<p>Recently started thinking about buying a tablet for school. I'm a chemical engineering major, and I figured a tablet would be useful for my classes. I don't know where to start looking to narrow down my choices, but I don't think I want an iPad. Anyone have any recommendations? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>What are you wanting to use it for? Just taking notes?</p>
<p>Probably so. More of a class tool and something to stay organized. The iPad seems too entertainment oriented, and I would rather it have more of a business feel. Also, do any of the current tablets have the ability to run MATLAB? I haven’t been able to look too hard into it, but I would imagine the price skies with those types of capabilities.</p>
<p>The only tablets that would run Matlab would be the Windows 8 tablets. Of course you would still need to find a way to install into said tablet and it would give you incredibly short battery life if you are using it for that and it would be incredibly difficult to efficiently program. In other words, I’d forget any idea of trying to run Matlab on a tablet. I know iOS devices have a Matlab app that you can use to connect to a (legit) Matlab copy you have running on a remote machine, e.g. your desktop, and it then does all the processing remotely an gives you the result on your iDevice.</p>
<p>Otherwise, there isn’t much you can do with a tablet that is engineering specific, so just get one you are comfortable with.</p>
<p>From my personal experience I think you’ll find the tablet more handy for storing textbooks rather than taking notes. That said, I am currently having to lug my heavy laptop around campus if I want to use matlab, so your concerns are valid.</p>
<p>Think about the Asus Transformer book that is convertible and has both Win8 and Android.</p>
<p>A smartphone can help you stay organized. My engineering son uses his a lot.</p>
<p>Best option to take notes is without a doubt good old fashioned pencil and graph paper. Tablets do not have the accuracy to take clean looking notes, and you really won’t be running programs on it. That said, I use an iPad for my textbooks instead of lugging them to lecture and it works fantastic alongside my paper notebook for supplemental information to the lecture.</p>
<p>Ugh, I hate e-textbooks with a passion. I need to have several books open at once for reference way too often, and I am sure not buying 3 or 4 iPads or Kindles, haha.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Although that may actually be more economical than the - and this is an estimate - billion textbooks i currently have sitting on my bookshelf.</p>
<p>Samsung’s tablets double as laptops in the respect that you can buy keyboards, use USB’s, use flashplayer. I have a friend who takes notes on it and also writes code using his tablet.</p>
<p>Boneh3ad: Oh, I tend to agree. When I’m sitting down I have the physical book with me for serious study. Just that walking around I would prefer to not lug a ton of books with me only to have a dinky desk chair that it can’t even fit on, whereas the tablet does fit. It is only really for reference during lectures, anyway.</p>
<p>Samsung Tablets and iPads are pretty good for using ebooks but I would take notes by hand.</p>
<p>If an android is what you want, I’d probably go with an asus or samsung right now. Though I think acer is starting to put out stuff that competes with the best. The google products by asus are especially top notch. I think you can get keyboards for most tablets, but some are much cheaper than others.</p>
<p>Currently using Asus Vivobook x202e, i3 Windows 8 Touchscreen Laptop. $300-$350 [Newegg.com</a> - Computer Parts, Laptops, Electronics, and More!](<a href=“http://www.newegg.com%5DNewegg.com”>http://www.newegg.com)</p>
<p>I have found that I like tablets for having my books on. Saves me at least 5 lbs of weight from not carrying my computer and textbooks every day. MUCH MUCH happier. Once I take some detailed notes, I find that I don’t have to keep going back and forth through the chapter.</p>
<p>I got the 9in Nook for only $150. They have full access to the Google Play store. I just use it mostly for a glorified ereader though. You might like either the Nexus 7 or iPad better (they have gps, accelerometers, and cameras)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/nook-hd-plus-barnes-noble/1110060512[/url]”>http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/nook-hd-plus-barnes-noble/1110060512</a></p>
<p>As for taking notes…there are note taking apps, but just use pencil and paper if you ask me. I think those apps are best suited for lawyers or humanities majors. I sure wouldn’t want to mess with settings to make sure derviations were recorded accurately.</p>
<p>Definitely a Windows tablet! I would go for either Surface Pro 2 or 3. Windows 8.1 Pro in those devices works like charm (pun intended). :))</p>
<p>Also featured on <a href=“http://www.infobarrel.com/Best_Tablets_for_Engineers_and_Engineering_Students”>http://www.infobarrel.com/Best_Tablets_for_Engineers_and_Engineering_Students</a></p>
<p>The surface pro 3 is actually very good for note taking, the stylus is very responsive. It can also be a laptop or a tablet with the keyboard attachment </p>
<p>I’ve been using my tablet a lot lately for school. You can get a note writing app, write out your notes, take pictures of the board, lab equipment, whatever, voice/video record lectures if you want, put them all together in one note, upload the file easily to Evernote (kind of a file management system for that kind of stuff, you can access it from any computer/phone/tablet that supports it), store textbooks, powerpoints/pdf, etc. It’s great and it frees up a lot of space and weight from my bag. Probably one of the best parts is the ease in which you can switch colors while writing notes - it makes things stand out more and less boring.</p>
<p>With that said, I personally have a Samsung Galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition and I absolutely love it. The galaxy series comes with a capacitive pen that’s made for taking notes and such, it’s pressure sensitive and feels/looks more “real” than just a generic tablet pen that you buy separately for other tablets. It also has the multi-window feature so you can view multiple apps at once (I dont know if other tablets do this, I’m pretty sure iPads don’t). I would imagine that Windows tablets would be good for these applications too, they were my second choice when I decided to buy, I’ve just personally come to love that Galaxy since I’ve been using it for school. Either way, I would find a brand that comes with it’s own capacitive pen - it’s makes taking notes awesome.</p>
<p>I would recommend the Surface Pro 3 ($1000) or a refurbished (Surface Pro 2 or 1). They are pretty awesome. You have an active digitizer for taking notes. In addition, you can run AutoCAD or any other tools you might need (i.e. Matlab).</p>