Perosonally I hate reading off the screen but if it saves me $xxx then Im all up for it. And, I never once took my textbooks to class. It seems rather pointless since you'll spend most of your time listening/copying notes.

The only thing I hate about reading on the computer is the scrolling. It's easy to read through a physical page because the page itself isn't moving, but when you scroll I find it impossible to read at the same time.

Originally Posted by xxsumz

Perosonally I hate reading off the screen but if it saves me $xxx then Im all up for it. And, I never once took my textbooks to class. It seems rather pointless since you'll spend most of your time listening/copying notes.

Protip: You don't need the 2CI5/2CJ4 textbook. Online, the solutions to problems are posted-- and they include the question itself. As well, if Davidson is anything like Reilly was for 2CI5, his notes will be far superior to what the textbook says.

Originally Posted by jhan523

The only thing I hate about reading on the computer is the scrolling. It's easy to read through a physical page because the page itself isn't moving, but when you scroll I find it impossible to read at the same time.

Zoom out?

Lol....i wouldn't be worried about "legality" issues with pdf textbook versions. I've used them since second and have never heard of any issues with it, you will find some profs encourage it so you dont get screwed in the ******* by titles. Save yourself a few hundred $$'s each year and just download them and print them if you need them in paper that bad. The copying center in the Student Center has pretty good prices.

Here's what I think.

Pros:
- Extremely convenient
- saves time, energy, and paper
- Can keyword search (saves a lot of time)

Cons:
- Cannot bring into lecture (unless you want to fumble writing equations while using a laptop)
- You'll kill your eyes looking at a computer screen
- distractions from other things on the computer which wasts time
- Risky for the university since it could be easily reproduced and therefore no one would buy the textbook.

Originally Posted by lux

Here's what I think.

Pros:
- Extremely convenient
- saves time, energy, and paper
- Can keyword search (saves a lot of time)

Cons:
- Cannot bring into lecture (unless you want to fumble writing equations while using a laptop)
- You'll kill your eyes looking at a computer screen
- distractions from other things on the computer which wasts time
- Risky for the university since it could be easily reproduced and therefore no one would buy the textbook.

In my experience, it's not that much different than reading a book in terms of eye problems. You can get eye strain from both activities, it's happened to me but with the laptop it took longer. But to be fair, I wasn't reading a book. I was doing research so my eyes weren't always fixed at the same distance. During loading of pages I would often look away from the screen. Reading a physical book took about 5 hours to get eye strain.