Laptops???

[IndyGypsyNurse, BSN, RN]

Hey everyone, thanks for all your help on the book advice. I thought I would post this on its own. Does anyone know where I can get a good deal on a Laptop? What kind of laptop would you recommend? Also can anyone reccomend a Pda and also helpful software related to nursing?

Thanks a million, billion, trillion!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Adria

[IndyGypsyNurse, BSN, RN]

I wonder if someplace would give special discounts to nursing students? Hmmm...........

[shyne]

I have a Dell desktop, but heard that Dell's laptops are pretty good, they also give you free shipping on certain days.

[PennyNickelDime_RN]

I have a Sony laptop at the moment and it was a good value for the price. I've read that Dell and Gateway are also good buys.

My university requires all new students and transfers to have a laptop. They provide them through the school and charge a "technology fee" of $1,140.00/year. At graduation the laptop is yours to have. They are using Compaq 800NV I believe which comes with everything you can imagine. I don't remember the cost on the website but it might be worth checking out since the school supplies 2,500 of these to their students.

[2ndCareerRN]

I have a COMPAQ Presario that is great.

It has a 16" screen, 2.4gh processor and a 60gig harddrive. I used it to replace my laptop which was state of the art in 1997, but now woefully inadequate. Which is how computers go.

It seems that since COMPAQ and HP merged their products have improved.

bob

[TinyNurse, RN]

I don't have a laptop, but I got a sony clie as a gift for starting school. I used my clie all throughout school, and would like to buy a new one now that i've graduated.

There is a ton of freeware for PDAs!!!!!

Bayer critical care guide, epocrates ( for meds) ACLS 2001 which is the latest, and if you have isilo you can download freeware lytemaster, and a nursing dx program.

I reccommend anything with a palm os. My clie was my bestfriend my senior year, while you are at clinical, or just talking over lunch with nursing friends, and want to know about a med!

Of course many people got through school without one.

Best of luck in nursing school!!!!

Jenni

[SirJohnny]

All:

- Regarding laptops.

- Make sure you get decent warranty coverage. These puppies break and min labor charge is $250 - $300 without the warranty. Make sure warranty covers the screen as it's just a thin membrane holding some kind of fluid in it. The membrane has a habit of breaking. You can see the fluid if you push in on front of laptop screen just a little bit.

- I use my laptop for all of my current studying.

- I have all my notes on it. And when I need to study, I sit in decent office chair and put feet up on table and get weight on my hips - like in dentist office. Have a few drinks (coke/pepsi nearby).

- Then I pull up my notes - copy and paste what I want to study that night into another document and then start retyping key words (like a muscle name for instance) over and over again. Then I pull up another blank document and do a brain dump.

- I keep a timer going on my computer --- And will try to put in 3.00 hours a day study time. I am taking A&P 101 in an accelerated 10 week program (as opposed to normal 15 week program).

- If I get bored, I connect to AOL and pull up a web cam and watch trains or watch barges going up and down the Mississippi. Anything to eliminate that "caged in" feeling.

- Also, like to get up at 3AM and do a cram session once or twice a week for 2 hours. Talk about ultimate concentration.

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- Getting back to your original post. I would recommend "Comp USA" as they stand behind their warranties. I would say a US$1000 machine would be good. Get a 1MhZ machine with 256Meg Ram with 20+Gig Hard Drive. These are your minimum specs.

- I currently use an HP-Laptop with 40Gig HD, 1.5Mhz processor, 512MbRam with Lan Card (for Cable Modem) and also have DVD-Read/Writer for making weekly backups. This puppy ran about $2000 with a 3 yr "mail-in" warrany last year. Company pays for postage both ways.

- I broke keyboard last year --- company honored warranty with a turnaround of 5 days. Reason why you will want to make backups....these things do break.

Hope this helps,

John Coxey

[SirJohnny]

All:

- Should mention that my current HP laptop is used for development (software). Propbably more power than you will need.

- I believe the 1 gig machine mentioned in my minimum specs will be to more of your liking.

- As for basic word processing -- you won't notice any difference between the two specs.

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- I don't recommend used machines - as they WILL break. And knowing Murphy's Law -- will break at the worst time. So make backups and save often.

Johnny

[nurse_gigolo69]

DO NOT GET A LAPTOP

It would be such a waste of good money, all you need is a palm pilot and keyboard that cost me $150 total. Good for taking notes, also has flashcard programs built in, organizer, email (if you like) etc, etc. This has reduced my workload by atleast 40%. It also fits in your pocket, my palm pilot is a lifesaver.

this is what it looks like

http://www.thinkoutside.com/products.asp

[MJ-12]

Well if you are intrested in laptops I sort of have a Hot Deals thread going in the Off Topic section of this Forum.

here is the link

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35881

The sad part is I got lazy and haven't updated the thread since June 28

I'll try to update it sooner or later, i'll PM you later if i find some good deals on laptops

The prices range from as low as $620 to $1200.

All the laptops are pretty decent

There are also deals in desktops and i'll try to put up some deals on PDAs

[meandragonbrett]

Originally posted by nurse_gigolo69

DO NOT GET A LAPTOP

It would be such a waste of good money

I wouldn't say it's a waste of money. There's tons of things that a computer can do that a PDA cannot! If you were to write a paper on a PDA, how would you print it? Also, the screen is quite small to use as a personal computer! Just my take on it. I had a PDA for three days and I took it back because I didn't like it. I'd rather have my 12 in Apple Powerbook with me. It's great! It does everything I need and more.. Apple's are made for a digital life (music, movies, pictures) and it's great for anybody that's not a gamer. I love my powerbook and I'll never buy a windows machine again.

[Gampopa]

Has anyone heard of either home owners insurance or renters insurance covering the loss/theft/damage to a laptop or home computer?