<p>I have been planning on taking notes with my laptop. I am pretty disorganized and I type much more quickly than I write. Does anyone have experience with this? What are the pros and cons? This first semester I am taking Biology, Philosophy and Spanish. All of these have either lab or discussion smaller sections. I think with Philosophy and Spanish it should be okay - will I run into problems taking notes on a laptop in a science class?</p>
<p>My school does offer free printing, so I am planning on printing hard copies daily to put in a folder for easy review.</p>
<p>Also, do you recommend integrating your book notes and your class notes, or keeping them seperate? And is it typical to take notes in lab or discussion sections?</p>
<p>I took notes on my laptop during Art History in high school. It was pretty easy--definitely a lot neater than my handwriting, and you can quickly organize it after class and stuff.</p>
<p>Neverborn is right...keep a little paper handy for diagrams--but basic bio is very much text info.</p>
<p>The downsides to taking notes on a laptop is the myriad of possible distractions a laptop entails. Starting around February of my senior year--I played a lot more spider solitaire than I took notes. And then I started watching my House DVDs (I was in the back with those iPod headphones)...so you have to keep control of yourself. But for the times I did take notes--it was a godsend.</p>
<p>Does anyone mind if you are a "loud" typist?</p>
<p>For example, where I am going to be going to grad school, laptops are not hip at all. If I used a laptop and sat in the back typing out notes at my fast and loud typing speed, would folks freak out? </p>
<p>I type 80 words a minute (no bull, typing was a required course at my high school, and I have good training with typing and pimping out MS Word), but my typing is loud because I have played the harp for many years and I have really strong hands. </p>
<p>Is there any type of extension with a notebook which is like a wireless soundless keyboard or something? I am still in undergrad, I just really dig the thought of typing everything out when I go to grad school in the Spring of Y2K8, because I will only be studying literature.</p>
<p>Most laptop keyboards are pretty quiet. It's not like you're going to use one of those old clicky IBM keyboards that came with the PS/2.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to hope there's a huge fan or something in the room that would muffle it. You probably won't find an overly quiet external keyboard, since most of them are designed for desktop computers and are much noisier.</p>
<p>I hate the sound of rapid typing and find it to be distracting. If you're going to use a computer for notes exclusively, try to find one that has a quiet keyboard. That said, notes in discussion sections are normal, but in labs you'll really be doing hands on work and will be expected to not have your computer with you.</p>
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Is there any type of extension with a notebook which is like a wireless soundless keyboard or something?
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<p>Actually, there is a really really cool device out nowadays--a laser projection keyboard. The device plugs into your computer (also has bluetooth capabilities with PDAs) and projects an image of a keyboard onto your desk or table, and you just tap the image. They're really cool looking, but pricey $150-200 a pop.</p>
<p>that is the neatest thing I have seen in a while! I thank you for that hyperlink very much and I know that any of my fellow loud typists who might lurk on this board do too.</p>
<p>Sad to say, I was at a local computer trade show on Sunday with my brother and his wife who were in the market for a dvd-rom and a dvd burner (scored two liteon units for $65.00!).</p>
<p>While I was at the show, I saw a foldable USB keyboard made of some kind of silicon membrane material. It was cheap ($20). I found a link for it:</p>
<p>The reviewer claimed it took him a couple of days to get the "feel" of it. You can just roll it up like a towel and throw it into your backpack. Spills just roll right off. You have to lay it on a hard surface because it's not at all rigid. Just pressing the keys a bit and there was no noise to speak of.</p>
<p>Im starting freshman year, and sat in a few classes last year when i visited. I noticed that everyone in the humanities based classes used laptops to take notes, and no one minded the minor noise. No one used laptops to take notes in the calculus class however, everyone used paper notebooks.</p>
<p>I have one of those flexible keyboards. They're hard to type rapidly on because you have to hit the keys just right to get them to engage. However, they are totally silent and really portable...so for $20, you can spare your classmates who do things the old fashioned way the distraction.</p>
<p>The major drawback of the flexible keyboard is it's size when added to the size of your laptop. If you're in a large lecture hall with those long benches where you have some room to spread out your stuff, the additional keyboard should be no problem. However, if you're sitting in a standard student's desk (with the extended arm) in a small classroom, you may not have enough room for both your laptop and the flexible keyboard...let alone having sufficient arm rest space to rest the keyboard against.</p>
<p>A question for typist taking notes: The Parent's Cafe had an interesting threat about the lost art of "cursive" handwritting. When I was in elementary school, we learned to print words and then we were taught cursive writing. Many of the parents were surprised to learn that lots of students were never taught cursive handwritting and continued to print (except to "sign" their signature on a check or document).</p>
<p>I wonder for all the students that find typing faster than "writing", is it because you still print?</p>
<p>I am a techno geek, so I truly appreciate the posts about my loud, fast typing. </p>
<p>For OP's sake, what software is out there for Biology, if anything. For example, if you take a humble level math course, you can use the equation editor in MS WORD and there is some other program like that for higher maths. But what about for science?</p>
<p>I cannot write in print or cursive at the rate of 80 words a minute, michuncle. Because I live in the South and will be going to University in the South and most folks do not even really speak quickly over here at all. A while back, I read about the lost art of cursive and was shocked that it is being rendered really old fashioned or something. Depending of the age group you are in, you might have to learn to write in print all of the time because some folks cannot even read cursive for beans.</p>
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I wonder for all the students that find typing faster than "writing", is it because you still print?
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<p>For me it's more that I just type really quickly, but when I write--I use print because my fast print is more legible than my fast cursive. I can write cursive faster than I can print...but I'm not as neat.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your suggestions...my MacBook keyboard is relatively quiet.</p>
<p>I don't usually write cursive. I learned cursive in fourth and fifth grade, but all of middle school they didn't require that you write in cursive, so I usually used print since it was what I was used to from most of elementary school. Now, its just easier for me. I don't think I could ever write in cursive or even shorthand as quickly as I type, since our generation has a lot of experience typing.</p>
<p>I learned to print and then was taught cursive. Thoughout high school and college, I took notes in cursive. I recall taking a summer school class in touch typing using IBM Selectric typwriters (the Gold Standard). When people praise IBM/Lenovo laptops for their clicky, mechanical feel, it means they learned to type using IBM typewriters.</p>
<p>As a fan of Tablet PCs for taking notes in a classroom situation, I naturely thought that students would find it just as easy to take notes in cursive rather than pounding away on a keyboard making a lot of noise. Some of us have a pretty heavy touch typing style. </p>
<p>I now come to realize that many students were actually printing rather than using cursive (which is usually much faster). And typing is certainly faster than trying to print. This may explain why some students failed to appreciate what a Tablet PC could do for note-taking. If you're printing on a Tablet screen, typing would certainly be much faster...</p>
<p>Never bring a laptop to a math or real science/engineering class -- even if you're going to use MS Formula or whatever. Pen + Paper = Good Ol' Fashioned Way -- that's the way we in the Engineering world like it... old fashioned.</p>
<p>If you have Microsoft OneNote and you are good at searching google images. Like me, I can find a picture of an equation, chemical diagram or anything in like less than 4 seconds. It just depends on how good you get at it. One note has a lot of features that are nice, try it out, see how it goes. If it fails, your only out one day of notes, and you can just buy them from the note place on campus.</p>
