<p>At boarding school, does anyone use tablets? As far as I can tell from reading these threads, boarding schools are laptop oriented. Why is that? I understand that laptop are much faster and have way more memory, but tablets are probably a good bit easier to carry around.</p>
<p>This thread isn't supposed to be a war between laptops and tablets, it is meant to be a place to share stories/experiences of people who have tried tablets/both.</p>
<p>So do you know anyone who uses a tablet at a boarding school? Do they manage okay?</p>
<p>I use a standard 13" MacBook and I do just fine. You really won’t have to carry it around, so portability isn’t an issue [though of course I recommend a laptop over a desktop because you WILL need to bring it somewhere sometime]. I don’t know anyone who uses a tablet, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t function just as well as a laptop if all you’re doing for school is typing up papers, internet research and checking your email. Whatever the personal benefits of a tablet might be- special programs or somesuch, I highly doubt it will interfere with functionality.</p>
<p>How about printers? The tour guide who showed us around Exeter mentioned that most kids don’t have personal printers- seems like a pain to go to the library to print.</p>
<p>I don’t have a printer. Honestly, I just leave my dorm a few minutes early the day I need to turn in something printed so I can run by the library or the tech center to print. It’s really not a pain once you have it down.</p>
<p>I go to Lawrenceville and we don’t use laptops in class on a day to day basis, which explains why kids have laptops instead of tablets. My friends who go to other boarding schools also don’t use tablets or laptops regularly to take notes, including one who goes to Kent.</p>
<p>So my vote would be for a laptop since most laptops are more stable/cheaper/better than tablets. My personal setup is a MacBook Pro 17" with an HP 28" monitor in my room. A good number of kids have monitors in their rooms for easier viewing/movies/etc. </p>
<p>In terms of printers, at school every house has a house printer and there are multiples in the library and academic buildings, so it is not necessary to have a personal one and most kids use the school ones.</p>
<p>However, it is easier to have a personal printer if you happen to have one laying around and have the space for it in your room. Also the school printers only print color for academic purposes, another thing that differs if you were to have your own.</p>
<p>My kid has a Mac Air which she takes to library, etc. She has an iMac on her desk. It is a lot easier to type papers with (and watch movies with)</p>