<p>Hi, I recently built my own desktop (mainly for gaming :P) and i'm going to college in a year, i was wondering, is a pda good for note taking and stuff? because i really don't feel like buying a laptop, and I don't thinking wiritng notes on paper is that efficient. I'm gonna be an engineering major by the way, if that affects anything. (PS:i type really slow, that's one of the reasons why I avoid a laptop for note taking)
here's the pdas i'm looking at, please share your thoughts, thank you!:
Palm Z22
Palm Tungsten E2
Palm TX
HP iPAQ 111</p>
<p>Heh, well I have none of those, but I do have an iPod touch, which, with the recent software upgrade, in my mind, has really become more than just an iPod for me. Even before the software upgrade, the calendar feature allowed me to make appointments and take note of assignments, and the notes feature is really handy for that quick note that you need to take. The full HTML browser (sans Flash, though) is also really useful if you've got a WiFi connection in your classroom. Plus, I dunno about some people, but it is just plain fun to play with the touch screen. </p>
<p>But as for actually using it to take notes?....I dunno, even with an analog keypad on your device, it can be a ***** to take a lectureful notes, let alone a year's worth. If you have good texting fingers, then maybe, but I worry whether you might get tired looking back and forth from the small screen to the professor and such.</p>
<p>I have a Zire 71 that I got in middle school and haven't used for a while. It's not too difficult to write on it (one time I wrote a good portion of a paper during study hall - but this was a middle school paper). I considered getting a full keyboard to go with it, but never got around to it. I think you would need one if though if you were gonna take notes on it.
A similar option would be a tablet PC, but that'd be significantly more expensive.</p>
<p>i was thinking of usign the handwriting recognition software on the pda to take notes, but you guys say it's not efficient enough? maybe i should stick to paper....</p>
<p>there's no way you're going to be able to take good notes on a pda, sorry</p>
<p>I think it's easier to write on paper actually and faster. You can always cram and draw arrows to make sure things make more sense.</p>
<p>CS major here -> I take notes on paper, even though I have a Macbook Pro. I find that actually writing notes helps me to focus more on the material.</p>
<p>My parents got my a PDA for high school a few years back, and I never touched the thing. PDAs are pretty much useless. You are much better off getting a laptop for taking notes. I don't think a PDA could keep up with the volume of notes you will get in college.</p>
<p>ok thanks y'all.</p>
<p>You could buy a camera (or something with a camera attached to it) and ask your professor's permission to record the lectures. On the minus side, you will probably have to get a big hard drive to fit many of these recordings.</p>
<p>I have a Sony Clie, which is about 7 years old, but still works extremely well. I use it for writing quick notes to myself, keeping everything organized in a calendar (with an alarm to remind myself), gaming (Bejeweled, mostly), as a recorder (very high quality), a text reader, an mp3 player, and a replacement remote for my broken DVD player remote. The handwriting recognition software is great - I haven't had any problems with it and I always use it in place of the tiny keyboard - but don't expect to write on it quickly. Taking notes by hand is always much more efficient.</p>