iTouch vs. PDA...yet another thread :(

I'm confused about applications on a PDA vs. the iTouch, and even after browsing the forums I've found that most threads apply to nurses on the job so I decided to post a new one. My apologies if it's repetitive.

I'm a new nursing student who is starting on Monday. I would buy the iTouch because it seems to be the "up and coming" thing, but I'm worried it won't have as many useful features for a student as a regular PDA. I like the fact that PDAs come loaded with Word, Explorer (which I use at home on my laptop), PowerPoint, etc., as well as being equipped with a recorder and note-taking function. It seems that a PDA is more in tune with what I am used to using on my laptop.

I also have a textbook (Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing) that can be downloaded in it's entirety to a PDA for free...I don't think it can be downloaded to an iTouch. I'd like to stress that listening to music is not at all important to me...I'm purely focused on using it as a tool in clinical/class and to surf the web.

I'm new to this, so any advice about what would be best for a student will be very helpful! Thanks.