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What Kind Of Computer To Bring To College?
Elfan writes "We've discussed laptops in education before and the importance of condoms and lockpicks. However, since its not to early to think about the Fall semester for incoming freshman, I was wondering what electronic devices people found most useful for college now. How do you keep yourself organized, a PDA of some sort or an old-fashioned calendar? What to take notes with, pencil and paper? Laptop? Palm pilot? Tape recorder? Or just too cool to take notes like in high school? One laptop for everything, with a docking station back in the dorm perhaps, or just a desktop? Both? All of this is made more complicated, of course, by the lack of funds most college students enjoy."
Do not bring laptops because they will be 'lifted.' Bring a big ugly honking computer. as long as it has a Ethernet connection, you wont need to move it. Strap it to some 45lb weights or something. if their going to steal it, make them disassemble it.
:D
You should not need a palm pilot or the like because your schedule will be the same for 3-4 months straight. If you cant remember to get to class, then you should drop out
I strongly reccomend a desktop.
While laptop thefts aren't a horribly common thing, college freshmen brainfarts (tm) are. I say this while enjoying my first year standing. However, having spent a great deal of time with small office/home office/home-use computer consultants, I can say that laptop theft is *much* higher first year, than other years combined. (Non-scientific data gathering, to be sure).
Use common sense: If you make it portable, it is more likely to get stolen. It will also be more convienent, and probably better used. In my experience though, a desktop will be just as useful. If you need a computer on the other side of campus, you can probably find one to use.
Disclaimer, I go to RIT, all comments should be taken as though they are from someone who goes to school at an Institute of Technology
I assert that my comment is only my opinion, not that of any employer, past, present or future.
2. No palm - use your head.
I (physics undergrad) use a biro and a pad of budget paper for notetaking.
My computer is a big, completely unportable hunk of steel. It suits me fine. Laptops are useful for group work on campus though - it allows you to create an ad-hoc office anywhere. If funds permitted, I would like a laptop too, but my geekness demands that my computer be built with my own two hands.
Here is the important part - I have two friends, one with a Clie, and one with an iPaq. They don't use them. They were carried around for around a month, and then ditched. They use them in their rooms for reading documents in bed. I save money, using xpdf instead :-)
I got one of these in my second term at university and it really is a lifesaver. My 12" iBook is small enough to fit into a standard satchel and is light enough to carry around everywhere I need to take it (especially when much of my time is spent in the central library, particularly with exams coming up).
:)
My reasons for choosing the iBook over a PC laptop were various. There's the gorgeousness factor which is just hard to resist. More seriously though, Mac OS X is just a dream to run, and once you've got used to your iBook waking from sleep in about 2 seconds, you can't help but feel for those poor PC laptop owners. The 4 hour battery life is also very useful for studying out in the gardens.
Desktop PCs are a real PITA at university since you will inevitably end up taking handwritten notes, and if you're writing is anything like mine, they'll be redundant by the end of the year. They're also a great pain to carry up and down stairs (inevitable).
As for PDAs, I've certainly not felt the need for one since most of my contacts come in through e-mail and I'm near my laptop to check my calendar most of the time. That might just be the nature of our university network though...
Get yourself an iBook!
As a professor, I think I maybe had about 2 students using something electronic to take notes in class for the last two years (out of maybe 300 students total). One had a laptop, and one a Palm with folding keyboard. These were actually both students I had the year before last. I teach in the humanities, so I probably have fewer students who are really excited about computers than faculty members in other fields. I have to say that I wish students would stick to paper and pen, or at least find quieter keyboards; I could very distinctly hear the students in question typing, and it was sort of distracting. Although if a few tap-tap noises are the biggest problem I have to face in the next school year, I'll count myself lucky! I'd be satisfied if I could just get people to remember to turn off their cell phones.
This post is dedicated to all of those
Hey, That guy just stole my comment.
But really an iBook with an Airport card is a recipe for success. The aforementioned battery life is excellent. And personal experience has proven to me that a mac is less likely than a PC to implode while you type a paper.
No - I am not Ellen Feiss.
PDAs are pretty tough to take notes on in my experience - plus you'd look like a collosal tool. Pen and paper do just fine for note taking. There's something to be said for actually writing the words and the effect this has on retention.
A publicly traded company exists solely to make profits for shareholders.
I took notes with old fashioned paper and pencil. I recorded my lectures on minidisc. I wrote my papers on an iBook.
:)
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... and I'm stil using my laptop and minidisc recorder after several years, so I think I'm getting my money's worth.
All things considered, a computer is necessary. One could use one of the provided computer labs, however, the convenience and freedom of having your own computer (particularly with a scientific course of study) is extremely advantageous.
I choose an iBook because laptops are frickin' convenient (writing your papers in the library, and being able to take your laptop to study sessions is very handy), and because I've had good experiences with Mac hardware. I've studied in three different countries, all of which have Apple support, and all of which honor Apple warranties. iBooks are also reasonably durable, and they're great to self-decorate.
The minidisc recorder was also a good choice -- tape is nice, but with a single minidisk you can store a week's worth of lectures and tutorials for one class (w/ MDLP), and set break points for important information. Small. Convenient. Efficient. Not too terribly expensive.
I've never had success with note taking on a laptop, so I had good ol' paper and pencil. I can type faster than I can write, for sure, but when the professor starts drawing diagrams
All things considered, I spent under $2000 on my setup, and it worked great
Personally, I'm looking forward to the development of the tablet-based platform. It's everything in one -- computer, audio recorder, and note pad. I'd like to see them a bit less expensive, and a bit more rugged before I'd recommend 'em to anyone.
About recording a class on tape: make sure you always get permission. I always allow this, but I like to be told. I've seen a professor pull a tape out of a student's cassette before, because the student was recording without obtaining consent. Needless to say, that's not a good way to make a first impression in college.
Apart from all this, the best notes I've ever seen were written into a notebook by people who first listened to the material, and only wrote things once down once they understood them (and asked questions when they didn't).