When It's Time to Consider a Tablet

Imagine how much more productive you'd be if your handwritten lecture notes had a Google-like search ability, were organized in a completely logical way, and even had audio clips of the lecture built-in. According to Tracy Hooten, a senior at the University of Texas at Austin and the founder of StudentTabletPC.com, those are just a few of the ways Tablet notebooks save students time and alleviate stress. We talked to Tracy about the benefits of a Tablet over a regular notebook and came away with five reasons why you should consider one for yourself.

 

1) Give your lecture notes Google-like searchability.
A Tablet learns your handwriting and makes all your notes digital, so you can easily find exactly what you need. Depending on how you set it up, you can search your notes by date, subject, or keywords. You can even scan in parts of your textbooks or handouts to add to your notes.

 

2) Have all your notes with you at all times.
In addition to searchability, saving your lecture notes on a Tablet PC means you have access to all your notes, from all your classes, at any time. You'll never have to worry about bringing the wrong binder to the library, and there's no time wasted digging through piles of old papers to find those notes from your freshman psych class. Hooten points out that Murphy's law ensures that "Anytime you think 'I wish I had those notes from that class last semester' you won't have them or won't be able to find them." If you save all your notes on a Tablet, you have access to years of information right at your fingertips.

 

3) Sync the lecture with your notes.
As hard as we try, our notes aren't always as thorough as we'd like. Most Tablets have a built-in microphones that let you record lectures as you write. But Tracy takes it a step further; she links her recorded lectures with her written notes using OneNote software, which does the synching for you. "As you take notes, it records where you were in the audio so later on you can go back and say, 'I don't know what this means, what was the professor saying when I wrote this?' and you don't have to go through the entire audio recording."

 

4) Keep it clean.
Some teachers jump around in lectures or go off on tangents, jumbling your notes so much that you have to rewrite them or be forced to sift through the mess come finals week. If you're using a Tablet, you can let technology do the copying for you and easily rearrange your notes and add pages where needed without making a mess of things. It's a great timesaver and really helps keep you organized.

 

5) You can draw on it.
Some things are much better explained by a diagram. And there are many professors who illustrate their points using diagrams, as well as many classes that are centered around formulas. A Tablet PC is the only 'laptop' that lets you quickly sketch the image, and save it within the rest of your lecture notes. You can easily call these illustrations up later when you're studying.

 

Quick Tablet Tips
Now that you're sold on getting a Tablet, there's one thing to remember--something Hooten can't stress enough: back up, back up, back up! She suggests getting an external hard drive and scheduling automatic backups nightly. You can even use your iPod as backup space for your more recent notes, since that's something you often carry around campus.
 
Her other advice: Buy your Tablet early. "You want some time to get used to it, figure out how it works for you," Tracy said. And, of course, take some time to poke around StudentTabletpc.com to get input from other student Tablet users.

 

Learn more about Tracy Hooten, University of Texas student and founder of studentTabletpc.com.

 

Curious about other back to school bargains? Check out our Back to School Gear Guide.