Computer During Nursing School!

CP2013 · Nov 3, 2012

Oh! I bought an external hard drive. I use it to store everything from a previous semester. I only keep the current semester on my actual laptop, everything else is on the external hard drive.

Ran me about $100 but there's no way I could fill it. :)

SummitRN, BSN, RN · Nov 3, 2012

Check with your school, current/future as you can probably purchase a discounted Microsoft Office Academic license (huge discount)

Lenovo also makes good machines.

Oh! I bought an external hard drive. I use it to store everything from a previous semester. I only keep the current semester on my actual laptop, everything else is on the external hard drive.
Ran me about $100 but there's no way I could fill it. :)

The entirety of nursing school and all your prereqs should only consume a small fraction of your drive space on any remotely modern laptop.

Backing up daily or weekly is a good practice.

CP2013 · Nov 4, 2012

Check with your school, current/future as you can probably purchase a discounted Microsoft Office Academic license (huge discount)
Lenovo also makes good machines.
The entirety of nursing school and all your prereqs should only consume a small fraction of your drive space on any remotely modern laptop.
Backing up daily or weekly is a good practice.

I saved every schedule, every lecture note, every project from the start of my college career. Totaling approximately 6 years. Not to mention numerous years of photos.

I have space on my laptop, but I just prefer to be sure everything is A)backed up and B) saved somewhere else do my laptop isn't cluttered.

I keep photos and everything non-school on the external. Plus all previous semesters. This keeps me from losing anything too. Have had that happen wayyyy too many times.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Nov 4, 2012

I got a decent Toshiba Satellite a couple years ago and back then it ran about $400. You should be able to get a student version of MS Office for about $100. I also use Dragon for my dictation software, got that for about $100, and I have to say that I've been pretty pleased with my choice. I could have bumped up the performance level and purchased the higher end model, which cost about $600. That would've been a Toshiba satellite with an Intel i7 processor. As a matter of fact, I am using Dragon NaturallySpeaking now. I really do like using this particular software as it allows me to write e-mails and papers and that sort of thing very quickly.

I also use an external hard drive, 750 GB, and I have not yet run out of room on that at all. All told, my investment in my laptop computer has been approximately $800. That includes my all-in-one printer that I got for approximately $120. My all-in-one printer does scan – print – fax, but it does not have two-sided printing. That would've been an extra 50 or $60. At work I have printers that do that, and I can use them.

Given that Windows 8 will be on a lot of PCs in the future, and it is tablet driven, expect to see a lot of laptops, netbooks, convertible laptop – tablet conversions, and tablets all with multitouch (10 finger) capability. If you can get one of those, I would suggest it as you would be able to write on screen as well. It may not be the most efficient method of entry into the computer, but you can draw which can be something useful. Probably the most useful program that I have used is Microsoft's One Note. The Office 2010 and following versions are able to "print to one note" regardless if your computer is a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system computer. I have office 2007, and I had to use a rather irritating workarounds to be able to do that. The ability to do it is, however, a very nice thing to be able to do. Open office is freeware that you can get for your computer that generally understands Microsoft office formatting, but it's functionality is not quite what is available in Microsoft office. It can do almost anything that Microsoft office can do. Evernote is freeware that can be used for note taking, much like Microsoft's one note.

There's a lot of options that you have for $800 budget that I think you'll very easily find a computer that you can use that will last you several years on a budget of $800 or less. My suggestion would be to look for a decent computer that has a relatively long battery life, something greater than 5 – 6 hours. Long battery life is suggested because it is very possible that you might not be able to sit near a power outlet while in class. At first, such long battery life might not seem like it's a real problem, but as the years wear on you and your battery life begins to diminish, you'll come to appreciate the fact that your 80% capacity battery still lasts about 4 hours. That should be enough to get you through most of the lecture day.

I forgot to mention that my Toshiba satellite computer has a 15 inch screen, I think it is actually something like a 15.4 inch widescreen. That feature definitely makes it nice for me when I watch movies on my computer!

PalmHarborMom · Nov 4, 2012

There are many posts already about affordable computers. When it comes time to purchase software, make sure that you check with the prices on software at your college. I attend the University of South Florida and they have an AWESOME deal on the new version of Office for $15. (It's over $100 at the stores) I also purchased my computer on campus and they had great computers that had on-site warranty repairs. They also give you a loaner computer while fixing yours and if it can't be fixed, it is replaced. I'm sure that your school may be different but I would still advise to check it out.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Nov 5, 2012

There are many posts already about affordable computers. When it comes time to purchase software, make sure that you check with the prices on software at your college. I attend the University of South Florida and they have an AWESOME deal on the new version of Office for $15. (It's over $100 at the stores) I also purchased my computer on campus and they had great computers that had on-site warranty repairs. They also give you a loaner computer while fixing yours and if it can't be fixed, it is replaced. I'm sure that your school may be different but I would still advise to check it out.

You make a great point. Check out the School store... while you could end up paying MORE for the computer itself, you may save serious $$$ on the software package so that the overall cost is lower than if you go to an "outside" vendor. In my case, I ended up with a really good deal overall... but I did my research and some smart shopping.

Anyone looking to get a new computer for school should definitely look at the total package...