College Personal Device Help?

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Ryou-kun

Limp Gawd
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Sep 13, 2011
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Do you think I should get a good iPad/Tablet that has a good camera quality and take a picture of the power point in college for notes?

Or I should get a laptop?

I know I asked this question before, but that is when I was choosing which one.
But it won't work when I need something else such as games, movies and etc.

Which one do I prefer guys?
 
They don't make the presentations available for download these days via "course management"? My fiancé, who is professor does that for her students. You might want to check with the professors.
 
Most professors require that you get prior authorization before taping/pictures/etc. So check that before you do it.

Also what timta2 said. If they use moodle/blackboard check there.
 
As the others have said, many professors have the slides ready to download from either course's website or even the professor's personal website. In addition, in my years of college, not once have I seen anyone actually take a pictures of the power point slides for reasons that are pretty apparent. (requires authorization from teachers, can be a distraction, some professors actually want you to manually copy the content on the slides itself, awkwardness, professors will go through slides quickly and therefore you won't have time to get a good picture, really awkward, etc).

So in other words, go get a laptop and plus +1 to everything that doug_7506 and timta2 said.
 
Taking pictures of the powerpoints is a bad idea in my opinion. Many professors will not like looking up to see you constantly aiming a tablet at them.

I suggest getting a small laptop, preferably with an SSD if you can afford it. You should be able to buy used and come out alright since you don't have the need for gaming or anything a tablet couldn't do.
 
I use the Asus Infinity during classes and use Evernote to record the lectures. Most presentations can be found on your school's blackboard or I'm sure if you ask your Professor they will email you the slides.

I took my Y580 to class today and just found it unwieldy. I much prefered the Infinity for class than the laptop. Evernote syncs between devices so from now on I'll just take my tablet and keep the laptop at home.
 
Learn to take notes. Be they written or typed. I prefer written myself.

Slides are a crutch they'll have titles of things but usually are only the tip of the iceberg of what you need to know.
 
IMO nothing beats a Windows hybrid device with a pen-enabled digitizer. Currently, most of these are business-class convertible notebooks, but wait three weeks and there will be a deluge of devices as Windows 8 is released.

I download PowerPoint slides, print them to OneNote, and annotate them using the keyboard mainly, but flip over to use the pen where necessary. You'll benefit greatly from a pen if in a STEM major or if you think you'll want to write on the slides, draw arrows from the slides to the margin, etc.

I'm looking forward to getting something like the Microsoft Surface so that I won't have to flip the screen of my device when I want to switch between typing and drawing. I'll just keep a small bluetooth keyboard on the desk.

Also, if you want to discreetly record the lecture (video or audio), you can use a webcam along with this setup and OneNote will synchronize the recording with what you're drawing/typing on the screen. Whenever you look back at your notes, you can hover over something you wrote and click play to see what the professor was saying/writing at the time. You want a condenser microphone with a cardioid mode so that you get clear audio from the professor, but as little ambient noise as possible. Something like http://www.amazon.com/Samson-Mic-Compact-USB-Microphone/dp/B001R76D42/ref=sr_1_12?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1349233512&sr=1-12&keywords=condenser+microphone. Instead of (or in addition to) this you might want to use a webcam if it's important for you to see what the professor is writing/pointing to. Of course, always ask your professor if it's okay that you record the lecture, but I've never had a professor that had a problem with it. Even the most strict only requested that you not distribute the recording.

My biggest problem with Evernote, even on pen-enabled Android devices (there are a few), was that you couldn't type and write on the same note and the equation support wasn't nearly as good. With OneNote you can add the Microsoft Mathematics plugin and equation syntax is very simple and straightforward (after a day, you can produce about what you'd be able to after several weeks of learning LaTeX). I was able to complete statistics using just a keyboard, though I used the pen for the calculus series.

So, what do you get with a Windows hybrid device and OneNote? All your notes in the cloud, accessible on any computer, the ability to annotate slides, pen and keyboard input, synced audio/video, great equation support, and perhaps most importantly, they're searchable (even handwriting and images/non-OCR PDFs). As a student, I don't think there's any better solution to going paperless. And if you really want to get into it like I have, you can build a book scanner (http://diybookscanner.org/) and have all of your textbooks with you at all times too.
 
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Damn, I must have been really tired to create this forum, lol.
I completely forgot about where professors/teachers can send you the PowerPoint slides through the internet, lol.

Well I guess Laptop is the best bet, but tell me guys.
Is it still going to be a "Laptop" for me to choose for College and future used?

I mean I am going to get either "IronSideComputers" Laptop (They did said they are working on adding a laptop. It might be cheaper than most laptops who know) or "Asus" Laptop :p
 
the Laptop will be more useful......so far i've had more use of my laptop than my tablet at any point so far. As for the power points, just see if the Prof offers them online (you should know by this point if your in the semester already), and download them. The tablet is just too limited to use full time for notes and on campus, a laptop is more useful (to me atleast)

*note - I have an ipad 3, an a 2740p (HP convertible PC), the HP gets used more in "laptop" mode than the iPad ever gets taken out......i am also a 3rd year engineering student, not sure if it helps, but ya i use these things daily.

edit: it will help to know your major/area of study to give a good suggestion.
 
Taikero said:
IMO nothing beats a Windows hybrid device with a pen-enabled digitizer. Currently, most of these are business-class convertible notebooks, but wait three weeks and there will be a deluge of devices as Windows 8 is released.
Click to expand...

Great post, couldn't agree more. A Windows 8 tablet or hybrid with a pen digitizer running OneNote is the ultimate note taking device.
 
Ryou-kun said:
Well I guess Laptop is the best bet, but tell me guys.
Is it still going to be a "Laptop" for me to choose for College and future used?
Click to expand...

Whether or not a Laptop is going to be a good for future usage largely depends on what that future usage is going to be. Depending on what that future use is, a laptop may not be the ideal choice. With that, that doesn't necessarily mean the tablet will be the right choice for that future use either.
 
i would suggest going with ipad/tablet for your needs. and yes as other's have mentioned there should be way to get PP presentation or notes or some other course work via online course management. and even if your school by chance doesn't have that option, you can ask professors if they'll provide notes or other stuff, and if they are nice they might even let you get it in advance for studying.
 
This is a good point, however to get a device with a digitzer worth a dam will typically be a nice chunk more than the tablet (i'm getting the impression that the OP is looking at ~$500 for the device regardless of what it is), OP what would the budget be ?


heatlesssun said:
Great post, couldn't agree more. A Windows 8 tablet or hybrid with a pen digitizer running OneNote is the ultimate note taking device.
Click to expand...
 
W.Feather said:
This is a good point, however to get a device with a digitzer worth a dam will typically be a nice chunk more than the tablet (i'm getting the impression that the OP is looking at ~$500 for the device regardless of what it is), OP what would the budget be ?
Click to expand...

If you only consider current-generation business tablets, this is true. However you can always step back through the iterations until you get to a price point that is acceptable. On eBay, the HP 2740p is about at the price point you mentioned. The 2730p is less than half that. A low voltage Core 2 Duo is sufficient for OneNote. Lenovo and Fujitsu have offerings worth looking at too.

While the high end x86 slate tablets will likely overshoot his budget by quite a margin, there may be some non-RT tablets that are affordable. We'll have to wait to see.
 
Yes, I am quite aware of the price of the 2740p (got my "backup" for $150 because it had a dead mem stick :D ), going used is also an option. Need tos ee what the OP says to some of the questions asked.
 
Yes, price is an issue with Windows 8 tablets, that said, some of the Clover Trail devices might not be that bad. You can get the Samsung Series 5 with the 64GB and the keyboard dock for $750, that's not a bad price even when compared to mobile OS tablets for what it is. Of course we don't know how Clover Trail will perform particularly on the desktop.
 
surprised a netbook wasn't brought up, those things are great for college/uni classes
 
Globox said:
surprised a netbook wasn't brought up, those things are great for college/uni classes
Click to expand...

Meh..Having used an Atom netbook and then a tablet, I'd take the tablet with a bluetooth keyboard. I hate trackpads, way slower than touchscreen at doing the same tasks.

For any kind of real work, a desktop is wanted. I'd never bother trying to write a paper on a tablet...and wouldn't willingly suffer typing a paper on a netbook either.
 
@Skripka: I've done a lot of stuff on my netbook the past 3 years. It was my main system.

Even with a 10.4" screen I could still run CorelDRAW X3 and use it pretty well. (I wear glasses, BTW -- my eyesight is NOT the best!) Typing was a little uncomfortable but it could be done.

The netbook in question is an ASUS 1000HEB -- a low-powered Best Buy only version of the -HE, from what I understand. It wasn't very popular, but it was my father's gift to me upon graduating college. That said, I could have used it just fine all through college if such had existed in '04 when I started. (Yeah, I was in college for five years. My high school wasn't that great, so the 2nd year was at a 2year place getting some educational shoring-up. The 1st year was how we figured out about my high school being not-that-great.)
 
To me you need to look at it not just from how your entire tech landscape comes together. If you already have a phone plan with a smart phone in the last 2 years like android I see no point in buying a tablet because your phone will handle everything a tablet will. However if you do not have a smart phone or data plan you may find a tablet to be a good supplement to your feature phone.

So after that you will likely want a real computer be it a windows, or mac system. In this case you may want to opt for something light and mobile if you have a desktop back at the dorm, but if you dont have a desktop you might want to spend more money on a nicer laptop that can handle heavier work loads and maybe gaming.

All that being said there is just way too much cool stuff coming out at the end of October so I would say you definitely should try to get buy without until we see all the options for devices when windows 8 releases.
 
@starhawk
My netbook has been my main system since they started coming out with harddrives, in fact, it's STILL my main system (New one, but still netbook class). The desktop is overkill for everything so it's only there for video encoding, 3D rendering (3d modeling is done on netbook), and gaming.

A netbook + decent PC = You have a desktop that's twice as powerful and more comfortable, a netbook that's easier to carry, and the two of them combined is cheaper than a laptop.

@OP
Do you have a desktop in your dorm? If you do, you can cross the laptop off your list and just choose between a netbook and a tablet.

If you expect to be taking a lot of notes you'll need one with a keyboard. So it's either a netbook, or a tablet with a dock. I've been using tablets for two years now and they're really bad for composing notes. You can use the virtual keyboard, but it just isn't as easy or comfortable to use as a physical keyboard.
 
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