Tablet for School?

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camshark

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Im pretty behind on the times but am looking at getting a tablet for school purposes. My price range is 300-400. What do you have or suggest?
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The 'Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus' is not bad for the price ($400):

- Dual core 1.2 GHz processors
- Honeycomb (Android 3.0) OS
- 16 GB HD
- 7.5 x 5"
- 14 oz
- Wifi connectivity (no 3G though)
- MicroSD slot for Flash storage (no USB port)
 
aSagacious said:
The 'Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus' is not bad for the price ($400):

- Dual core 1.2 GHz processors
- Honeycomb (Android 3.0) OS
- 16 GB HD
- 7.5 x 5"
- 14 oz
- Wifi connectivity (no 3G though)
- MicroSD slot for Flash storage (no USB port)
Click to expand...


How is the touch screen?
 
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Just get a used iPad or a refurbished iPad off the Apple store. You really can't go wrong.
 
I would just go with a laptop. You can't really type with a tablet (well at least I can't).
 
Stumpyman said:
I would just go with a laptop. You can't really type with a tablet (well at least I can't).
Click to expand...

Or, if you are really set on getting a tablet, do it!

Get a stylus and a note taking app. Write notes during lecture...send to drop box (or iCloud)...download to home pc.

Personally, it seems like more work to use drop box and all that, although the portability of a tablet would be much nicer than lugging around a larger laptop (if you don't have the $$$ for a macbook air).
 
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thinkpad x220t. OK, it's ultra expensive, but it's AMAZING!
 
Amazon has the Kindle Fire coming out soon. It's 200 bucks.
 
lnphan said:
thinkpad x220t. OK, it's ultra expensive, but it's AMAZING!
Click to expand...

The above wins every thread for laptops for med students. It's a tablet, that folds into a fully functioning business laptop. It has a 3g card in it if you want to get 3g on it. It is everything and more than every tablet ever created, and simultaneously one of the best laptops on the market. I have the previous version, an X201t. The only downside is people coming up to you frequently to tell you you have the product of the future.
 
I've heard that some schools actually require their students to get tablets, and in certain cases the school even provides them with one. Can anyone here confirm this, and if so, which schools?
 
theWUbear said:
The above wins every thread for laptops for med students. It's a tablet, that folds into a fully functioning business laptop. It has a 3g card in it if you want to get 3g on it. It is everything and more than every tablet ever created, and simultaneously one of the best laptops on the market. I have the previous version, an X201t. The only downside is people coming up to you frequently to tell you you have the product of the future.
Click to expand...

didn't know they had i7 quad core processors now!

Will wait til school starts to get one.... sticking with my beastly g73jw atm...
 
I think tablets and note-taking applications in general are pretty useless (as far as "in-class" is concerned). It is way easier to just take real notes
 
I'm thinking about keeping my macbook pro and getting a wacom tablet to help take notes in class. Anyone done something similar? I like to avoid using too much paper.
 
I will be honest, I thought iPads were cool but ultimately a waste. Then I got one. Holy crap, I rarely put this thing down. All of my school study guides were in PDF so I could put everything on here and have all my school work with me everywhere. I use it for school a lot more than I thought I would. Plus. The iPad is shifting me away from PCs to Macs.
 
I have to second the x220t. I have the x201t and the thing is amazing. Do you have any idea how cool it is to be able to search through all my science notes, including hand-written graphs and equations, from the last year and a half? This thing was a hard purchase for me, too, since I love to use fountain pens and was reluctant to give up the tactile experience. The x220t also has way more battery life, a better screen, and a lower price than the x201t before it. If you want to get one, do a google search for the "barnes and noble gold lenovo discount" and sign up with lenovo through that portal. It lowers the cost by about $150. PM me if you're interested but can't figure it out.

However, if you really just need something cheap on which to read pdf files and browse the web, the Asus eee pad transformer (not the prime, which is coming out soon but for $500) is only $400 and has all the features of its $500 brethren.
 
Last edited:
RandomHero117 said:
I think tablets and note-taking applications in general are pretty useless (as far as "in-class" is concerned). It is way easier to just take real notes
Click to expand...

I haven't printed out a set of slides in over a year - in fact I haven't printed out a single thing that didn't need to be handed in to someone "hard copy".

A secondary benefit of the tablet is how much my tablet has reduced paper consumption.
The primary benefit, of course, is all those hours over the last year not being in a computer lab printing anything out (or if you prefer to use your own printer - no paying for ink, no paying for paper).

Meanwhile all the other kids in my med school classes (I was SMP-ing) were either lugging around a gigantic binder of all the slides, or using their laptop without the ability to draw or note-take in a method different than keyboard strokes

I suppose that brings up another benefit, that being compactability.
 
kautionwirez said:
didn't know they had i7 quad core processors now!
Click to expand...

If you haven't heard yet, search for the upcoming Tegra 3 quad core processor. It is an absolute monster mobile processor and is intelligently equipped with a 'companion processor' to tackle the background/idle processes in order to keep power consumption below most single cores.
 
aSagacious said:
If you haven't heard yet, search for the upcoming Tegra 3 quad core processor. It is an absolute monster mobile processor and is intelligently equipped with a 'companion processor' to tackle the background/idle processes in order to keep power consumption below most single cores.
Click to expand...


That's pretty cool.

Cornu Ammonis said:
I have to second the x220t. I have the x201t and the thing is amazing. Do you have any idea how cool it is to be able to search through all my science notes, including hand-written graphs and equations, from the last year and a half? This thing was a hard purchase for me, too, since I love to use fountain pens and was reluctant to give up the tactile experience. The x220t also has way more battery life, a better screen, and a lower price than the x201t before it. If you want to get one, do a google search for the "barnes and noble gold lenovo discount" and sign up with lenovo through that portal. It lowers the cost by about $150. PM me if you're interested but can't figure it out.

However, if you really just need something cheap on which to read pdf files and browse the web, the Asus eee pad transformer (not the prime, which is coming out soon but for $500) is only $400 and has all the features of its $500 brethren.
Click to expand...


Researching it as we speak. Do you think it's worth to replace the iPad with the x220t?
 
FrkyBgStok said:
I will be honest, I thought iPads were cool but ultimately a waste. Then I got one. Holy crap, I rarely put this thing down. All of my school study guides were in PDF so I could put everything on here and have all my school work with me everywhere. I use it for school a lot more than I thought I would. Plus. The iPad is shifting me away from PCs to Macs.
Click to expand...


Second that. I love my iPad!
 
aSagacious said:
Apples and oranges. What do you need the device for (primarily)?
Click to expand...

Hum, I have an iPad and a laptop and a couple of desktopts. So, I was wondering if I can replace my laptop and iPad with the lenovo? Maybe even get rid of my desktops too. Basically, will the x220t cover ALL my needs - gaming, school, note taking, Internet, Skype, tv and video watching, etc?
 
My laptop got essentially replaced this year with an iPad 2, and now only gets brought out for Flash. Tablets are wonderful for the classroom. I second everything that has been said about their useful-ness, their portability, and their waste reduction capabilities.
 
docbrill said:
Hum, I have an iPad and a laptop and a couple of desktopts. So, I was wondering if I can replace my laptop and iPad with the lenovo? Maybe even get rid of my desktops too. Basically, will the x220t cover ALL my needs - gaming, school, note taking, Internet, Skype, tv and video watching, etc?
Click to expand...

Well, if you're going after the bold then you might want to sink a few bucks into customizing the tablet (namely replacing the single core stock processor and upgrading the GPU).

My suggestion would be to keep your DRL (desktop-replacing laptop) decked out, but leave it at home for work + play. On the side get a stripped down tablet/iPad/whatever for bringing to class and keep it light (don't store too much on the hard drive) to function as a note-taker, web browser, etc.
 
aSagacious said:
Well, if you're going after the bold then you might want to sink a few bucks into customizing the tablet (namely replacing the single core stock processor and upgrading the GPU).

My suggestion would be to keep your DRL (desktop-replacing laptop) decked out, but leave it at home for work + play. On the side get a stripped down tablet/iPad/whatever for bringing to class and keep it light (don't store too much on the hard drive) to function as a note-taker, web browser, etc.
Click to expand...

Great idea...will look into it 👍
 
docbrill said:
Hum, I have an iPad and a laptop and a couple of desktopts. So, I was wondering if I can replace my laptop and iPad with the lenovo? Maybe even get rid of my desktops too. Basically, will the x220t cover ALL my needs - gaming, school, note taking, Internet, Skype, tv and video watching, etc?
Click to expand...

The graphics processor in the x220t is the integrated Intel chip, so it can handle really simple 3d stuff like TF2 but not really any new games. Honestly, I don't believe in laptops for gaming. I bought one of the first laptops with a third party (Nvidia) gpu in 2002 and it cost me a fortune and was slower than my one year old desktop. That trend has never ended. If you really want to game on the go, get some SNES/Genesis emulators or play 2d games.

All that being said, the x220t is a great idea for class and will more than replace your ipad. The battery lasts 7-9 hours and it runs office, which means you can use OneNote (the best program EVER) and directly input data into Excel while you're walking around doing labs. Tablets are for consumption, but convertible laptops are for everything. I've also heard the IPS display they used is one of the best on any laptop right now, which especially pissed me off because I bought my x201t about 3 months before the x220t came out!
 
Cornu Ammonis said:
The graphics processor in the x220t is the integrated Intel chip, so it can handle really simple 3d stuff like TF2 but not really any new games. Honestly, I don't believe in laptops for gaming. I bought one of the first laptops with a third party (Nvidia) gpu in 2002 and it cost me a fortune and was slower than my one year old desktop. That trend has never ended. If you really want to game on the go, get some SNES/Genesis emulators or play 2d games.

All that being said, the x220t is a great idea for class and will more than replace your ipad. The battery lasts 7-9 hours and it runs office, which means you can use OneNote (the best program EVER) and directly input data into Excel while you're walking around doing labs. Tablets are for consumption, but convertible laptops are for everything. I've also heard the IPS display they used is one of the best on any laptop right now, which especially pissed me off because I bought my x201t about 3 months before the x220t came out!
Click to expand...

Very good to hear! And yes, I agree that laptops cannot really replace desktops when it comes to gaming. However, I am hoping that this will not be the case for much longer...Then again, it's not like I will have time to play games during med school, so I don't even know why I am so worried about it :laugh:
 
Calvinball said:
Looks nice. My preference for PaperPort Notes (formerly Noterize) is that it is the only app I've found that will also annotate ppt slides without having to convert them.
Click to expand...

You don't have to convert anything with this app!
 
Cornu Ammonis said:
The graphics processor in the x220t is the integrated Intel chip, so it can handle really simple 3d stuff like TF2 but not really any new games. Honestly, I don't believe in laptops for gaming. I bought one of the first laptops with a third party (Nvidia) gpu in 2002 and it cost me a fortune and was slower than my one year old desktop. That trend has never ended. If you really want to game on the go, get some SNES/Genesis emulators or play 2d games.

All that being said, the x220t is a great idea for class and will more than replace your ipad. The battery lasts 7-9 hours and it runs office, which means you can use OneNote (the best program EVER) and directly input data into Excel while you're walking around doing labs. Tablets are for consumption, but convertible laptops are for everything. I've also heard the IPS display they used is one of the best on any laptop right now, which especially pissed me off because I bought my x201t about 3 months before the x220t came out!
Click to expand...

Would you be able to recommend a cheap desktop for gaming? Better yet - a reasonably priced laptop for gaming? The only thing my X201t isn't great for is gaming, and after this semester I'm going to be on that Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim & Diablo III ish. But i'll be flying around so I would need a laptop. I'm not sure what to look for for gaming, and I can't buy anything too expensive. Any ideas?


And staying on the topic of this thread - OneNote 2010 is incredible. Linked to skydrive, you can access your notes/notebooks (with all your slides and documents integrated) and edit them anywhere through the web browser. That's just one addition to the incredible variety in features that makes OneNote so great.
 
TexasPhysician said:
Tablets are useless for class.
Click to expand...

I've seen students with iPads in my lecture hall. As the year went on, more and more iPads starting appearing. Everyone I knew who owned an iPad used it for notes, which they wrote directly on the PDF lectures. When studying, they also had full color diagram right at their fingertips - especially useful for histology.

Not very common yet, but there are some textbooks that now come out with an ebook version (my Organic Chem textbook by Jones, for example). The ebook version is usually cheaper and you don't have to lug the hardcover printed version around. This is especially useful if you have a long subway commute or when you're traveling.

I'm more inclined to get the Lenovo x220t rather than an iPad. I come from a comp sci and professional IT background, so the build quality of Lenovo's professional line is always second-to-none in my eyes. Unfortunately, the base model of an x220t is more than 3 times the cost of an iPad base model. At that rate, getting an iPad and a regular, cheaper laptop to sync it with might not be a bad idea.
 
I prefer old school, manual writing and highlighting over notes on/with laptops and tablets. I don't know, I guess it helps me memorize, kind of.
 
I would just wait for windows 8 to come out and just get a tablet PC. Boom! Problem solved. You get the best of both worlds and can use your tablet whenever you want to. I don't like having my documents located in 3 different computers/devices (computer, tablet, and phone) with multiple revisions; so consolidation is very important for me (and the corporate world).
 
theWUbear said:
I haven't printed out a set of slides in over a year - in fact I haven't printed out a single thing that didn't need to be handed in to someone "hard copy".

A secondary benefit of the tablet is how much my tablet has reduced paper consumption.
The primary benefit, of course, is all those hours over the last year not being in a computer lab printing anything out (or if you prefer to use your own printer - no paying for ink, no paying for paper).

Meanwhile all the other kids in my med school classes (I was SMP-ing) were either lugging around a gigantic binder of all the slides, or using their laptop without the ability to draw or note-take in a method different than keyboard strokes

I suppose that brings up another benefit, that being compactability.
Click to expand...

All that you have mentioned can be done with a tablet pc, which I love. That is what I used in school. It is the future. Apple with popularize it (and probably act like they invented tablet pcs 😛) and then everyone will have a tablet pc.
 
Yale has implemented tablets, they provide all students with one now. It saves them money in the long run...no more textbooks...it is on your tablet!

I don't have a tablet...I have this little issue of being cheap. I will spend money on other people, but I don't like to spend lots of money on myself. Even for stuff I need...I'll put off the purchase if I can. My husband gets annoyed by it sometimes actually, but my cheapness goes into savings.😛

I would like a tablet though...I am spending WAY over the amount for a decent tablet on his main xmas present. I suppose I could get myself one in the future...ahhh now I really want one just because of this thread and it would make some things easier on me.
 
LupaCupcake said:
Yale has implemented tablets, they provide all students with one now. It saves them money in the long run...no more textbooks...it is on your tablet!

I don't have a tablet...I have this little issue of being cheap. I will spend money on other people, but I don't like to spend lots of money on myself. Even for stuff I need...I'll put off the purchase if I can. My husband gets annoyed by it sometimes actually, but my cheapness goes into savings.😛

I would like a tablet though...I am spending WAY over the amount for a decent tablet on his main xmas present. I suppose I could get myself one in the future...ahhh now I really want one just because of this thread and it would make some things easier on me.
Click to expand...

Just leave this thread open on your desktop with a few other windows open to the tablet of your choice. Personally, I would love if my gf just told me what she wanted or left gigantic hints lying around.
 
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