<p>I am transferring to Virginia Tech in the fall into the College of Engineering as General Engineer. I know Tablet notebooks are required for VT students in the college of engineering. Is it necessary for class? Do you do things with it that you cannot do with a regular laptop? Do professors check if you have a tablet? Do they check the specs of the tablet? If I have to buy one, I want to get one with lower specs so that I don't have to waste money.</p>
<p>Get a USB tablet for $60.</p>
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<p>They do not allow that</p>
<p>Nevermind they do allow it but they don’t really like the idea. My real concern is how “required” is the tablet in ENGE 1114. Will I be at a disadvantage or will I be really screwed without one? It is a freshman engineering course. It is the only engineering course I will take this fall.</p>
<p>No, they do not have an inspector (pun intended ;)).</p>
<p>Two ways it’ll be required.</p>
<p>1) It is required for sure in the intro to engineering classes. If you take those, you will need a tablet to complete assignments.</p>
<p>2) Depending on the professor, they may use applications that require the tablet to complete assignments, in which case, you will need a tablet. From what I hear, this is particularly noted in the aerospace department. More than likely, once you’ve completed your intro to engr courses, you won’t need a tablet.</p>
<p>They do allow it and it will save you money. Why don’t you like the idea of a separate tablet?</p>
<p>The TAs are expecting that some assignments will be completed using the tablet. You may be able to ‘fake’ it, but a separate USB tablet isn’t really that expensive.</p>
<p>Do you go or have you been a student at Virginia Tech? At transfer orientation the College of Engineering really pushed the Tablet PC onto us. People were asking questions about it and the real need for it and the representatives of the the college seemed like they were getting ****ed off. I heard people go by with just laptops in the engineering courses but reps were insisting that it is not true. So you are saying that you definitely need a tablet pc for the intro courses. Have you had any experience ENGE 1114 which is usually a second semester freshman engineering course?</p>
<p>Ya I corrected myself in a post above. Are you currently a VT student in engineering? The concern I really had was if a tablet pc is really necessary for ENGE 1114. I am talking about to the extent to where I would be penalized directly (i.e. prof or inspectors see I don’t have a tablet and give me a F) or indirectly (i.e. prof gives assignment that can only be done on tablet and I can’t complete so I get an F). If an extra USB tablet peripheral allows me to do whatever I need to do at the cost of an inconvenience than I have no problem with that.</p>
<p>At transfer orientation the College of Engineering really pushed the Tablet PC onto us.</p>
<p>Pushing particularly the Fujitsu Lifebooks? Any thoughts as to why, shayk?</p>
<p>As ymon said, you could get a USB tablet. All depends on your preference. Some kids find the USB tablet a hassle, some kids find it difficult to connect to their computers quickly, some kids find driver issues, etc. But like I said, there is no spec inspector. You could get a Macbook Pro and an external USB tablet if you wanted. They’re not going to dock points because they see you don’t have one just to smite you.</p>
<p>They weren’t pushing any brand but they were insisting a tablet is a must and it would be better if students bought them at the bookstore. I obviously know why they “insist”. Have you had any experience with the USB tablet? Even more specifically, have you had or seen anybody use it in the class ENGE 1114? How much of the tablet features do we really use in class?</p>
<p>They’ll push Fujitsu because they get the most money I’m sure and a lot of the staff that has a tablet uses one. </p>
<p>Don’t buy one, get a USB tablet. I WENT THROUGH FRESHMAN YEAR LAST YEAR!</p>
<p>You do quite a bit of drawing/sketching in 1114, so you’ll want a tablet. Just spend 50-100 instead of 1500-2000.</p>
<p>Thanks. Do you have any tablets you would recommend or would the tablet ymon recommended above do fine.</p>
<p>The technology in Wacom’s low-end Bamboo tablets is very similar to the Wacom tablets in the Fujitsu computers.</p>
<p>Yep. I have an Intuos 2 (6x8) that I use now. I keep it in my desk drawer since there’s not much else of a use for the drawer…</p>
<p>If you’re not really into digital art/painting/sketching, you don’t really need any pressure sensitivity so there’s no reason to spend more than ~$60 or whatever. You just want USB and big enough but not too big. Short cord probably being ideal, but you can always mod it and do that yourself pretty easily.</p>
<p>Oh, and prepare to laugh your butt off all the way to the bank @ people who thought they had to get tablets because they didn’t come to the CC board! Actually, be a nice guy and direct them here so that they don’t waste all of that money.</p>
<p>I’ll probably feel bad for them. They are just following the rules. I think the tablet notebook requirement policy is ridiculous. From what you guys seem to say, you only really use the “tablet” features Freshman year and even then I can get a USB tablet for ~$60. I just saved my self from a $1800 fujitsu paper weight. Instead of requiring it they should recommend it.</p>
<p>But then they’re not “cutting edge” and “leaders” if the tablet PC thing takes off, which it won’t in this fashion. Touch screens are probably the future, but they’ll be really different from convertibles once widespread adoption occurs. It’s all posturing. You’ll find that a lot, and another area that’ll disappoint you is some of the jockeying for things related to research.</p>
<p>The laptops still are relatively nice as far as computers go. If you’re smart it will last you for a while and some things, like PLANTS VS ZOMBIES, are amazing on it.
Don’t let it get you down too much though! VT is still a great place.</p>
<p>They push Fujitsu because Fujitsu grants them money.</p>
<p>This topic seems to have bounced around a lot here and just want to give it a little more perspective. I just got my Fujitsu T900. Yes, it was very, very expensive. However, that being said, it is one awesome laptop. The hardware is exceptional for multitasking beyond all belief and the gaming i’ve been able to throw at it (tho being a business laptop it can’t do high end 3d graphics of course). But the processor is downright blazing, the machine just chews through whatever I give it. For a computer geek and heavy computer user, this matters a ton.</p>
<p>And I actually do enjoy its tablet features. The touchscreen works like a charm, while notetaking and reading large amounts of text are a breeze in tablet mode.</p>
<p>Yes- it is expensive as no other. However, don’t forget that for your money (and you are paying less than market price) you are getting one of the best business laptops out there. </p>
<p>I’m not even saying I think it was 100% worth it, just keep it in mind.</p>
<p>I’m an incoming freshmen in the engineering department this year. That being said, if I had known that an exterior tablet was allowed at Virginia Tech instead of a tablet PC, I would certainly have jumped on that opportunity.
I purchased a T900 from the campus store, spending way more than a laptop of that quality should be worth. The T900 runs fine for applications and tasks, but don’t even think about trying to throw games or graphically intensive apps at it. Within less than 5 minutes of running any such program, the tablet will heat up to ~60-80C. Cooling is an important thing for me, so I hate to stress it such.</p>
<p>If I had known, I would certainly have purchased a non-tablet laptop with a more powerful graphics card (non-integrated preferred) and saved myself $1000 easily.</p>
<p>We’ll wait and see though, maybe I’ll be amazed by the use of a tablet in college. Maybe I’ll be glad to have a tablet PC at some point… when I go into Computer Science… doubt it.</p>
<p>I would be very interested, and frankly very much appreciate the incoming freshman to post back in May and let us know what your experience was regarding the tablet PC. It would be a great help for those students who would be facing this question for the class of 2015 next June. While we want to have the right equipment, I’m just not jumping on the tablet bandwagon. I don’t see it. It’s not so much the money. I just think there are better computers if it is only needed for a few early classes. Hearing back what your actual experience was this year, and that of your peers who did and did not go with a tablet would be VERY helpful.
Congratulations & best of luck!!</p>