MBA 11 inch vs Pressure from Textbooks

There have been reports of issues with this kind of use - the textbooks can squeeze the Air and cause the keyboard to contact the screen and leave marks over time. It likely wont break the Air, but the marks bother some people. Buy a screen protector or a keyboard cloth to lay over the keyboard when you put the unit in your backpack.

 

Carried my Air for over a year with textbooks+other garbage and while it cause marks to be left on the screen from the keyboard, you can just wipe off the marks and there was no damage to the screen itself.

 

Yup same here when I had my 13inch MBA. Nothing major but I did that for 2 semesters and it took the abuse so I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

I use a radtech screensavr and have not had any issues with textbooks and other heavy stuff.

 

Get a laptop backpack. The laptop compartment of the backpack will protect the MBA while you can still carry your textbooks.

You might consider some kind of rigid sleeve to slide the MBA into.

 

Sorry if this sounds too farfetched, but why bother carrying physical textbooks?

Why not just get the digital versions (if available) or scan the sections you need in advance? That's basically what I do. You don't even need a good scanner, you could use the camera off of a 4S and JotNot Pro.

I've even stripped the spine from a textbook and scanned it with a double-sided feeder scanner. It takes no time at all.

 

No time at all? More like a few hours a day. Way too much work.

 

There are pdf version of textbooks out there.

 

We'll look back in 5-10 years at the fact that we had to lug around 5 pounds textbooks and laugh....

 

I've scanned textbooks with hundreds of pages. You can do 300 pages in 45min with the right scanner. And if you only need a few chapters, it would take 20min.

It's not too much work, not even by a longshot.

 

With the right scanner... There's your catch. Not only that, but I won't destroy an expensive textbook I'd like to sell later, which is required for quick scanning (as you pointed out in your last post).

Not for all versions, and the pricing scheme is screwed up. Despite buying a mac, I don't buy new books at full price. I almost always get used (unless the class requires a special license or something along those lines). Additionally,
95% of the textbooks I've used don't have pdf versions (legit or not).

 

OK, fine - but are you still defending lugging around 20 pounds of crap you SHOULD have on an Air or IPad?

 

Yes with the right scanner, and there are feeder scanners ranging from $200 to $400. If you don't think that's reasonable, that's totally your call. I think it is. These textbooks cost hundreds of dollars already. Add that up over 4 years, what is that 40 textbooks? That's $10 a book? Would you pay $10 extra for a digital copy?

I have spent hours scanning books for myself and you know what I do to pass the time? The same thing I'd be doing if I wasn't scanning books, Netflix & Podcasts.

And as for selling textbooks that have been 'ruined', I've sold textbooks that I have stripped and put into binders along with pdf copies of the text. And you know what? People have thanked me and payed accordingly. Many textbooks go into second-hand limbo. Either the buyback gets you half, or consignment makes you wait forever, or you're too lazy and it just goes into donation because every year has a 'new edition'.

Half of school is photocopying/scanning research material from libraries anyways, this is hardly a new practice.

It's anyone's call how they want to go to school. I've been doing it for a decade and I think lugging heavy textbooks is a waste of time.

Sorry to jack the thread, folks.

 

I find print copies much easier to read personally. And I have tried all sorts of e-readers. That is the reason I carry everything around.

It is more about personal choice than not knowing how to get it in digial format.

 

I just had to post this:

https://sites.google.com/site/decapodproject/