Guest Apna Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Just a few questions for current med students... - how necessary is a personal computer or laptop in first year? - what things in particular do a you need a comp for? - does U of A have wireless Internet for laptops? - do students have 24-hour access to on-campus computers if they need it? basically, I'm trying to see if my cheap arse can delay the purchase of a computer and not be greatly inconvenienced this year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest summervirus Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Hi, Some of these questions were answered in a previous thread. Here is my opinion: - Although not necessary, investing in a computer will make your life a lot easier. - For school-related things, you'll be using your computer only to open lectures and presentations, which are mostly in PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat (PDF), and Word formats. You'll also need to complete a few assignments throughout the year where you'll need to do some word processing. Apart from that, having Internet access will help you out a lot too for various things like looking up information about various topics (e.g. performing MEDLine searches for PBL). - Yes, wireless Internet is available. A previous thread (link above) elaborates a bit more. From what I know, SUB, HUB, and the Law Building have wireless Internet available. - Yes, there is a private computer lab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Koppertone Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 This is just based on my experience in undergrad, but if you want a desktop computer you shouldn't need to purchase anything really expensive (assuming you don't want to play any new games). Just get something that can run Adobe and Powerpoint. An old PII can do that and you can pick one up for between $100 and $200 + the price of a monitor (new or used). Check out computers.listings.ebay.c...ngItemList for a list of possible candidates (although I'd suggest buying locally in your Classifieds to save on shipping). Just as a comparison, I've got a PIII w/ 256MB of RAM and a 10GB HD and it ran absolutely everything that I needed throughout my undergrad and you can pick one up for about $250. (Although iif anybody wants to spring me up for a new laptop feel free :rollin ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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