Do you need a laptop in N school?

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Hi, everyone, I was wondering If it is necessary to have a laptop. I havea desktop at home but I was thinking about a laptop, lol don't know if the investment is worth. What advice can you tell me an other new nursing students?

Thanks'

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It's a nice luxury to have but certainly not necessary. We had one gal bring hers to class once to take notes. I think it disturbed the people around her & she never brought it again.

Dixie

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Specializes in ED.
Hi, everyone, I was wondering If it is necessary to have a laptop. I havea desktop at home but I was thinking about a laptop, lol don't know if the investment is worth. What advice can you tell me an other new nursing students?

Thanks'

no, it isn't needed. Desktop at home is plenty.

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Specializes in Pediatric Intensive Care, Urgent Care.

without a doubt a pc is a necessity...nursing school is too difficult not to make it easier by not having one. But if you already have PC then don't sweat it.

Mex

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, IM, OB/GYN, neuro, GI.

I wouldn't say it's a necessity but it could help. I use my laptop more than my pc because I can access the internet at school while waiting for classes to start and look up research articles for papers then just bookmark it to print up later, I can also check my email because some of my friends will send me things that are needed for class. Some of the classes stopped giving us powerpoints and I can type faster then I write so that helps with getting all of the information. No one complains about my typing and some of my classmates bring their laptops also. I also use it to write my papers and careplans in between classes because I procrastinate on doing these things when I'm at home (like right now).

The downside of bringing it to school it finding a plug because the battery life sucks when you have the different programs running and I'm paranoid that someones going to walk off with it or pull if off the desk by tripping over the cord.

If you decide to get a laptop wait until after Christmas because that's when the new models come out and the old ones go on sale and you can usually get a good deal.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

You don't need a laptop. You will probably need to use a computer several times in your NS career though, so if you don't have a computer at home, be sure you can access one through your school's computer lab, the public library, a friend's house, work, whatever.

And for the record, you also don't need a PDA either (unless your school requires you to have one). It's nice to have, but by no means is it a must-have.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Personally, taking notes on a laptop is much more efficient than doing them by hand. For that reason, I'd consider a laptop borderline necessity. It's also worthwhile to be able to work on projects, review study materials, or access the web without having to go to a dedicated lab.

You can get a decent new laptop for $350 and a good one for $500. That's less than the cost of our first semester books for my DEMSN program.

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Hello, I have a laptop, but I ended up using it more like a desktop. I found it to be difficult to bring to class. I also didn't want to risk breaking it as they are kind of fragile. I have found a simple recorder that allows you to record lectures and download it to your pc and then convert to mp3, is more useful. The lectures I recorded and then loaded them to my ipod and I ended up listening to the lectures when I was commuting in the car, or whenever I felt. I also have a PDA and I love it. I have Tabers, drug guides, Diagnostic and Lab test reference, Skyscape Nursing Constellation, and I just bought an NCLEX study guide. My school doesn't require a PDA, but they do require a dictionary (recommended Tabers),Diagnostic and Lab Test Reference, and a Drug Guide all of which I can get and load on my PDA. It is so nice not to have to carry all those books around, but I digress because this isn't what you were asking. Good luck.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, ER, Peds ER-CPEN.

my laptop has been invaluable as I can type almost as fast as the teacher can talk, but can't keep up to save my life when writing, after lectures a group of us would get together to compare and then we'd print several copies for studying, I also have several NCLEX review programs loaded onto it, our program required 26 hrs of computer time with a review program but since the computer lab hadn't been loaded yet you either had to use books and review cards or your own laptop that they could verify a program on, helped with studying for exams as well, could work on projects between classes as well as anywhere at home or if we took the kids to visit with the grandparents I could take my work with me.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Cardiac.

I thought about buying one when I started but am glad I didn't. With the weight of the textbooks that I've been carrying, I don't think I could have handled the computer too. All of our professors give us powerpoint handouts and notetaking usually consists of scribbling a couple words here and there.

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I have both and I love it. I use my desktop all the time except when I am at school. I take my laptop to give me something to do in between classes and I take all my notes online because you can write so much faster which gives you more time to pay attention in class.

If you can afford one, I would go for it. Otherwise, you will be more than fine without one.

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I take mine to class every single day, I can type ALOT faster than I got write, and I find that I get just about every word that comes out of the teachers mouth, and have people that ask to put my notes on their zip drives to take home...I also have my davis's drug guide and tabors dictionary on my computer (and PDA) so when others are flipping through their books when our teacher asks us to look up something, I've already typed in the word or drug and have it pulled up on my screen. I keep all my notes in electronic folders on my desktop and I also print them out and put them in 3 ring binders to do my highlighting and studying, now that I type notes, I can't study anything that is handwritten, its just so much neater typed. Thats just my two cents, but I got a brand new really nice Dell for around $800 and I think its one of the best investments I've made.

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