Taking Class Notes on a MBP

[Hawkeye16]

I really like Office 2011 and since your son is a student have him check the campus bookstore for Office. Most colleges sell Office 2011 for $25 or $30. The university that I teach at has a plethora of Windows and Mac software ranging from $10 to $50.

Office 2011 is $20 for all students and faculty.

Just a thought!
-P

For iPad notes I use Pages with a bluetooth keyboard and it works great. Otherwise I have use OmniNote and Word, and tend to like Word a little better in the notebook layout.

The University of Iowa (as an example of above quote) sells Mac 2011 Office for $10 to current students. A lot of companies also have EPP programs. I got Mac Office 2011 through my company for $9.95.

 

[ericrwalker]

best bet is an actualy laptop

Isn't a MBP an actual laptop?

 

[Freyqq]

Yep but there are alternatives for Mac like Evernote

Not nearly as good. Like..not even in the same league.

 

[MrBullet]

Pen and paper ftw.

Microsoft Word for Mac because other programmes, which I'm sure are great, my pose compatibility issues which I know other people have pointed out.

 

[Mojo1]

I was thinking of a neat desk scanner and then he can scan the pages in as PDF and searchable documents. This was he has everything in 1 place.

Take a look at the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300. It comes with excellent bundled OCR software that automatically converts scans to searchable PDFs.

I often scan hand-written notes and display them next to a word processing document when writing. And it's great to be able to ditch the paper after it has been scanned...

I also suggest demoing DEVONthink, which is much more powerful than Evernote and similar software. DEVONthink isn't free but the Personal Edition is reasonably priced. I use it for medical research and it makes getting the most out of 2000+ studies and articles a breeze.

I have written in greater detail about DEVONthink elsewhere on this forum; do a search if you want to read more about what DEVONthink is and what it can do.

 

[James_C]

I would also take a look at the livescribe pen. It is a digital pen that uses special paper to capture your handwriting. You can then dock the pen to your Apple MBP and have a digital version that is searchable. The best part about the pen is that it can also capture the audio as you are writing, so you don't need to write every word the lecturer says, just the key points. Using the playback option on the computer you can listen to the lecture and watch your notes. You can export to PDF and upload notes to the web to share with classmates. I have been using one for the last 2 years (in business) and it has been brilliant. Yes you need special notebooks to use with the pen, but they are not that much more expensive than other high quality paper notebooks.

 

[alphaod]

Use a pen and paper (notebook). Then scan each paper after classes into the computer.

Using a computer in class provides too many distractions, not to mention you can't exactly draw diagrams on a computer screen (not without a tablet anyways). Plus there is a chance the computer will crash in class and that's never fun when you need those notes.

Finally many professors now do not allow computers in their lectures, so your son would still need a notebook.

 

[Agent-P]

As a college student myself with both a MBP and an iPad, I will share my experience on when I use what:

First off, for taking notes in class, it depends on the subject. Fro chemistry I swear by good old fashioned pen/paper. Dealing with all the superscripts and subscripts slows down my typing time on my MBP (and I don't think that works on Pages for the iPad, but I could be wrong). For other classes like biology or sociology I go with typed notes on my MBP. I can type quickly and still read my notes a week later (my handwriting is atrocious when I'm writing fast). So where does the iPad fit in? Well, since it's super portable, I can take it with me when I go to the dining hall for lunch/dinner and review my notes while I'm eating.

I've found the best program to take notes in on OS X is Growly Notes - it's essentially a knock-off of the Windows-only Microsoft OneNote. It works great, has a fast startup, and uses very little resources.

I second Growly Notes which is the closest to OneNote.

Ideally, OneNote is what I'd use to take my notes (used to use it on my old Windows laptop and I love it). But since there isn't a version available for OSX, I use Growly Notes. I use GrowlyNotes due to it's flexibility and ease in adding supplementing material such as diagrams/charts/etc.

Sorry this post is rather long, but I figured I'd present my similar situation from my point of view and how it works for me. I hope this helps you make a decision, OP.

 

[wineandcarbs]

Growly Notes is free and is awesome. I found it when searching for something similar to MS OneNote, which is what I used to take notes in university (before I had a Mac).

 

[kamuix]

From my experience, I have to agree with everyone that pen and paper is the best route. Especially for science classes where you'll be drawing chemical formulas and structures to memorize. If it was a regular class, say a writing class, or art history then the macbook would be great to take down notes. Especially for a history class, as there are times there is a lot if info to write down such as dates, people's names, etc...
There are times when both notebook and macbook are useful. Some professors provide pdfs or even power point versions of their lecture. It's helpful to have the laptop so you can open it up and follow along with the professor. Easily said, the ipad can do that just fine also. I currently use both and look at power points on my laptop and follow along with my professors lecture. My notebook is usually for extra notes that they mention.

 

[joshuaginter]

I am taking social science courses only, therefore typing has become essential to my studying. I would never be able to get the same amount of lecture content written down as I do with typing my notes out. I have a MBP and an iPad.

I find that some classes I prefer to sit and listen as opposed to get every single word typed out, therefore I pull out my iPad. If I need to get everything down, I pull out the laptop. I suppose I could just get a wireless keyboard for the iPad and get everything done on the iPad, but it comes down to software. If you like to take notes while using bullets and tabbed bullets, I have yet to find an iPad app that nicely tabs bullets as you write. So, if I need to get tabbed bullets into my notes quickly, I pull out the MBP. If I have time to hit the space button 10 times to nicely line up my bullets, then I use the iPad. Seems a bit obsessive, but I like organization.

Having said all of this, two other things point in the direction of the iPad. First is battery life. I have 8-10 hour school days and no laptop lasts that long while using wifi and Bluetooth. The iPad is king when it comes to battery life.

Second is the fact that the screen is always full-screen, and as mentioned earlier, eliminated many of the distractions that a laptop has.

I think a lot of this is personal preference. If anyone knows of a note-taking app that formats bullet lists properly, please let me know!

 

[ann713]

I use Word's Notebook layout and Byword from the app store.

 

[Freyqq]

Growly Notes is free and is awesome. I found it when searching for something similar to MS OneNote, which is what I used to take notes in university (before I had a Mac).

I just checked this out, and it's impressive and free. Either this or MS word 2011 notebook view are the best options I think.

The absolute best in my opinion is onenote 2010 for windows, but either of the 2 above programs are certainly adequate.

Keep in mind that, if he intends to take any classes that require writing papers, MS word is pretty much required. Often, you have to submit the paper in doc or docx format, and while other programs can export to this format, the formatting isn't always perfect and can cause issues on their end.

 

[maflynn]

I can type faster then I can write, so I'd vote for a laptop.

I've tried taking notes on an iPad, using a stylus, finger, and keyboard on all sorts of apps designed for that. They never really did as good as a job as either a computer or paper and a pen