Labtop or ipad for nursing school?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

Published

Hello my fellow nursing students??? I was wondering what would be better for nursing school?? Labtop or ipad???

Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

I would even say to talk to a professor who will be teaching or two. I've heard a few friends say that their professors get peeved when people use their laptops/iPads in class - I guess the assumption is that they're goofing off. Doesn't seem fair to me, as I like to take notes in word/powerpoint myself, but that would be something to think about. At least asking beforehand is a way to show that you're serious about doing the right thing.

Specializes in OB.

I have been wanting an iPad for this semester. The laptop is always a pain to bring in the classroom, have to make sure there's an outlet close for the charger (as my classes are 4 hours long) and most professors don't really like them since people are always doing something else besides class work. I think that going trough slides and power points is a lot easier on an iPad and not to mention the ink and paper I will save.

Specializes in Progressive, Intermediate Care, and Stepdown.

Save your money and don't get an i-pad. There are plenty of quality tablets out there for a quarter of the price and much more customizable. For instance, I have a nexus-7. It's way lighter, way smaller, and wayyyyyyy cheaper.

Tablets are not a must. A luxury. You can get many good apps on your smartphone if you have one. I survived nursing school fine without a tablet. My two cents.

Everyone makes very valid points. I knew before purchasing my iPad that throughout my program, we are allowed to use them. I knew also that carrying my very large laptop back and forth wasn't happening. I also travel a LOT and while I had a nook tablet, it was pretty useless as far as my schoolwork is concerned if I wind up stuck at the airport. So, I did my research, and for me, it was a sound investment-- not just for school but for my personal, 'real world' life as well.

Good example- yesterday- I'm on break right now, so took some supplementary notes from two other a&p books I have as study aids. They're viewable through my nook app on my iPad. I took tr notes on paper and then snapped a quick picture of each page, added them to Evernote, and will be working on a 'study guide' for every chapter we have covered this far. I worked on two peer reviews for my English class, and I also completed an outline in Evernote for a psych group project that is due at the end of the semester, shared the notebook with my group members, and now we can collaborate and have all of our info in one place. I checked my email, paid bills, and then took a little study break by watching Downton Abbey. I went through my cookbooks on my iPad and made a menu for next week as well as a grocery list for shopping this weekend. When my husband got home from work, we checked out a few things on the Lowes website for the garden this year, and then my iPad said goodnight around 7 because hockey was on. I really do personally get a lot of use out of it. It does have its limitations, and I am hoping subsequent models will address those.

Definitely check to e sure you can use it in your classes, and consider carefully if you will actually use it outside of class too. Evernote is a great tool and available across all platforms and on most devices and even your laptop or pc. Check that out and see if that would organize things enough for you that you may not even need a new device.

Everyone makes very valid points. I knew before purchasing my iPad that throughout my program, we are allowed to use them. I knew also that carrying my very large laptop back and forth wasn't happening. I also travel a LOT and while I had a nook tablet, it was pretty useless as far as my schoolwork is concerned if I wind up stuck at the airport. So, I did my research, and for me, it was a sound investment-- not just for school but for my personal, 'real world' life as well.

Good example- yesterday- I'm on break right now, so took some supplementary notes from two other a&p books I have as study aids. They're viewable through my nook app on my iPad. I took tr notes on paper and then snapped a quick picture of each page, added them to Evernote, and will be working on a 'study guide' for every chapter we have covered this far. I worked on two peer reviews for my English class, and I also completed an outline in Evernote for a psych group project that is due at the end of the semester, shared the notebook with my group members, and now we can collaborate and have all of our info in one place. I checked my email, paid bills, and then took a little study break by watching Downton Abbey. I went through my cookbooks on my iPad and made a menu for next week as well as a grocery list for shopping this weekend. When my husband got home from work, we checked out a few things on the Lowes website for the garden this year, and then my iPad said goodnight around 7 because hockey was on. I really do personally get a lot of use out of it. It does have its limitations, and I am hoping subsequent models will address those.

Definitely check to e sure you can use it in your classes, and consider carefully if you will actually use it outside of class too. Evernote is a great tool and available across all platforms and on most devices and even your laptop or pc. Check that out and see if that would organize things enough for you that you may not even need a new device.

Sounds like my day!! Thanks so much for the tips.. I'm leaning towards a tablet because I have a comp at home plus a small net book but they are both old so I'm unsure..

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Just to add to the confusion - ASUS Transformer tablets are available in either Android or Windows 8... they have optional click-on keyboards (that contain a backup battery), so they can function like a laptop but with much less weight. With they keyboard closed, it's very sturdy - don't need an additional case. I use one for work - carry it around in my purse. Battery lasts ~ 12 hours in use.

I agree with seeing what your program recommends when it comes to mobile technology. I already have an iPhone, so I'm staying in the apple family with an iPad so I only pay once for our required apps. In our admissions 'packet' (an email with various links), one requirement is that we have either a smartphone or an iPod touch by the second semester when we begin clinicals so we have access to the necessary apps. They have a document that has a lot of the various smartphone offerings and a few tablets and what versions are or are not supported. While this might take a little digging to find, but could be of value in your decision if your school has something like that.

Specializes in Progressive, Intermediate Care, and Stepdown.
I agree with seeing what your program recommends when it comes to mobile technology. I already have an iPhone, so I'm staying in the apple family with an iPad so I only pay once for our required apps. In our admissions 'packet' (an email with various links), one requirement is that we have either a smartphone or an iPod touch by the second semester when we begin clinicals so we have access to the necessary apps. They have a document that has a lot of the various smartphone offerings and a few tablets and what versions are or are not supported. While this might take a little digging to find, but could be of value in your decision if your school has something like that.

That's interesting that your program requires an ipad. Hope they have loners because those aren't cheap. I'm too broke to afford such a device. Pen and paper for me please :)

That's interesting that your program requires an ipad. Hope they have loners because those aren't cheap. I'm too broke to afford such a device. Pen and paper for me please :)

Wow I agree but I do have an iPhone and am leaning to maybe getting ipad off of eBay!

That's interesting that your program requires an ipad. Hope they have loners because those aren't cheap. I'm too broke to afford such a device. Pen and paper for me please :)

We can choose what ever 'smart' device we want, but were not limited to just the iPad - the device has to be off of the supported devices list that contains the iPhone, android phones, iPod touch, iPad, windows devices, etc. I was just bringing up staying in the same OS so I'm not paying twice for apps that aren't the cheapest - something that might not be thought of.

I use both my ipad mini and my MacBook Pro about equally

A few years ago, UVa conducted a scientific experiment with Kindles in the MBA program. Students in one section (60) were all provided a Kindle DX. Students in the other section were not. At the end of the semester students and faculty were evaluated.

A key finding regarded how people studied when reading. Annotating (underlining, adding comments) is doable on the e-device, but it can be very clunky. If you are one who likes to mark up the text, then a 3-D book may be best. The other complaint was that it was hard for students across sections using different technologies (book and Kindle) to function in study groups. One could just not say to all "just turn to page 241 in the book where the author says "Blah, blah" as the pages do not line up across devices Thumbing around an e-device is also not as easy as thumbing through a book.

For the student who did not ever annotate a book and just liked to read whenever (and wherever) then the e-device was a benefit. But I would encourage you to think how you study.

Also, do you take notes in class? The MBA students felt that then needed a laptop to take notes (even if they had a Kindle).

+ Add a Comment