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July 21, 2006
What Computer Should I Buy for Medical School?
you all should be eligible for a Dell laptop at good discount as a medical student starting a new track. Go through their education store. You'll need to e-mail Dell Education an image (.pdf or .doc) of your acceptance letter (a web-based e-mail embedded in the ordering process). The authorization to order will take a few days to clear as a human has to look at your acceptance letter and the computer doesn't come with Microsoft Office, but who cares when OpenOffice 2.0 is free and better? I just got mine, loaded OpenOffice 2.0, gave it to my wife, who is very techno-phobic, and she uses it every day. Her MS Word documents opened just fine and her response after an hour with OpenOffice was "This is free?!" It's $1800 out the door and handles Windows XP .doc format just fine. The equivalent Dell on the open market is $2400 and has less storage (Tulane package has a 120GB hard drive; Dell's mass market max hard drive is 100GB). If you have a hunormous iTunes library, I recommend keeping it on an external hard drive.
I believe Apple offers a similar deal. If someone knows the scoop on that, please share. Update, here's a review of recent Apple notebooks from Zed Shaw. When I read it, it ranked number 12 on reddit (ie: good advice *and* a good read).
Another option, recommended by Wallace Wang of "Steal This Computer Book" fame, is to order a refurbished computer from a big seller, like Dell, Apple, Toshiba, whoever. Besides the discount these machines have a fairly quick turn-around, and often get better inspections before going out again because the company doesn't want to loose more money on them.
That said, it's not at all clear that using a computer in or out of class improves test performance or learning. I also came to medical school in the "I type faster than I write" crowd, and, if you peruse my blog's medical education category, you'll find I field-tested the available software options intensively. I don't recommend it. I personally recommend keeping your laptop tucked up on a bookshelf (out of sight, out of mind) and don't ever set it on the desk you study at. If you do use it, and you will have to check e-mail and download assignments, I recommend sitting on the couch with the laptop on your lap (it's comfortable until it gets really uncomfortable); not plugged into the wall (that's right, use the battery to rate-limit your usage). And that's coming from somebody who does web design and analytic design on the side and owns way more computers than necessary. If you want more on computers in medical school, and my personal thoughts on medical education in general, visit the medical education category.
I have a friend, about 50, who manages international financial IT projects. He carries a $15,000 fountain pen but doesn't wear a watch and doesn't employ a personal assistant. He carries a laptop on travel but I've never seen him use it. I asked him how he manages his schedule. He said it's actually quite interesting, it's an entirely different way of organizing one's life.
I think there's a tendency to overrate the value of computers in a formal educational setting. I could go into the tremendous value of the tactile and proprioceptive input of writing, and the synthetic learning value of having to choose which words to write instead of just typing them all, but I digress...
Posted by Niels Olson at July 21, 2006 7:55 PM
Comments
I'm way beyond med school days, and hardly a computer officianado. But I just got a Macbook, the least expensive one, and it's superb. They do have an education discount of 10%; and their support is outstanding It doesn't come with a useful word processer, so you need to add in Microsoft Office. But there's one for students that's $150 as opposed to the $400 version.
I agree with your skepticism about the value of computers; if I'd used one in med school, I'd have had to haul it around in a trailer. But using medlines online, for example, can be a useful thing. Good luck.
Posted by: Sid Schwab at July 22, 2006 5:53 PM
The educational apple store...
http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/routingpage.html
you can also take your student ID to any apple store and get the discount.
Posted by: blah at August 2, 2006 12:00 AM
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