Laptop?

[AlteredBeast]

School is just around the corner here, does anyone feel it is necessary to have a laptop for PA school? I've never had one EVER in my life, I think hand writing the notes taps some kind of subconscious memory ability of the brain so studying becomes easier. (at least thats what I tell myself to avoid buying a laptop) . Really though, are they super helpful? My school hasn't said anything about it.

[Just Steve]

During the summer quarter with Medex, I didn't take my lap top to class at all. I'd say 70% of the class took paper notes. A computer is needed yes, a PDA (or smart phone) is required (more for clinicals) but a lap top for portability...I dunno. Could probably get away without one.

[greenmood]

I had never used one before I started but was encouraged to get one before our summer quarter. I didn't use it too much for anatomy, but have relied on it heavily for these fall quarter classes (genmed, pharm... even EKG to look up pictures). I'm away from home from 6:30am to 6:30pm and it's nice to be able to do research on my own terms, add information to the powerpoints as needed, etc.

 

Also, I'm sitting in the cafeteria right now waiting for the shuttle to take me to the train and obviously making excellent use of my time. :)

[med218]

There were some lectures where I simply would not have been able to get away with taking notes by hand, but others I could've sat there and easily done so. We also had in class quizzes/exams through blackboard which required our laptops in class on occasion. I'd say it's program specific, talk to someone where you're going and get an opinion from someone who is currently where you'll be sitting soon.

[cdcd67]

Get the HP 2730p. It's a tablet, which allows you to write notes on it. It's what I'm currently using. :)

If you have a bigger budget, you can get the HP 2740p or 2760p.

[rev ronin]

1) Yes, you need a laptop. PA students who are taking notes by hand are doing themselves a disservice; Electronic Medical Records are a mandate, and typing fast and competently while listening is growing as importance as a skill, while writing in the same circumstances is diminishing in importance. Thus, I would strongly dispute the tablet recommendation. NetBooks are as cheap, but actually have functional and tactile keyboards.

 

2) If you have never owned a computer before, buy a MacBook. They're unquestionably more expensive for the initial investment, but the training curve is far less steep, and software and hardware maintenance is much, much less compared to a Windows machine. If you already know your way around a Windows 7 machine, then a PC may be better for you, but I migrated from 12 years of Windows laptops to a MacBook Pro and have NEVER regretted it.

 

3) No matter what you choose to use, buy an external hard drive for a personal backup solution. I'd say just under 10% (4 of 42) of our class' laptops failed during didactic year. In a class that was split 50/50 Mac/PC, all the laptop failures were PCs--HPs and Dells, specifically. (Of note: the single NetBook in our class wasn't one of the failures) This means it's even more important to back up a PC than a Mac... but with Time Machine, Mac backups are trivially simple to set up: again, you pay more for a Mac, but it makes up for it in ease of use.

 

4) I've found just about everything is browser-based these days, such that having software compatibility with Windows was irrelevant. I purchased Parallels and Windows 7 Academic, but that has essentially been a waste of my money, since NO programs have required it. I've found the additional electronic content available to the first-time purchasers of newer textbooks is entirely Mac/PC agnostic.

 

Best wishes in your program!

[Texas_PA]

I use my MacBook in class everyday to take notes! In some classes, there is no way I could write notes fast enough by hand! But it probably does depend on your program. I would highly recommend it though!

[Hemegroup]

I didn't use a laptop in class, I took notes by hand ... but I would type out notes from my handwritten notes when I got home. Those are what I used to share with classmates. And I used a laptop as my home desktop as well, so that if I went to a study group or needed the computer for some reason, I could just pack up my laptop. Plus my PA program had a lot of web-based stuff, yours probably will too ... it helps to be able to take your laptop to study groups, trust me.

[cdcd67]

1) Yes, you need a laptop. PA students who are taking notes by hand are doing themselves a disservice; Electronic Medical Records are a mandate, and typing fast and competently while listening is growing as importance as a skill, while writing in the same circumstances is diminishing in importance. Thus, I would strongly dispute the tablet recommendation. NetBooks are as cheap, but actually have functional and tactile keyboards.

 

Just wanted to make a small correction here. There are tablets with keyboards as well. The HP2730p is an example, but there are others.

Other than that, I've heard the Mac is great too. Lots of people in my class have that as well. I also heard they have less problems than Windows. It's wherever you're preference lies. Most people do use some kind of laptop.

 

Edit: oh and I have tried typing notes. It's not hard. You'll get accustomed to it. I just prefer writing in case I need to draw stuff out. :)

[MikeyBoy]

I don't think you need a laptop to write your notes- but it would be helpful to have a desktop/laptop at home in order to look things up online/research, etc.. I hand wrote all my notes during school- When it came time to review, I knew exactly where everything was since I organized it in a 3'' binder. Friends of mine who used a laptop never could find their notes easily as everything was intertwined with hundreds of ppt/pdfs on their hard drives. All in all, don't be convinced by the hype- PA school does not = Laptop required, unless specifically said so by the program.

[sailordeac]

Almost everyone in our class used Microsoft OneNote to take notes, which is basically like a virtual notebook - it allows you to make "notebooks" for different subjects/blocks, etc. and then has sub-folders under that. You can "print" PPTs and PDFs to it and then take notes on them in the program. There's also a search feature, which is pretty nice.

[paporzelt]

check with the program you are going into as well - mine didnt allow laptops in lectures because they had too many past students roaming the net and facebook during boring lectures in the past....but either way you absolutely need a computer.

[alleycat]

my program required us to have laptops and provided a list of sys req's it must have. we used them a lot as it was how we took tests, and submitted reports. also, and this was before flash drives (i think) we sent a lot of our personal notes to each other via computer emails. this was 10 yrs ago (ancient in computer world).. i'm a pen-paper note taker, drawer, so I didn't put a lot of lecture notes real time but most of the younger kids did. I'd get one and get used to it....be prepared.:;;D:

[winterallsummer]

Dear god.

 

Get with the times and buy a laptop man.