<p>Very well stated confidentialcoll....i'll certainly leave it at that since this mirrors my point very well</p>
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I take really horrible notes and a tablet would help a lot with that, especially in engineering classes.
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<p>how will it do that?? doesn't it just bring up a virtual blank piece of paper on which you write as you would on a regular piece of paper?</p>
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Who care how it makes you look. It's all about how convenient it is to you. If you're a swift typer then I see no reason not to opt for a laptop.
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<p>the question isn't about laptops its about tablet PCs....you should probably read the whole thread before you respond....or at least the first couple of responses where we put the laptop issue to rest</p>
<p>I tried out my friend's tablet (who is currently at Columbia) and you can manipulate the notes like reorganize them, even in class, and search your handwritten notes as if it were text. Check out some youtube videos on tablets and OneNote.</p>
<p>look it doesn't matter who else has a tablet at columbia, if you think it'll be useful to you, get one and use it. people at columbia have lives, no one is going to sit around and gossip about you or your tablet. i know a few people who have tablets, they seem happy enough. it's pretty straightforward there are equations and diagrams in sci and eng classes if you'd do better with a tablet, let there be tablets.</p>
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Who care how it makes you look. It's all about how convenient it is to you.
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<p>No, you asked why does it make you look like a tool. Being described as a tool is based COMPLETELY on other peoples perceptions so, in this case, it does matter how it makes you look. Go reread your post that I was responding to.</p>
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That explains why he is considered what he is. No one deserves to be "attacked" no matter how dumb the statement or question is.
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<p>Sorry, but I disagree. If I were you, I would rule out all 8 ivy's if your feelings are hurt because someone attacked you for saying something stupid. People at columbia, yale, harvard, princeton, dartmouth, u.penn, cornell, and even brown expect you to be able to either: a) start an intellectually interesting conversation or b) add something of value to an already started conversation. If you're going to label the ivy league as pretentious tools, well, you wouldn't be the first and at this point we just dont care anymore.
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back on tablets:</p>
<p>honestly, you will not be taking a science or engineering course in your first 2 years where you will need such a thing. MAYBE if you are taking freshman orgo, phys 2800, or honors math one might come in handy but otherwise everything you need to know is in your book, your notes are simply worked out examples in all sci/eng courses anyways.</p>
<p>"No, you asked why does it make you look like a tool. Being described as a tool is based COMPLETELY on other peoples perceptions so, in this case, it does matter how it makes you look. Go reread your post that I was responding to."</p>
<p>if anyone is worried about appearing toolish, please get over yourself before you come to college. I'm a believer that people who constantly mold usually get molded.</p>
<p>about being a "tool" ....i don't think you'd be a tool for using a tablet pc in general....i think its very tool-ish to use something like a tablet PC when theres no reason to...like taking notes in class. Take for instance people who use bluetooth headsets ALL THE TIME....like you see someone walking down the street with both hands free talking on a bluetooth headset....THAT'S a good example of being a tool....don't get me wrong, i don't have anything against bluetooth headsets, i own one myself, but i only use it on the rare occasions when i drive for instance..... not to try and look tech savy or cool or whatever. same goes for that push to talk BS that was the only reason anyone ever signed up for nextel....it really isn't serving any purpose but u do it to look cool or something.</p>
<p>I'm not at all worried about looking like a tool. Chances are that at least once over the 4 years of school I will look like a tool.
All I'm saying is that if it helps me then I don't think there's anything wrong with it especially when every year they are getting more and more popular.
And regarding the not needing it, even just having an easier time drawing diagrams and charts would be a life-saver since I think you underestimate how bad I really take notes.</p>
<p>shraf, when what you are doing has a tangiable benefit, appearing toolish is completely irrelevant. You mainly cited examples when appearing toolish was done for the image no increase in utility from the act. The 'tangiable benefit' is decided only by the student, i personally can see many (from using a tablet) that i'll list if you want. So appearing toolish could and should matter only in cases of indifference between two products or deeds.</p>
<p>I wish I had had a laptop while at columbia. I would've been a lot more productive. I type a LOT faster than I write by hand, so notes would've been easier, plus it's simpler to organize things - want to move a few lines here or there, just drag them around in Word, adjust some bulleted lists, etc.</p>
<p>It also would've been a huge distraction in class, sure, because I'd have wireless and would be screwing around when bored. But if the class were engaging enough I probably would've avoided the temptation. The difference would be technical classes, math / science stuff, versus non-analytical classes. In analytical classes, the textbook really is enough, and if you listen hard to the instructor, the concepts will make sense (or may already make sense). Once you do the problem set, you'll "get it". In non-analytical classes - and I include Econ in this too - you'll want to be taking notes because it'll be a few of the things that a professor says every day that will be the difference between you getting it and not.</p>
<p>One consideration when choosing which laptop to purchase should be how noisy the keys are. Try typing on them and seeing how soft or loud it is. If you have a really loud keyboard you'll feel self-conscious about using it in a lecture class (and rightly so), whereas you'd be more comfortable otherwise.</p>
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shraf, when what you are doing has a tangiable benefit, appearing toolish is completely irrelevant. You mainly cited examples when appearing toolish was done for the image no increase in utility from the act.
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<p>reread my post....i was defining being a tool as using something just for the sake of image. So yes we completely agree....but i was saying that probably having a tablet PC in class is one of those cases....its personal preference of course and the OP claiming it would help him isn't really good enough in this case since he hasn't really said how it would help him nor does he know what a college science/engineering class looks/feels like.</p>
<p>So let me explain. A big part of my problem is scribbling, crossing out, not organizing my thoughts properly when I write them down and going back to them later in a lecture. A tablet let's you rearrange, organize and search your notes. It gives you the benefit of having an endless piece of paper that you can draw accurate diagrams, graphs and charts onto as if you were writing on paper, only more readable. I really would recommend looking at some youtube videos before you judge a tablet's potential.</p>
<p>Also, I have been in lectures and courses that were University style, just not at Columbia. I've been out of high-school for a few years and I have experienced other academic settings and that's why I know that regular notes will not be enough for me.</p>
<p>You sound like you are set on a tablet so just get one. I recommend doing some research tho and finding what companies have support centers in or near NYC since if your comp breaks, you dont want to have to send it to california (most of my friends at v.tech have said their tablet has broken at least once)</p>
<p>Perhaps this is not as much of a problem @ Columbia with its marvelously compact campus, but I grow tired of lugging my laptop around all day (and I have a teeny tiny PowerBook that weighs 4.6 lbs)</p>
<p>Get a PDA or smartphone and get a portable full-size keyboard for it. Some connect to the PDA's port, others connect via Bluetooth. Either way, the battery lasts a lot longer, you're less likely to be distracted by the siren call of the interwebs, and it's a lot lighter.</p>
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Get a PDA or smartphone and get a portable full-size keyboard for it. Some connect to the PDA's port, others connect via Bluetooth. Either way, the battery lasts a lot longer, you're less likely to be distracted by the siren call of the interwebs, and it's a lot lighter.
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<p>let me shed some light on this with first hand experience.....</p>
<p>junior year i upgraded my crappy sony clie PDA (it pretty much just stored my schedule) to a dell axim (with windows mobile, wifi and bluetooth) and I did in fact take notes on it in one class senior year using a bluetooth keyboard......</p>
<p>though it's better than nothing, a PDA still falls short of being as useful as you'd expect:
1) the bluetooth keyboard had its mood swings and it stalled sometimes when i typed...its also very small and fragile
2a) the battery does not last longer than a laptop's by any stretch of the imagination. I even had one of those extra long batteries which added a good amount of bulk to the PDA but not that much battery life.
2b) wifi completely destroys the battery....bluetooth also drains battery a bit quicker than usual though its not as bad as wifi.
3) sure it has word and excel but who has the patience to use them.....seriously excel's only utility was to look at excel attachments that someone might have sent you that were terribly urgent.....as for word....it takes so much effort to do relatively simple things and the formatting turns out atrocious if you try to do anything fancy.
4) it makes you look kinda dorky....i mean clearly i didn't care but just thought i'd throw that in there
5) IT DOESN'T LET YOU ACCESS COURSEWORKS!!! .....i'm not exaggerating with all that formatting....this is really important....for those of you who don't know, courseworks is the online system where assignments, lectures, etc etc are posted for all of your classes. I even emailed CUIT about this and their answer was basically "too bad, its not set up to work with hand held devices"</p>
<p>So yea, be cautious of this idea...i think a PDA is only useful to like keep your schedule on though there are other ways to go about that nowadays (read: iphone). For those of you who are wondering (or still reading) my PDA's screen cracked at the end of senior year despite the fact i kept it in a nice firm case. </p>
<p>moral of the story: the reason i've been so adamant about arguing with the OP about this tablet thing is that an idea might not be as great as it sounds on paper (or youtube videos) when you actually try to use it in class. </p>
<p>If tablets were really as awesome as you say don't you think the SEAS kids (most of whom are very very tech savvy) would have caught on to this by now?</p>
<p>A smartphone wouldn't solve the problem of disorganized hand-written notes nor would it be a substitute for a laptop that I would have to buy anyway.</p>
<p>I don't necessarily think that SEAS kids don't have Tablets (I know of at least a few who swear by them). Also, even if it hasn't caught on yet, that's no reason not to buy one. Every trend has to start somewhere and it's only the last few years that tablets have become affordable.</p>
<p>I have tried out the model I plan to buy and It suited my needs for a generally reasonable price. I used youtube as a way for you to see what it can do, I already know what it can do.</p>
<p>There's absolutely no way that I can know how much I will benefit from a tablet. The only thing I do know is how I take regular pen and paper notes or how fast I can type on a laptop. Neither serves me very well so I'm willing to take a chance.</p>