small but I never had an issue with it. Surface is light enough that my weak arms can hold it for a lengthy amount of time in case I wanted to walk while studying, and honestly, it isn't uncomfortable to have it on your lap ( in fact, I have been typing this without a table/desk around, sitting on the cough in front of the fireplace), its all a matter of getting used to it. I struggled maybe for the first 3 days.

When they say this is the tablet that will replace your computer, its true. I haven't turned on my other computer in 2 years. I suggest you going to the nearest Microsoft store and playing around with it. I did before buying my own and I am sold for life. I do have an iPad mini, which some med schools require because it fits the pocket on the white coat, but I found the iPad to be useful for other things like Netflix and Facebook. I was not interest on spending the money for turning my iPad into something I could use to take notes, and have it be not as functional as my Surface. I can also access my OneNote notes on my iPad on days I have a smaller purse, but that is a tale for another day...

Sorry for the lengthy reply 😳 and hope this helps some of you 😀

 

[DrPatriot]

So I am in the market for a new computer for medical school next year. I was interested in the new Surface 4 vs. a Macbook.
I have to admit I am extremely clueless when it comes to computers though so if you all could help me out that would be great. I took all of my notes on paper and pen throughout undergrad and had a basic laptop to use Word, PowerPoint and the Internet. I have an Android phone and tablet so I am not super familiar with the Apple system but I heard they were fairly easy to use. I am looking for something that will last me throughout school and get done what I need.

I will be attending MSUCOM where all the tests are taken on a student's device. One current student mentioned I might want to have a larger screen to help with testing. The MSUCOM testing software needs the following specs from last year so I believe they will update them to include the new technology:
"PC Requirements
Operating System: 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. Only genuine,
U.S.-English versions of Windows Operating Systems are supported.
CPU Processor: 1.86Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo or greater
RAM: highest recommended for the operating system or 2GB
Hard Drive: highest recommended for the operating system or 1GB of available memory
Internet connection for SofTest Download, Registration, Exam Download and Upload
Screen Resolution: 1024x768 or higher
Adobe Reader (Version 9 or 11) is required for exams containing PDF attachments
Administrator level account permissions

Surface Pro Requirements
Surface Pro 1, 2 & 3 (Surface RT tablets are not supported)
External Keyboard (USB or Bluetooth) required. Bluetooth keyboards must be paired prior to launching exam
Hard Drive: Minimum of 10GB available memory
Adobe Reader XI is required for exams containing PDF attachments
Internet connection for SofTest Download, Registration, Exam Download and Upload
Screen Resolution must be 1920x1080
Administrator level account permissions

Mac Requirements
Operating System: OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), OS X 10.7 (Lion), OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), 10.9 (Mavericks)
and 10.10 (Yosemite). Only genuine versions of Mac Operating Systems are supported
CPU: Intel processor
RAM: 2GB
Hard Drive: 1GB or higher available memory
Server version of Mac OS X is not supported
Internet connection for SofTest Download, Registration, Exam Download and Upload
Administrator level account permissions"

^A lot of this doesn't make much sense to me so in addition to the testing requirements what specs should I look for and would you recommend a surface or one of the macbooks for me?

Sorry for the long post but thanks for the help in advance,
DrPatriot

 

[DrPatriot]

^ @serenade you seem like you know your stuff. Help me out please?!

 

[whitecupcake]

^ @serenade you seem like you know your stuff. Help me out please?!

I'm also not tech savvy, so please read my previous post (above yours) at how a surface helped me!!! I have the surface pro 2.... hope that gives you an idea... I should add that I was able to take exams on my surface with no problem, Georgetown uses the GEMS program for testing which is similar to/ same as the software used for the STEPs....

All in all, also choose something you are comfortable with. I have the hardest time with MacBook because I grew up on PCs, I borrowed a Mac from a friend and took me forever to get used to the command and stuff...

 

[DrPatriot]

I'm also not tech savvy, so please read my previous post (above yours) at how a surface helped me!!! I have the surface pro 2.... hope that gives you an idea... I should add that I was able to take exams on my surface with no problem, Georgetown uses the GEMS program for testing which is similar to/ same as the software used for the STEPs....

All in all, also choose something you are comfortable with. I have the hardest time with MacBook because I grew up on PCs, I borrowed a Mac from a friend and took me forever to get used to the command and stuff...

I took your recommendation and picked up the new Surface 4 pro last night

 

[ridethecliche]

I'll say this again.

I highly recommend getting an SP3/4 and a large monitor and external keyboard/mouse for use at home. It's amazing.

Also, get a monitor that you can attach to a mount to swivel it so you can view it vertical. I use my monitor in vertical mode when I'm reviewing lectures or reading on it and it is a metric crap-ton better than doing the same on landscape.

I have an SP3 but I'd trade it for an SP4 in a heartbeat. I just didn't want to wait for 2 months into school to get my system down. It's a pretty big improvement between the pro 3 and pro 4 in my mind and it's worth the cost. I have classmates that use a wacom tablet in class to annotate slides in one note and it seems to work for them, but they'd all prefer if it was built in like it is on the surface.

There's really no point getting a huge monitor since a smaller 13-14 inch will be cheaper, have better battery life, and be more portable. External monitors aren't that expensive and you can always just buy one to use at home and run 2 screens when you need something bigger.

 

[whitecupcake]

I took your recommendation and picked up the new Surface 4 pro last night

Welcome to the Surface family!!! Hope you are happy with your purchase! it will help you a ton in med school!
I think the suggestion of an external monitor is a good one, used to have one in undergrad! I would switch my pro for the Surface Book though 😀 All in all, pro2 has improved my life tremendously, I hope it does yours as well!

 

[DrPatriot]

Welcome to the Surface family!!! Hope you are happy with your purchase! it will help you a ton in med school!
I think the suggestion of an external monitor is a good one, used to have one in undergrad! I would switch my pro for the Surface Book though 😀 All in all, pro2 has improved my life tremendously, I hope it does yours as well!

Haha thanks! So far I love it and I can definitely tell it will be awesome for note taking in a couple months! I went to the Microsoft store a couple of different times to make sure it was for me before I dropped the $$$. I went with the SP4 i5 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB. I already have an external monitor and an older 15in Dell that will serve as a desktop now. I might look into getting the Surface Dock however.

 

[DrPatriot]

I'll say this again.

I highly recommend getting an SP3/4 and a large monitor and external keyboard/mouse for use at home. It's amazing.

Also, get a monitor that you can attach to a mount to swivel it so you can view it vertical. I use my monitor in vertical mode when I'm reviewing lectures or reading on it and it is a metric crap-ton better than doing the same on landscape.

I have an SP3 but I'd trade it for an SP4 in a heartbeat. I just didn't want to wait for 2 months into school to get my system down. It's a pretty big improvement between the pro 3 and pro 4 in my mind and it's worth the cost. I have classmates that use a wacom tablet in class to annotate slides in one note and it seems to work for them, but they'd all prefer if it was built in like it is on the surface.

There's really no point getting a huge monitor since a smaller 13-14 inch will be cheaper, have better battery life, and be more portable. External monitors aren't that expensive and you can always just buy one to use at home and run 2 screens when you need something bigger.

Welcome to the Surface family!!! Hope you are happy with your purchase! it will help you a ton in med school!
I think the suggestion of an external monitor is a good one, used to have one in undergrad! I would switch my pro for the Surface Book though 😀 All in all, pro2 has improved my life tremendously, I hope it does yours as well!

Do you both use strictly One Note for note taking and PDF annotation on the surface or do you use Drawboard PDF as well?

 

[FistLength]

I go the surface pro 4 on launch day. I have a love/hate relationship with the device.

For education, I can't think of another device that has been so helpful. I transfer all of my powerpoints to OneNote and handwrite notes along side the slides. This helps me stay engaged more than anything, instead of simply reading the material and getting super bored. I also write notes from books or draw pathways that before I would have to use pen/paper. I never liked pen/paper because I ended up losing the paper and it was never organized like I wanted it to be. It is so easy to organize in onenote and it is all saved so it is very convenient. The surface is absurdly light and very easy to read while lying in bed. The whole lapability discussion is silly...it works perfectly fine on your lap unless you want to be a hipster and sit in weird positions.

Battery life is OK. Not bad, not great. keyboard and trackpad are wonderful. The pen is awesome and changes the way I study.

What is terrible about the surface are the constant hiccups/bugs. It is not uncommon for the surface to not recognize the keyboard. I have to restart and then it is fine. Randomly, the touch feature on the screen is lost. Again...restart. The software sometimes freezes...guess what you have to do...restart.

It is extremely annoying for a device costing 1000+.

I want to love the stuffing out of this device but it is just not stable enough. I have pseudo regrets buying it because of its cost but because it has benefited my education I am keeping it hoping Microsoft will fix their bugs with the constant updates that are streaming out.

 

[tick_tock400]

@FistLength I bought the surface pro 4 recently and had to return it after only using it for 3 days. I definitely feel what you're feeling, and my issues with my Surface seemed to be worse than yours. I've been using computers my whole life and am considered good with computers/tech, but I couldn't figure out how to copy and paste with my surface pro 4, it literally crashed at start up, crashed a bunch of times, froze a bunch of times, wasn't able to import stuff into One Note, etc. I looked at the reviews on Amazon and it seemed as if these problems a lot of people faced that getting a functioning surface pro 4 was like by chance. I'd recommend returning your computer honestly. I myself plan to wait until next year to see if a better device comes on the market, which I'm hoping and thinking it will. I've read a bunch of bad reviews of the Surface 3 as well, and would have gotten that had I not seen the sheer quantity of crappy reviews with the computer or charger crashing.

 

[DrPatriot]

@FistLength I bought the surface pro 4 recently and had to return it after only using it for 3 days. I definitely feel what you're feeling, and my issues with my Surface seemed to be worse than yours. I've been using computers my whole life and am considered good with computers/tech, but I couldn't figure out how to copy and paste with my surface pro 4, it literally crashed at start up, crashed a bunch of times, froze a bunch of times, wasn't able to import stuff into One Note, etc. I looked at the reviews on Amazon and it seemed as if these problems a lot of people faced that getting a functioning surface pro 4 was like by chance. I'd recommend returning your computer honestly. I myself plan to wait until next year to see if a better device comes on the market, which I'm hoping and thinking it will. I've read a bunch of bad reviews of the Surface 3 as well, and would have gotten that had I not seen the sheer quantity of crappy reviews with the computer or charger crashing.

I haven't had any issues yet (knock on wood) but I guess I should be on the lookout. Microsoft is allowing people to use the SP4 until Jan 31st and if you don't like it you can bring it back for a full refund. Nothing to lose in buying one and testing it out to make sure it works for you.

 

[nOchemallday]

So I am in the market for a new computer for medical school next year. I was interested in the new Surface 4 vs. a Macbook.
I have to admit I am extremely clueless when it comes to computers though so if you all could help me out that would be great. I took all of my notes on paper and pen throughout undergrad and had a basic laptop to use Word, PowerPoint and the Internet. I have an Android phone and tablet so I am not super familiar with the Apple system but I heard they were fairly easy to use. I am looking for something that will last me throughout school and get done what I need.

I will be attending MSUCOM where all the tests are taken on a student's device. One current student mentioned I might want to have a larger screen to help with testing. The MSUCOM testing software needs the following specs from last year so I believe they will update them to include the new technology:
"PC Requirements
Operating System: 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. Only genuine,
U.S.-English versions of Windows Operating Systems are supported.
CPU Processor: 1.86Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo or greater
RAM: highest recommended for the operating system or 2GB
Hard Drive: highest recommended for the operating system or 1GB of available memory
Internet connection for SofTest Download, Registration, Exam Download and Upload
Screen Resolution: 1024x768 or higher
Adobe Reader (Version 9 or 11) is required for exams containing PDF attachments
Administrator level account permissions

Surface Pro Requirements
Surface Pro 1, 2 & 3 (Surface RT tablets are not supported)
External Keyboard (USB or Bluetooth) required. Bluetooth keyboards must be paired prior to launching exam
Hard Drive: Minimum of 10GB available memory
Adobe Reader XI is required for exams containing PDF attachments
Internet connection for SofTest Download, Registration, Exam Download and Upload
Screen Resolution must be 1920x1080
Administrator level account permissions

Mac Requirements
Operating System: OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), OS X 10.7 (Lion), OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), 10.9 (Mavericks)
and 10.10 (Yosemite). Only genuine versions of Mac Operating Systems are supported
CPU: Intel processor
RAM: 2GB
Hard Drive: 1GB or higher available memory
Server version of Mac OS X is not supported
Internet connection for SofTest Download, Registration, Exam Download and Upload
Administrator level account permissions"

^A lot of this doesn't make much sense to me so in addition to the testing requirements what specs should I look for and would you recommend a surface or one of the macbooks for me?

Sorry for the long post but thanks for the help in advance,
DrPatriot

Basically this just means your computer has to be better than a toaster. I would stick to whichever OS you're more comfortable with. It'll take a good chunk of time and energy to find your groove for med school; no need to make that transition any more difficult.

EDIT: I see you already went with the SP4

 

[ridethecliche]

That's another reason I went with an SP3 since I wanted one right when I started classes, i.e. the bugs were mostly worked out. I wouldn't worry too much about the bugs on the SP4 since it's microsofts flagship product and they're going to fix it. If anything, wait a bit if you can, but I honestly think they have to fix everything asap (i.e. by jan 31st) or it's not going to take off in enterprise sales, which is what they're probably shooting for.

Do you both use strictly One Note for note taking and PDF annotation on the surface or do you use Drawboard PDF as well?

I pretty much use only OneNote, because of the integration. It's had some issues, but it works pretty well most of the time.

 

[whitecupcake]

Do you both use strictly One Note for note taking and PDF annotation on the surface or do you use Drawboard PDF as well?

I do strictly OneNote, I created a "notebook" for the class, and then chapter, etc, and I download ppt on it, no need to transform into PDF first. Just annotate on it, or next to it... you can add extra diagrams and pictures as well, its the greatest thing on earth 😀