Newly Admitted Students: Laptop or Tablet?

My program is "paperless", so I'll be buying some new hardware sometime soon. Trying to decide between a tablet (most likely the iPad) and a laptop (most likely the Macbook Air). If I go with the iPad, I will buy a full sized keyboard, so typing won't be an issue.

Any thoughts?

I was considering the Macbook Pro, but the Air is so sleek...

Get a laptop. PCs > Macs.

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I would get the macbook pro. Though the air IS really sleek..it doesn't have a disc drive..which is something you might end up needing in PA school. So it's basicaly a very spruced up tablet. That macbook pro is still very sleek and encompasses everything.

I think macbook's are built so much better than PCs, and are 100 times more reliable.

MacBook Pro all the way.

Don't waste your money on the Air. You may feel cool to have a "trendy" comp but the Pro is $100 cheaper and runs 100x better and has a CD drive.

Definitely don't base your choice on whether or not it has a cd/dvd burner. A good external one is $30 and you can leave it on your desk at home. I can't imagine why you would need it in class. Thumb drives and SD cards are king these days.

Macbook Pro totally, 100%.

No comparison to a PC.

Macbook Pro totally, 100%.

 

 

No comparison to a PC.

Touching on some points made in previous posts:

- MacBook Air is not a spruced up tablet. Ability to multi-task, faster processor, more ram, bigger screen size full size keyboard, etc.

- Macbook Pro is not cheaper than macbook air.

- No dvd driver is not a deal breaker - you could buy an external drive, and make virtual drives of any cd you want (this way programs will run faster and you won't have to deal with annoying cd drives constantly spinning).

- Macbook pro has a faster processor (but unless you play games or code intensive programs it isn't necessary).

- Macbook pro has retina display (not sure if air has it or not) - imo its not worth it.

- macbook pro and air run the same OS.

- macbook air comes standard with a SSD drive, not too sure macbook pro does (if it's an option it'll be pricey).

If I had to choose between air and macbook pro i would go with the air. you don't need the extra speed/juice for being just a student.

but if I had any choice - i go PC. MUCH cheaper and with Windows 7/8 reliability should not be an issue. with the price difference i'm sure you could buy an ultrabook pc + tablet to view slides/reader etc (such as nexus tablet).

I use an Hp 14 Spectre- absolutely love it

I'm not a PA student yet but I plan on using a Mac book pro for my didactic year and an iPad for clinical year. Yes pricey but Im planning on getting both as gifts :)

Our class (also paperless for the most part) began with a couple iPads and now over half the class has them. With a couple apps like notability and goodreader they are an awesome study tool. Keeps everything well organized and is more portable than a laptop (thinking ahead for rotations). The only thing that can't be done on one in our system is testing.

How about the windows 8 laptop/tablet hybrids? The downside to these is that they're fairly new, but they seem to be the most convenient. I plan on getting the HP elitebook revolve before classes start. It is touted to have great battery life, and is thin and light. The ability to use it as both a laptop and tablet is the best part. Of course I don't own it yet but I definitely recommend looking into similar hybrids.

Macbook Pro!!!! I have cds for anatomy, ect so I do think having a cd drive wherever I go is important for studying. Hauling an external one around would be obnoxious. Go Pro!

Not sure if this has been said but a friend of mine ruined her Macbook pro...go the air simply because "it looked cooler" and within the year she went back to the laptop. I don't understand computers very well but apparently the Air is WAYYY more expensive if something breaks because of how it is laid out. Also I'm glad people mentioned Ipads...I was wondering if that would be a good tool and it seems like something I may invest in :)

Windows 8 is an "every other" version of Windows. See http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/windows-8-the-next-windows-vista/, for instance.

Lol didn't realize there was this trend... but the main complaint seems to be that it is touch-centric and therefore not intuitive for desktops, and that touchscreen/hybrid laptops that it does suit well may be too expensive. But I'd say it's cheaper than a Mac or at least on par price wise, from the systems I've looked at (Lenovo yoga is a decent one for about a grand). The Mac vs. Pc debate will probably never end but I've used both and have always felt more comfortable with my pc. Best thing to do is try them both out! Go in store and test them out, see which one suits your needs.

My one other worry with the Mac would be that if a program gave you software to use that can't be installed on its os, but probably not an issue in this day and age.

Not sure if this has been said but a friend of mine ruined her Macbook pro...go the air simply because "it looked cooler" and within the year she went back to the laptop. I don't understand computers very well :)

The Air is a laptop, just a lighter skinnier version.

This is silly. Air vs Pro... whatever you want!!! They are going to work the SAME while you sit in lecture!! They are both fully functioning laptops with full size keyboard. The cost of repair is expensive on both-- get the protection plan from Apple or BestBuy and you don't need to worry about that. In this day and age, most programs are compatible-- really what program do you think you'll be using in PA school? Powerpoint, Word, something to view PDFs and thats about it and all of those are available on a Mac. As for the disk drive, Apple has tried very hard to get just about every app online so it can be downloaded. If not, you can use an external drive or download from a website. I bought the external disk drive and have used it a total of 1 time. Yep, once. Less than 3 lbs in my backpack is nice though.

So back to the original question...tablet or laptop?

I bought a laptop, I am glad I have it because I use it for everything and I don't have a desktop at home. If I already had a desktop I would get a tablet. Its less to carry around and is very useful once you figure out the note taking, etc. I don't think a tablet by itself would be a good idea. There are limitations in word-processing which might be really annoying if you are used to Word. I feel like I might like to have a tablet around for rotations, but it may be just as useful to just use my smartphone for reference and a clipboard for notes. We'll see once I get there.

I am a Mac only person and was running through a new laptop every 2 years due to wear and tear being hauled around with me everywhere. So I decided not to buy laptops anymore and last semester I bought a new iMac and iPad. (iPad is cheaper to replace every few years than a laptop)

The iPad was the best thing to ever happen to me. The app Notability really is amazing. Not only is the iPad super light but I also don't have to carry around tons of printed out powerpoints. Taking notes that can be edited right on the powerpoints and having them so organized is awesome! I have the Logitech keyboard and using that for longer typing jobs is really not too different from a laptop. I use the apple apps Pages, Numbers, and Keynote.

Also having a desktop at home with lots of screen space and a mouse instead of a trackpad makes working at home really great and fast.

Now I just found out that we have to have a laptop for in class exams (tablets won't support the software needed) so I bought a MacBook Air in great condition off Craigslist for 500$

Long story short, if you can swing an iPad I would do it. It's a great tool and can probably handle 95% of what you will have to do. But keep a budget for a laptop too or something at home for big jobs like creating highly formatted word documents or powerpoints. It may seem like tons of money but I'm a firm believer in spending the money on tools that help make your tasks easier!!

I'm strictly Ubuntu (Linux) for a few reasons. First NO VIRUSES whatsoever. No need for anti malware software running on the background eating up memory. Second, the laptop lasts longer because you don't have to continue to update and eat up your drive space like windows. Also you can run it on older machines and since its not a resource hog, it runs like a dream and costs less than 500 bucks. I have it on an 8 yr old Toshiba Portege at work (works just like the new chromebooks) and a 2 yr old Vostro V130. I'm looking at some older sandy bridge CPU laptops now for my next toy....

Btw, my work one has dual boot with windows xp and the Vostro has dual boot w/ win7. I never use them.

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For those of you that have the ipad, can you open and edit power point presentations on it? I have an ipad and keyboard because I used it for my job, but I'm wondering if I need to get a new laptop. The laptop I have is 7 years old, bulky, and on the slow side so I'm wondering if I should just get a new one or if I can use my ipad for taking to class and just leave my heavy laptop at home.

Any ~$300 PC from a big box store will do you just fine, my reasons:

1) They come standard with 4GB RAM and 60+GB of ROM these days which is more than you'll need for Powerpoint slides, email, MS Word and internet surfing. It's not like you're going to be play WOW or doing CAD on there.

2) You're going to be moving this around 8 hours a day where it'll get banged up and possibly even stolen, don't invest too much, buy your dream computer AFTER PA school.

3) The weight difference between the standard size laptops is pretty minimal considering it'll be sitting on a desk all day. If you were going around the mountains of a third world country it would be a different story but it's only going to be transported from your car to your class everyday.

It's your preference but there really isn't a need to pay big bucks for a computer that will be used in this capacity, buy a work horse and then when you graduate buy a pure bred.