What's the best electronic device for Nursing School?

Cohiba · Jul 21, 2014

The electronic device I got the most use out of during NS was a coffeemaker with a timer so I could wake up and have a pot already brewed...

pmabraham, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2014

Good day, Sbrewer777:

Check with your school first; if they support multi-operating systems, check with the school if anyone posts % of who uses what type of device. Personally, I'm using an iPad Air, and it was the best investment I've made in a long time. I also second Cohiba as coffee helps ;-)

Thank you.

mindofmidwifery, ADN · Jul 21, 2014

Best device for anything school related: iPad. It is small, convenient, yet you can do so many things with it. I read books, take notes, have a ton of helpful apps, etc. I take my iPad everywhere and barely even use my computer unless I'm writing a paper or something. Even then, I've still written papers on it. I have an iPhone, iPad, and Macbook so it's even more helpful because they're all integrated with each other via iCloud. Idk, I may be biased but I love Apple.

dt70 · Jul 21, 2014

foot or back massager.

Miss.LeoRN · Jul 22, 2014

If you're going to get a tablet, do LOTS of research about it, what it can do, what it can't do... the types of software and things you want to run on it and if it can. Tablets are not laptops, tho a lot of them are very similar in nature, but there is a lot of things a tablet cannot run because the operating system doesn't support it and the program you might want to run, or what you might want to do with it won't be able to work. I know a lot of people who have bout kindle fire's or ipad's, or even android tablets for school and then couldn't run the things they wanted to for class (primarily being able to read or work with their e-text).

Personally, I am looking to get a 13ish inch or so laptop, likely a surface or similar with the touch screen, ultra thin but still has a keyboard or a detachable one that can be used like a tablet. I have a 17in laptop that I love but lugging that sucker to campus.. no. And I'm sketchy over tablets because, as I said, they're often limited in their capabilities and I need the capabilities of a laptop to run certain software that generally can't run on tablet operating systems. Another issue is they are twice as expensive as tablets.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Jul 22, 2014

TIME MACHINE - definitely - to recover from all those times you will be second-guessing yourself in the next few years.

Srsly, wait and see how your classes are set up and what the environment is like before making any choices. For instance, your school may have restrictions on use of devices in classrooms. There may be no charging stations available. You may need to purchase a specific set of apps that only run on Windows. . . wait and see, because that Time Machine is actually not available yet.

pmabraham, BSN, RN · Jul 22, 2014

Good day, immortalessence:

I've yet to run into a single thing I cannot do on my iPad for any class I've taken so far. Please note I'm not stating that iPads are the answer; the OP should check with their school to see what works best.

Thank you.

Sbrewer777 · Jul 23, 2014

Good advice!

Sbrewer777 · Jul 23, 2014

Thank you that is helpful information!

Sbrewer777 · Jul 23, 2014

Great info thank you!

Beginning15, BSN, RN · Jul 24, 2014

Very good question, Sbrewer! I've been wondering the same thing, myself. I've looked at the iPad, but it doesn't have a USB drive that I think would be helpful in transferring information to a printer or from another computer. I had a class where a teacher loaded our flash drives with info. You wouldn't be able to use that with an iPad. The one I'm leaning towards is the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. Good graphics, USB port and detachable keyboard. But, the advice to wait and see first what programs the tablet needs to run is really a good idea.