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How do you use your Apple laptops during a school day?

D

Doju

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 16, 2008
1,510
1
I assume you only really use it for notes? When the professor puts notes on the overhead, you just whip out your laptop and copy them down? Do you even carry a pencil and paper? Like, do you just bring your MacBook and text books, or do you even bring a binder? What happens if there's a handed-out piece of paper to complete?

What happens after that? Do you just print the notes out when you get home? Doesn't that get expensive? Would a laptop in chemistry class be effective, or would all the subscripts be cumbersome?
 
What a bunch of questions! :)

I don't know if they allow laptops in High School... College - yes.

Chemistry - don't know. Never took it...took biology instead and No, did not bring laptop
 
I usually switch back and forth between taking notes and playing text twist or book worm.

I dont print the notes out when I get home. I create a folder for each class and then drop in the word files so I can combine them all and create an outline at the end of the semester to study by.

I always carry a pen, notebook, and highlighters with me.

for chemistry you do not want to use a laptop unless you carry a pen input tablet with you as well. too hard to input all of the formulas, shell diagrams, et al

you might want to check out one of the pen top note taking computers
they capture hand writing so you can import it into your computer however most are not apple compatible and most require you to either buy or print special dot paper
 
I tried a laptop in college and it was useless for note taking unless the professor displayed an outline through a projector to type up. If the teacher jumps around a topic or topics rather than a straight outline it becomes too cumbersome to type. If there are diagrams or formulas forget it.

The best was still pen and paper. Though I could see using a touchscreen computer with a stylus. As it would be pretty much the same a pen and paper without using up paper. Though the price of several spiral binders versus a touchscreen computer would make me lean towards the paper.
 
theres something about turning pages that simply cant be duplicated by a computer

i cant imagine studying notes from a screen rather than from a notebook.

then again, im the same person who has to print off pdf''s as i cant stand reading 40 pages or so on a computer screen
 
I normally use Schoolhouse to take down notes. It's an awesome free app. (I'll post a link when I get back to my laptop. )

Sometimes I use Audio Recorder to record lectures that are really important.

Of course I always bring paper and a pencil. Who knows what could happen in class... But I try to keep as much of it digital as I can.

Irronically I rarely ever refer back to my notes, but it's nice to use a quick find command to find a word I'm looking for.

What else do you guys do? This is interesting.
 
Doju said:
Do you all print off then after typed?
Click to expand...

I do at the end of the semester right before the exam

usually I have 80 to 120 pages of notes per class
I print them all out
read and highlight what is important
then cut out what isnt important and re print
then read and highlight again until I get everything I need to know/dont remember into a 10-20 page (sometimes less) outline for each class
 
Almost never print them. actually I rarely refer back to them period. Something about "writing" down stuff helps me review. Sometimes I put them on my iPhone to read.

I also get funky with the fonts in my notes. I put a couple different sizes and typefaces in my favorite fonts so I can use them in the font palette for notes.

I almost never do anything on my in class computer that isn't related to the class. Occasionally I look up things on wikipedia via the Dictionary app. I use the dictionary app a lot in class.

Schoolhouse is really awesome though. I really can't say enough about it. I rarely use it for anything other than taking notes, but it's a great assignment manager. If you have trouble with it, try using it under rosetta (get info> open using rosetta).
 
Check my name. I use pen and paper all the time. :)
I am surprised though that nobody has mentioned cameras in class.
Then you can type in notes or crib sheets as to what the teacher says and then take pictures of what he/she writes or displays.
 
*old-guy* said:
Check my name. I use pen and paper all the time. :)
I am surprised though that nobody has mentioned cameras in class.
Then you can type in notes or crib sheets as to what the teacher says and then take pictures of what he/she writes or displays.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've done that.
 
I'm at 6th form - sorry, i don't know the american equivalent, but I'm 17 (school starts at age 4/5 here)

I use my macbook for computing - programming coursework, writing documents on word etc, because the school computers are awfully slow.

I also use it for music tech, so I don't have to mess around with moving logic files to and from home. In my free periods I just surf the internet, our computing teacher gave me the wireless password:)
Thats about it really. The battery life is so good I can run it almost all day without charging.
 
When I go to class, I usually carry:

-My MBP
-A few sheets of notebook paper
-Some pens
-The textbook for that class
-Any handouts we've gotten



I never print my notes, unless I need them for a test. I just study them off my screen. I have a separate folder I keep them in, which contains folders for each class. I have the main notes folder as a stack, so I just click it and get a menu of all my notes. Very convenient.
 
I bring my MBP with me to class every day, it stays in my backpack when I'm in class. I use it in between classes to do homework, or if I don't have any homework I browse the internets or watch movies.
 
i bought a laptop for college anticipating that i'd be using in class, but that has turned out to be very unrealistic. I, along with most everybody i've seen with a computer in class, usually just end up doing something else on the computer and completely ignore the lecture.

paper and pencil ftw.
 
Notebook is a lot easier than a computer.

1) you can write on it
2) no battery
3) you can't drop it and break it
4) no one will steal it
 
I usually had my laptop with me, but I studied chemical engineering and chemistry which was nothing but boards and boards and boards of sheer math so note-taking was a non-option. I used it extensively in labs as running things like distillation columns required data transfer between the columns' computers and my laptop to work on later.

But for general note taking, nah. Keep it at home, keep it pristine.
 
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