So, I had this impression that laptops are used extensively in university, however, I looked at some note-taking threads and that pretty much thumped my view.

For life science, to my understanding, most notes are already available to us and we might have to simply add in some notes ourselves. Any notes I plan on taking, I'm going to do by hand. So if I plan on doing this, will the laptop ever come in use often? I have a laptop that I bought a few days ago and its 16", weighs about 5-6 lbs so it's not very ideal for carrying around constantly. Do you think its okay to have this laptop or should I go for something smaller/lighter? Also, are there any specific softwares/programs I'm gonna need for life sci?

I have a Macbook Pro which weighs a little over 5 pounds and I never had any trouble carrying it around last year. As far as I know 1st year life sci doesn't have any software that you need besides the essentials (Microsoft Word, etc.).

I think you'll be okay with that laptop. I didn't find my laptop to be very useful during first year Life Sci (for note taking). The times I did take my laptop to take notes, I got distracted so I found it best not to take the laptop. And yes, most first year life sci classes put up outline notes that you can fill in. And I find them much easier to fill in by hand anyway.

Originally Posted by Harlequin90

I think you'll be okay with that laptop. I didn't find my laptop to be very useful during first year Life Sci (for note taking). The times I did take my laptop to take notes, I got distracted so I found it best not to take the laptop. And yes, most first year life sci classes put up outline notes that you can fill in. And I find them much easier to fill in by hand anyway.

So true. Laptops can become a huge distraction.

I think it is a huge misconception about university that everyone uses laptops to take notes in class. From my experience most people write notes on linepaper or on printed lecture outlines (In science anyways).

I took Sociology 1A06 and there were more people using laptops than in science, but the majority still wrote notes out by hand. When there were a lot of people in the class using a laptop the clicking of the keys would always irritate me. lol

Anyways, you can bring your laptop to class and take notes. Some students save the lecture outlines to microsoft onenote or they take notes under the slides in powerpoint. It does save on paper and ink and if you are feeling generous you can send the notes to your friends who missed the days lecture.

You can try both out and see which one you prefer.

Sean

You should be fine with the laptop you have now.

As for your concern about using laptops extensively, if you're in life sciences, you'll be doing a lot of online quizes, checking for new skeleton notes to print off and take to class, and of course you still have to write up some reports ocassionally. Sometimes, taking your laptop to the library or taking your laptop with you when you meet your friends can be really helpful - especially if you are working together on an assignment or group project.

We used Webct last year for most of our courses and then a different webpage for math (they are changing that this year to a different shell). However, you'll usually check your course links often. Professors like to post test dates there or information that might be useful for them.

Though you can get away with a desktop, sometimes having your laptop portable is so much easier and you'll be using it a lot more than you think (more than just for note-taking, though I take notes by hand just like you're planning to).

Laptop is not much use in lecture from what I've seen. But for projects(group especially) they are the best. So you should be fine. Try OneNote for taking notes while studying, its pretty nifty. So yea, should be ok with what u got.

Keep the laptop. It will help for group projects

I am going to Life Sciences as well I was planning to buy a MacBook Pro 13 inch but before I do I had some questions.

What software is mostly used by life science students throughout the years and is there any that only works on a specific type of operating system?

Hi, im goin into first yr life science as well nd im thinking of buyin a laptop.. i customized an HP Pavilion dv4t laptop...does anyone have any suggestions on certain feautures that might be useful (processor, memory)...or iz there another option that might be more useful than the HP???