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Are computer tablets useful for studying or anything at all?

So I was thinking of getting one for uni but my house mate was telling me not to bother,he was telling e all his friends got one and never actually needed to use it for anything they already used their phones for including himself.

What are they really for exactly? I was thinking of running my PC from it so I had a really powerful pad, I could write code at home on my comp and run it and it would appear as though it was on my pad, good for things like Java.

he did also say the keyboards make the screen tiny and when u=you use a little keyboard on one then you got yourself a laptop so why not get a Chromebook.

so do you use yourse or was it just a cool idea that doesnt realy work?

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Pad? Are you talking about a tablet? If so, I think they're a waste of money. I've never seen anything productive happen on them. They seem to serve the same purpose as a smart phone, only inconviently large.
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I used to have a Psion Series 5 when I was at Uni. it was a fantastic bit of kit to have with me all the time.

If I was at uni now I would definitely get an iPad and a Bluetooth keyboard*. I could be very productive with it.

Edit
And a stylus for handwritten notes and diagrams, something like Applydea Maglus.
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I would rather have a touch laptop for university. When I was in university (2004-2008), it was really tough to find touch-devices, but once in a while you'd spot someone with one.

University for me was all about taking notes. I'd either write down whatever my calculus prof put on the chalkboard, or print out the 100s of pages of slides the prof would post before classes started and write notes on those slides. It would have made my backpack was lighter if I had a touch-laptop, then I could write directly on the laptop and augment the PDFs with my own hand-writing/diagrams/equations. Having your texts in PDF format would make it even lighter.

If you're in a math/science field, then you'll find that you won't be doing any typing. All of the crazy notations/diagrams/symbols we use make a keyboard completely ineffective. I remember spending hours "digitizing" my notes with MS Equation 3.0.

I got one of these in december, and I love it (convertible laptop/tablet).
http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-12-9q33/pd

I got the one with the i5 1.6 GHz, 4GB of RAM, and 128 GB SSD. The thing was only 700 USD. I threw Ubuntu-Unity on there and it works great with an 8 second boot time. 3-finger screen gestures are supported, two-finger touchpad scroll works (assuming you get the latest linux kernel). The only thing I can't get on Ubuntu is the auto-rotate (no one can seem to figure out how to get the accelerometer data). So really, it's a laptop which can become a tablet when convenient.


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If stuff is printed on the whiteboard, wouldn't it be easier/faster to just snap a picture than it would be to copy it down?

I guess copying it down helps some people remember it.
First, I didn't have a camera-phone in 2004. Second, pictures taken from the back of a 300+ person lecture hall are tougher to read. Third, copying it down allows you to add your own notes in there too.

But I do understand where you are comming from. I make plans with my boss on whiteboards all of the time these days. We discuss our actions, then when we're happy, we take a photo to remember what we talked about.
What about one of those things that scans paper efficiently

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/portable-handheld-scanner-with-ocr-software-n90ht

would that make your life easier than a tablet wud?

EDIT: Could I scan my girlfriends body? I want to document it.
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They even have pens which memorize your movements and send those straight to your PC. So every diagram that you draw is automatically digitized as you write.
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