Laptop for med school

[globy321]

Hi. For people in med school, did you find it necessary to have a laptop while in med school? Did you find it useful? Are all med course material on the internet or do they provide handouts?

 

Is there any specs for a laptop that med schools require? For example I found this for U of Ottawa: http://www.medicine.uottawa.ca/medtech/eng/laptops_requirements.html

 

Where can I find the laptop specs requirement for U of Toronto and Queen's med school?

[a41]

Yes you send/receive a lot of emails in med school. So get a laptop that is good at doing that.

[justletmein]

You do not NEED a laptop.

 

It is a nice luxury if you can afford it, but most schools have computers available so a desktop at home is sufficient.

 

Depending on the school, some have a lot of electronic material and others have mostly printed notes.

 

There are very few schools (ottawa is the only one i can think of off hand) that require or "strongly recommend" a laptop.

 

 

... but seriously, sending emails is not a good enough reason to buy a brand new laptop. Consider whether it is a necessity for you or not.

[A-Stark]

You do not NEED a laptop.

 

It is a nice luxury if you can afford it, but most schools have computers available so a desktop at home is sufficient.

 

Depending on the school, some have a lot of electronic material and others have mostly printed notes.

 

There are very few schools (ottawa is the only one i can think of off hand) that require or "strongly recommend" a laptop.

 

 

... but seriously, sending emails is not a good enough reason to buy a brand new laptop. Consider whether it is a necessity for you or not.

 

Well, you certainly need a computer, and given how cheaply you can get laptops these days, it only makes sense to get one, even if you do end up leaving it home mostly. In fact, I rarely take my computer to school, but it's extremely useful to have portability when you want/need it.

[justletmein]

Well, you certainly need a computer, and given how cheaply you can get laptops these days, it only makes sense to get one, even if you do end up leaving it home mostly. In fact, I rarely take my computer to school, but it's extremely useful to have portability when you want/need it.

 

most people already have a computer at home, and they think they need to go out and spend 2-3K on a laptop for med school.

 

Like I said, it is a nice luxury.

 

Necessary? Absolutely not.

[RCP90]

This 'do I need a laptop?' stuff comes up so often I don't know what people want to hear. Do we need to say 'if you buy a laptop, you will Honour every course and match into the residency of your choice.' [not aimed at you OP]

 

IMO students need a laptop. It doesn't have to be a Sager, but it can't be a sloth. For $300, you can buy a used one that's better than a lot of new stuff right now that will definitely get the job done. Check your local craigslist or kijiji, or a website forum.

 

For future reference, if anyone needs laptop buying advice, just go to the "What Notebook Should I Buy" thread at notebookreview.com, and just learn whatever you can.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

 

This is the kind of computer you can expect to get (used) if you're thinking of spending $2,000: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4976434&postcount=1 This is NOT something you need as a med student.

 

Maybe you could use the school computers. Alright, fine. Personally I can't work with my books being shoved into each other since there's no room because of the neighboring computers.

 

Like I said, you need a laptop, but don't break the bank to get one. Good luck with your search.

[apache]

MACBOOK! done, period!

[A-Stark]

most people already have a computer at home, and they think they need to go out and spend 2-3K on a laptop for med school.

 

Like I said, it is a nice luxury.

 

Necessary? Absolutely not.

 

I agree that spending 2-3k on a laptop is a nice luxury.

 

I'm not suggesting anyone should spend anywere near that much. You can get a very decent Toshiba or HP for well under $1000, and even a Macbook ought not to exceed about $1500. I'm looking at one that's $1299, which is less than the laptop I'm using right now.

 

So... give me a break. I don't know that that many of us are going to be living at home either.

[apache]

****, what laptop is like 3000 bucks?

 

I agree that spending 2-3k on a laptop is a nice luxury.

 

I'm not suggesting anyone should spend anywere near that much. You can get a very decent Toshiba or HP for well under $1000, and even a Macbook ought not to exceed about $1500. I'm looking at one that's $1299, which is less than the laptop I'm using right now.

 

So... give me a break. I don't know that that many of us are going to be living at home either.

[japlanet]

I got a netbook to take to class for under $500, and will continue to use my dinosaur of a 4 year old laptop at home as a desktop replacement.

[Iamarealmedstudent]

Something I found worth investing in was a decent printer. Since printing lecture notes takes a lot of time and we went through a lot of notes (I printed something like 3000 pages in 2 years of med school) purchasing a printer that double sides automatically without having to refeed paper was helpful. They can be pricey though, you need to shop around.

[A-Stark]

Something I found worth investing in was a decent printer. Since printing lecture notes takes a lot of time and we went through a lot of notes (I printed something like 3000 pages in 2 years of med school) purchasing a printer that double sides automatically without having to refeed paper was helpful. They can be pricey though, you need to shop around.

 

I wouldn't spend a lot for a printer that does that automatically. It's not *that* inconvenient to take them out and put them back in once per document. I have a Samsung something or other which cost less than the replacement toner for it.

[ontariostudent]

Some schools (including, I believe, U of T) provide you with hard copies of notes so you really won't be doing much printing. I would hold off on spending any money until you know how much printing you'll be doing. As for the double siding thing, I have an HP black and white laserjet that has manual double siding and it's really simple... I definitely wouldn't spend much more money to have it done automatically. If you're going to be printing a lot, definitely go laser.

 

On that note- I'm sooo excited. I'm planning to buy a shiny new Macbook pro 13" on Friday after I defend my thesis!!! I've been waiting patiently for what seems like forever! It will be a luxury (definitely could have found something more than adequate for $600), but I decided I deserve it. I don't think I could love anything else.

[NorthernDude]

You do not NEED a laptop.

 

It is a nice luxury if you can afford it, but most schools have computers available so a desktop at home is sufficient.

 

Depending on the school, some have a lot of electronic material and others have mostly printed notes.

 

There are very few schools (ottawa is the only one i can think of off hand) that require or "strongly recommend" a laptop.

 

 

... but seriously, sending emails is not a good enough reason to buy a brand new laptop. Consider whether it is a necessity for you or not.

 

NOSM requires a laptop as well.

[rmorelan]

Some schools (including, I believe, U of T) provide you with hard copies of notes so you really won't be doing much printing. I would hold off on spending any money until you know how much printing you'll be doing. As for the double siding thing, I have an HP black and white laserjet that has manual double siding and it's really simple... I definitely wouldn't spend much more money to have it done automatically. If you're going to be printing a lot, definitely go laser.

 

 

uwo also has a notes printing service - it is cheaper and faster than doing it on your own

[muffin]

most people already have a computer at home, and they think they need to go out and spend 2-3K on a laptop for med school.

 

Like I said, it is a nice luxury.

 

Necessary? Absolutely not.

o.O What laptop are you buying? You can get a cheap netbook for around $300 and have that as your portable machine.

 

There's no need to buy alienware or highend laptops just for the sake of having a laptop. Hell, even the cheap acer and compaq laptops start at ~$400 on sale.

[hailey_medschool]

i am in premed and i find my macbook pro handy

[cgy_guy23]

I think you need to think about what you will use your computer for. Most med schools have online based sites/electronic notes/podcasts. Having your own portable laptop for all of this stored info would be useful and you could organize it nicely into a way that makes sense...and also let us not forget the internet and research journals etc. which can pretty much find you most answers you may have while studying or doing research. I am a Mac user myself but they are definitely pricy when compared to some of the cheaper laptops/notebooks these days. If you have the money Macs are definitely better in some ways - they are simple, look nice of course, and are not as prone to viruses as PCs. Also you need to take into account how much memory you want your harddrive to have - you will obviously accumulate large amount of files over your many years of med/residency etc. so you will require the right memory to store it all. *I also recommend for anyone with a laptop to purchase an external harddrive and back up their files regularly* Even the best computers can fail...this includes harddrives...and since most harddrives have moving parts even a small fall (ex. slide off of your coffeetable) can end up in a fried harddrive...this happened to me quite recently but thankfully I did not have a huge amount of stuff on it that I had not backed up already but some stuff was still lost unfortunately. If you opt for a PC have good antivirus software and the new Windows 7 system works really nice and the graphics are very sexy as well - comparable to a Mac actually.

[hck]

What a lot of silly yelling.

 

Mac is a powerful, fairly decent tool. Windows/PC is also a powerful, fairly decent tool. They both go wrong sometimes. Anecdotes about good experiences and anecdotes about bad experiences abound -- on both sides.

 

Which one someone likes better is closely correlated with which one they know. Which one they know is closely correlated with which one they began using earliest. In other words everyone's preference is largely circumstantial.

 

I guess I wish med students had the mental discipline to know that.

 

Buy whichever will get in your way the least.