Technology revisted

[yerbasor]

Hi everyone! I've read many of the Mac vs PC discussions on here as well as some of the talk of tablet vs. laptop and I wanted to revive that conversation since it changes so quickly! I'm starting PA school in July at a program that bases much of its didactic teaching on Power Point presentations. I'm interested in getting a touchscreen capable system so that I can use OneNote or Notability with a Stylus for note-taking but am interested in hearing about anyone else's experience with this vs. a traditional laptop system. Any concerns about technological capability of tablets? Any specific product recommendations based on your own experience?

 

Thanks in advance!

[gbrothers98]

I am not a student but I lecture and proctor at a local PA program.

I see a plethora of laptops with a smattering of tablets and wireless keyboards.

All of these have some manner of PPT viewing and annotating.

I wonder about doing a large paper on a tablet. I think that could potentially be cumbersome.

They are also great to IM, facebook and twitter when your lecturer sucks and you have to be there.

I have an iPad air 2 and notability with stylus. I think I would have a hard time notetaking with this. If I was in a lecture seat, I would likely take handwritten lecture notes while referring to the PPT, then I would revisit those notes, tidy them up,take a picture and keep it for review when I can.

There are studies that show handwritten notes and the act of making them improve retrieval than typing a note. The same for digital books vs the real thing. But you would wonder if this was a generational bias?

Personally I own a MacBook Pro, an iPad air 2 and an iPhone 6+.

My MacBook is getting old but it is a workhorse that I have never had a problem with.

I use the 6+ at work, I hardly ever talk on the phone but the extra real estate for apps and video viewing is great. I would encourage any student to get a phablet for rotation year.

I would love to use the iPad more. I just dont seem to find as much of a use as the MacBook and the 6+. 

But it is great to go on vacation with and stay connected. So it depends on what your mobile style is.

Good luck.

G Brothers PA-C

[futurePA2016]

Microsoft surface pro. I don't have it but I've seen people in my class use it, and it seems amazing. It comes with a keyboard if you want to type notes or you can easily flip the keyboard away and seamlessly use it as a tablet to draw on and take handwritten notes. In radiology, my group mate was using hers to circle and annotate areas of X-rays, CTs, and MRIs. She also had imported a bunch of lectures to One Note and took notes from there. If my laptop ever breaks down, I'm switching to a surface pro next.

[Friction]

I'm not yet a PA student or a practicing clinician, however, my SP3 has been amazing for both school and personal use. Worked great in A&P, Chemistry, and Microbiology classes because, as mentioned above, you can annotate on imported documents. Being able to write all over my professor's power points, label pictures with side notes, etc was invaluable imo. Once you expand the USB port and attach it to an external monitor, its essentially a full fledged PC. The only downside at times is not having a CD-ROM, however, if that truly a deal breaker you could add an external one through a USB port. 

 

All in all, I'm so glad I decided to get a Surface Pro 3. I'd highly recommend it. Surface Pro 4 should be out around the middle of the year from everything I've read.

[cg02186]

We have 50 people in our class. About 40 of us have Mac laptops and have no problems. The rest use PC. Some people use iPads and such along with their laptop but no one uses just straight tablet.