Guest mk08 Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 I've heard Ottawa med students have to buy a tablet laptop as part of the curriculum. I was just wondering what operating system they are using. Is it Vista? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 Yes, with the current class it is. Just to clarify, the laptop purchase is not mandatory, it's just super useful, so that the vast majority of the class choose to go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raed Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 The laptop, for the price, is pretty bad. The main reason I find many people stick with getting it anyways is because of the warranty. MedTech is in the building we attend classes in so anytime there is any problem with the laptop, we are only a few steps away from their office and they help you out right away, and if they can't fix the problem right away they will remove your HD and give you a loaner laptop until they fix yours. So it's really for comfort's sake that I got the laptop, because I'm not computer savvy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 The main reason I find many people stick with getting it anyways is because of the warranty. MedTech is in the building we attend classes in so anytime there is any problem with the laptop, we are only a few steps away from their office and they help you out right away, and if they can't fix the problem right away they will remove your HD and give you a loaner laptop until they fix yours. I agree... that's pretty much what I meant by super usefull... well, that & I LOVE the tablet function, & as far as I know tablet pc's have far more problems than regular pcs... coming back to the whole warranty thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drjv Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 So... essentially one COULD use their own computer if they wanted? Just if there are any problems/issues with their comp, they would have to find a way to fix it themselves and take care of it... Ie: someone could use their Macbook or something if they already have one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mk08 Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 Hi guys, thanks for the reponses! But my question remains: what operating system are you guys running? Vista or Xp? And how much did you guys have to pay? Is the price included as part of the tuition at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drjv Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 Yeah, I think it's Vista. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted October 4, 2008 Report Share Posted October 4, 2008 Yes, it is Vista. And yes, you could use a Macbook or any other computer if you wished (I have no idea if there would be compatibility issues with macs given that the whole class is on Vista... but I'm sure you could make it work). The computers our year were in the range of... 3000$, roughly? Something like that. I think it may change a bit from yr to year. That price included some software as well as the great medtech waranty that was mentionned. It was added to our tuition bill automatically, but you could get it removed if you chose to opt out of the laptop program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raed Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 The laptop for Meds '12 was $2700, and as Julie said, it just gets added on to your tuition, and you can opt out of it through request. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCP90 Posted October 6, 2008 Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 What are the 'specifications' on that thing!? You can get a full-blown gaming rig for that price of $2700. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Posted October 7, 2008 Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 You pay for the tablet function, and a super portable computer...ours also had increadible battery life, don't know how the meds 12 compare. I'm guessing the specs for this yr could be found searching through the forum, if not maybe a meds 12 can post them? They switched laptops this year, so you wouldn't be getting the same as my class have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDakota Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 From what I remember in an earlier thread the '12 students have the Dell tablet. It was reviewed much better than the IBM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCDMed Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 From what I remember in an earlier thread the '12 students have the Dell tablet. It was reviewed much better than the IBM. I am a teaching assistant for the '12 class and they do indeed have Dells Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olivier Heimrath Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 NOTE: the tablets this year have had huge problems for many students... hardware failures, inability to connect to networks, tablets intermittently working, cracks, chips ,etc.... yes, med tech can fix them.... but if you have a reliable computer... USE IT! Also, most computer companies offer next day service (including DELL) so you don't need MedTech. Finally, Operating system be dammed!!!! MedTech will tell you all the stuff you NEED and why you SHOULD buy their computer and only run VISTA... heres the real run down.... ANY OPERATING SYSTEM... XP PRO, VISTA Business or higher, or my personal favorite.... MAC OS X<-- it's what I (as well as a few other students) use, and in my opinion, the most reliable of the three. Other things you will need... ummmm... A WEB BROWSER and OFFICE (MAC or WINDOWS) .... Yup... thats it!!! so... if you want to spend an extra grand to get a fancy tablet... go nuts! otherwise, get the computer you want! Cheers, -O Meds 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry-mon Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 I got my Dell XT on ebay for 1400$, it had next business day on-site warranty and accidental coverage and harddrive data recovery coverage, I customized it to be exactly like medtech XT tablet + bluetooth too!. So that's the cheaper option if you don't wanna spend 1300$ more on one with a MEDTECH sticker on it. From what I hear, they aren't terribly helpful, people have lost their computers to medtech for weeks (your tablet comes with a next business day on-site warranty, so a 2 business day turn around should be expected)... it makes you wonder what exactly it is they do with your computer... so if you are an insecure person, by all means, spend the money, join the club... I've heard of all sorts of stories of harddrive failures right before exams and so on... I mean com'on... seriously? that's like 2 years ago... with meds 10 and yes, vista will not cause you to fail medical school... but I recommend using it because microsoft will end XP support in a few years anyway...lol... but if you are computer iliterate... spend the money... because you will probably break your comp without knowing it and wonder why it's broken...like my mom... (in which case I'd be very concerned to be working with you... you kinda have to touch computers in the hospital...LOL) remember, your medtech recommended tablet will not allow you to take over the world. although people who get their laptops seen to by medtech have reported seeing a "shortcut for 15 day trial for world of warcraft" icon on their desktop... so maybe you CAN take over the world... it just won't be Earth... you'll have to settle for Azeroth and whatever is beyond the dark portal... or Northrend if you can defeat the Lich king, Muahahahaha!!! you DO however need a laptop of some sort... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Out of curiosity why is the tablet functionality important? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raed Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 it's not important to have the tablet function, it's just very very very convenient! Put it this way...I haven't printed a single lecture since I started, and that can be said for many people. We use a program (OneNote) that is basically like a big binder that you can keep very organized, so all your lectures are in one program, and you can imagine how nice it is if you are just using tabs to go to different lectures, or use the Find function to look for specific words and such. Because of the tablet function, you can write on your laptop, making it that much nicer to deal with than actual paper. It's actually a great investment. Just keep in mind that you may want to backup your lectures from time to time just in case anything goes wrong with your HD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDakota Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 ANY OPERATING SYSTEM... XP PRO, VISTA Business or higher, or my personal favorite.... MAC OS X<-- it's what I (as well as a few other students) use, and in my opinion, the most reliable of the three. I cut down the quote, but the whole thing smells of Mac Fanboy =P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmd Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 I am pretty stupid when it comes to computers... What is this tablet function everyone is talking about?? Couldn't I just buy OneNote and put it on my computer I own now. Come to think of it, I have OneNote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 I am pretty stupid when it comes to computers... What is this tablet function everyone is talking about?? Couldn't I just buy OneNote and put it on my computer I own now. Come to think of it, I have OneNote. You can "draw" on the computer screen with a magnetic pen. As a computer programmer I work with them every day in the utility industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDakota Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 I am pretty stupid when it comes to computers... What is this tablet function everyone is talking about?? Couldn't I just buy OneNote and put it on my computer I own now. Come to think of it, I have OneNote. You can take notes on the lecture slides without having to print them off. On top of that everything is very organizes on your computer, as opposed to being in binders. You can also word search your slides (as mentioned before), like you can in .pdf's, so you can quickly find topics of interests as opposed to flipping through dozens of pages endlessly. If you love nature, think of how many trees you'll be saving =P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atreides Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Yes, the tablet function is great to write on slides, draw diagrams, and was especially useful for radiology with the circling of stuff, etc. That being said people who are more adept at using the functions can use the shape/line/arrow drawing functions and do pretty much the same thing. Also OneNote is cool, never even heard of the program before coming here, but apparently a lot of people used it before. You do not need to be particularly computer literate to use the tablet either as I am horrible with computers and know nothing about them. But I find there are a lot of issues, as the computer will delete things I've written on the screen, some people's screens stopped working or their pens so they couldn't write on it, and my computer acts like its possessed and randomly flips screens or closes windows and the mouse doesn't always work properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olivier Heimrath Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Yes... the tablet is useful (when it works)... but in reality... if you have a keyboard then you can type your notes in powerpoint or onenote... Furthermore, is the ability to use a pen to jot a note here and there worth an extra $1000, when you can just type it in? hmmmm... AND YES... I am a MAC FANBOY! Wana know why... well lets see... MOST RELIABLE COMPUTER ON CAMPUS... always works, never crashes, runs everything faster (including VISTA!), lighter/thinner than your Dell's (WITH A CD/DVD drive) and the battery lasts longer than your Dell's, even when you have the EXTRA battery slab on. Oh, I guess I should also mention that it connects to the network in fewer than 5 seconds EVERYTIME... Being that our whole program is essentially laptop and web based... I would say those features are pretty important! Oh and the price you ask... well lets just say that i could buy two beautiful MacBooks and manage my own hot swap, for the price of one of your dells.... but why buy 2... we all know macs rock and don't crash and burn, so you only need one! cheers, -O MEDS 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDakota Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Yes... the tablet is useful (when it works)... but in reality... if you have a keyboard then you can type your notes in powerpoint or onenote... Furthermore, is the ability to use a pen to jot a note here and there worth an extra $1000, when you can just type it in? hmmmm... AND YES... I am a MAC FANBOY! Wana know why... well lets see... Shinier = better... My Uber l33t macbook is so damn shiny I have to wear sunglasses to do work. Lets see your Dell Tablet do that! And why would I want to design my own computer when I can let Justin Long tell me what I want! No need to think for myself, following the Mac herd is where it's at boyezzzz! You like to play games?? hahah LOSER! I have more important things to do than play games! Like sitting in Starbucks dressed in stonewashed jeans, with thick, darkly brimmed glasses pretending I'm sipping my Double Mochachino Venti and writing my next big script. I dont even have time to wish I could play games. And even if I did, Oregon Trail still rocks, right? Also security on Macs are second to none! How often do you hear about a serious Mac virus?? NEVER! Although a hacker designing a virus for a Mac would be like the US wanting to invade Iceland.. It's not like it couldn't be done (we all know it could!) but what the hell would be the point? haha.. whoa.. I'm also guessing future pathologist too? With that short of a fuse you probably wont work well with people.. or maybe you just take your Mac's a little too seriously. PS. I took the liberty to translate your post for all us non-Fanboys. =P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry-mon Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 So the lesson of the day is: 1) opt out of the laptop program because it's 2700$ although technically this was at a discount of about 400$ off the MRSP. 2) buy the HP tablet at furtureshop for 1000$ 3) buy the dell XT tablet on ebay for 1000$ with same specs and warranty 4) buy a macbook for 1200$+200$ more for 3 year warranty, it is in every instance MORE expensive than PCs, that's right mac is no more, they are nothing but intel guts with expensive shells, upgrade to a 128GB SSD for the price difference, and your pc will be faster than mac, Muahahahah! Take that Justin Long! (don't kill me Olivier... that'll make you lose professionalism marks, lol) 5) don't play world of warcraft... it's bad for your health 6) don't play world of warcraft... omg... I can't stop... okay back to my exam season pokemon marathon gotta catch'em all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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