Laptop/Tablet

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Dec 21, 2014

My daughter likes her laptop....I just wish I remembered which one it is....I'll look and be back....LOL

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Dec 21, 2014

My laptop (the one that I'm on now) is a Toshiba Satellite C655... I doubt they make this one any longer, but it's got an Intel CORE i3 processor. Most of the time, I got about 4 hours on battery if I was running all the usual power-save stuff. Mine is a full keyboard with a numeral key pad as well and the screen is something like a 15.5 inch LCD unit. I would say that regardless of the brand, model, etc... you're going to want good battery life, the ability to use a CD/DVD disc, and some kind of physical keyboard as at least an option. By good battery life, I mean somewhere in the neighborhood of 5+ hours, 8 would be better. While I was lucky in that I usually had power outlets nearby and a short extension cord to reach them, sometimes I didn't have that option, so good battery life is necessary.

What you also will likely need is some way to be compatible with MS Office documents (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) so that you can see them, make them, and use them later... Depending upon school policy, they may allow you to take notes on the device you select or they may not.

As you can tell, my computer is still going strong!

ORNurseCOS · Dec 21, 2014

Im personally a mac guy and won't use anything else - jumping b/w your laptop and a tablet is seamless since it all automatically transfers.

Best thing on my mac is the HDMI out. When I get home I slap it on to the 50 inch and use that with a ton of notes pulled up or I just mirror the desktop to the TV via the AppleTV. Comes in handy, it's kind of like having a digital white board.

Battery is rated at like 9 hrs or so, just depends on what your doing. All in all I will NEVER use a windows based machine ever again....now I get to actual use my computer instead of spending half my time fixing it and dealing with Norton.

Long live the Mac.

P.S. you can sell the machine years later and make 40-60% of your money back easily.

Try that with a PC...ha....

Krzysztof · Dec 21, 2014

Im personally a mac guy and won't use anything else

I'm def an Apple device guy (iPad, iPhone, etc.) but never had a Mac. I always feared compatibility issues, though I know those are pretty much gone now. What model(s) laptop do you have?

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Dec 21, 2014

There should be minimal, if any, problems with compatibility between Mac and PC computers when dealing with most things that nursing school will throw at you. I had a couple of classmates that used a Mac laptop and/or an iPad for their work and they generally did just fine.

RunBabyRN · Dec 21, 2014

I love my Macbook Pro! I have a 13". It worked well toting it to class and taking my notes on it, downloading my ATI books onto it for studying, and hauling it to study groups or Starbucks for study time. I got MS Office on it so I could have Word and PowerPoint for school (the Mac versions, Pages and Keynote, weren't compatible with the school's website for submitting assignments). I wanted to get an Air, but ended up with the Pro. The CD drive did prove to be helpful, since some of the books come with a CD.

vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN · Dec 21, 2014

I'm def an Apple device guy (iPad, iPhone, etc.) but never had a Mac. I always feared compatibility issues, though I know those are pretty much gone now. What model(s) laptop do you have?

My MacBook Pro (2009 model) was compatible with all of my Lvn school online programs. (2012-13 program) It was also compatible with Ebooks and websites that the community college and state university required while completing prereqs for my RN. (2010-2014 coursework) My MacBook has been a work horse.

The only problems I had were to do with using my ipad (tablet) to view Ebooks. Some were simply not compatible. I heard that if I downloaded chrome, they would be.

ORNurseCOS · Dec 21, 2014

I'm def an Apple device guy (iPad, iPhone, etc.) but never had a Mac. I always feared compatibility issues, though I know those are pretty much gone now. What model(s) laptop do you have?

Hello, I have the Macbook Pro 15 inch model; entry level. You also get a student discount by merely telling them you are a student, best buy usually will match this as well.

I don't have any compatibility issues that I can think of, now with Office being on Mac I can't think of a time where I had trouble.

BertG77 · Dec 21, 2014

My mac air, the small one is awesome. Everyone in class, with various tablets and things always point out my mac and I love it. As a previous post mentioned it's basically the same size and weight of an ipad but you actually get useful ports such as hdmi and usb. I never understood why apple makes all their ios gear with no useful ports. I kinda hate their entire ios line. I'm an android phone guy. Between my Samsung note3 "phablet" and my mac air, I have everything covered and am not breaking my back carrying around too much weight.

dorkypanda · Dec 21, 2014

I have an iPad mini which went on sale at target for two times that I can remember during last June and months ago. I think it's great to use in general but for the hardcore school usage I think you may need something more bigger and efficient. I feel like tablets are more of an accessory to a main laptop or computer when you aren't on the computer.

ixchel · Dec 21, 2014

I love, love, love apple things. My phone and iPad have my calendar (although I am annoyed I had to purchase a separate app for printing my calendar, but that's a rant for another thread....), and my laptop was good for doing multiple things at once. All of it was synchronized. I used pages for documents on my iPad, which I would be able to export files in .doc and pdf from. I used keynote for .ppt, which also would be exportable in multiple formats. My textbooks are in my iPad, so I didn't need to carry things with me. It took me a few tries to get a keyboard-equipped case that didn't have issues. Coverbot has been the best, with no issues to date. (I've had it for about a year.)

I think having my iPad alone would have been possible because I had access to computers on campus if for some reason any odd issue ever came up. However, I do think I am glad I also had my laptop at home, mostly because I like being able to do more than one thing at a time, which so far mobile iOS has not been able to accomplish. I don't think it's absolutely vital that the home laptop be an apple, but I admit I do like apple better than windows.