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I am tremendously excited what you medical students and grad students in general are doing with your iPads.
Yeah iPad is perfect for getting vast amounts of information right at your fingertips, I wish I had it for my first year to go over all the damn x-ray scans and just accessing the books much faster. of course the problem is getting books in PDF format which is readable by iAnnotate. Kindle is out of the question.
 
Another grad student here. I use my iPad to read PDFs at least 2-3 hours per day (GoodReader/iAnnotate/DropBox), to do some writing in Pages (not able to use footnotes), and to track ideas (Evernote).
Almost every doctoral student in my program now has an iPad, as do many of the faculty.

I was unsure at first, but I find reading on the iPad to be much more comfortable than using my MacBook. Really, a different experience.

Re: some of the medical apps, check with your program-- many med schools offer support/training/whatever on how to use iPads and iPhones to access specific databases, journals, etc because they see how well it fills some of these needs. I've even heard of some nursing programs that are providing iPads for students.

Oh, re: accessories: I have the Switcheasy Canvas and have found by folding back the cover, there are some good angles for lap reading versus desk reading. Important when you're doing it for hours. I'm thinking about some kind of pillow stand that has a ledge on the bottom for reading on the couch, like the Wedge-e. Maybe for the holidays. I think that the incase origami is also on my wish list (along with a wireless keyboard) in a month or two.
 
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Another grad student here. I use my iPad to read PDFs at least 2-3 hours per day (GoodReader/iAnnotate/DropBox)
goodreader is best for reading and taking notes, in my opinion, but iannotate allows you to search all pdf files at once.

to do some writing in Pages (not able to use footnotes)
wrong. now it does do footnotes! hurray for ios 5 :)

and to track ideas (Evernote).
fabulous app. i am a premium member. it is well worth it.

I think that the incase origami is on my wish list (along with a wireless keyboard) in a month or two.
yep. i have both, and they are absolutely essential for long periods of writing.
 
It's a several step process, but the footnotes do work now with the 1.5 update. I've tried it-- tap on the > then Insert, then footnote.
 
That's the standard way of doing it on Mac, but it doesn't work always. I still don't know why, but CHMs that contain many pictures or mange tables always result in distorted PDFs upon conversion. Anyway, I'm guessing there should be some CHM readers in the app store.

I still wonder why people still make CHM books. It was introduced by Microsoft and discontinued by Microsoft in 2002! It's really annoying how certain things don't make any sense at all!

I believe iCHM has apps for the iPhone. I don't know about the iPad.
 
I highly suggest adding the wireless BT keyboard. It is small, inexpensive, syncs with the iPad, and makes typing much easier than the on screen keyboard.
 
Those of you with the wireless keyboard, are you using the Apple model? Or some other brand? One of the other grad students in my department has a BT model that she found on Amazon for $25 (obviously not Apple) and said that it doesn't always play well with iPad.
 
First year med student here as well. I've literally not touched paper or pen this year. Here's my setup:

GoodReader
GoodNotes for annotating PDF files
CHmate for reading the few textbooks I have in chm format
Tegrity app for watching lectures I missed or need to see again
Wacom Bamboo stylus for taking notes
Several anatomy apps

I pull down the PDF/slides the night before lecture, read through those and then take notes on them during lecture or Tegrity session. I then push the edited version to DropBox which then syncs it back to my iMac and 11" MacBook Air. I have the edited version everywhere I need it for review and study then.

This system has worked flawlessly thus far. Being paperless has been awesome.

What else do you use as a med student? I'm going into that field next year and kind of want to know what I'll need/want. Do you use a macbook at all? What do you suggest for a upcoming med student?
 
Hi

I know this was posted before, but I'm concerned about the specifics here.

I've done 1 year of med school, and I'm overwhelmed by the massive amounts of books, powerpoints, and paper that I have to deal with. I would like to be able to constantly read from the books and powerpoints, so I'm considering an iPad because my macbook 13" isn't serving that purpose very well. [portability and screen angle are a pain + it lags with chm files]

Also, I'm still unsure if iPad2 can handle ebooks properly. For those of who you read CHMs/PDFs on iPad2, is it good enough? Does the glare cause a problem? Does it lag? Shows malformed text or images?
I'm planning to read 3 to 5 hours a day from it, if not more. If reading from an iPad isn't any more comfortable than reading from a macbook, then it's not worth it.
Oh, and how's the pptx file support?

I was also wondering if it's worth it to get an iPad 2 by the end of this month or wait for iPad 3.

It's quite confusing because I've never used an iPad/iPhone before. :confused: :confused: :confused:

What do you think?

Your in med school and you want others help to decide if an electronic device is going to serve you well? Yeah, get the iPad 3, good luck.
 
I do nearly all my academic reading on my iPad (minus only the books that are not available in an electronic format). Combined with apps such as iAnnotate and PDF Expert which lets you annotate pdfs, it's an excellent tool for my purposes - I've basically gone paperless, I don't have to wade through stacks of printed journal articles, and I always carry my entire research library with me.

As a side note (I see your main interest isn't note taking), my iPad has also replaced all my note books. It's very practical.

I'm not really bothered by the glare. I thought I would be and initially wanted to get an e-ink device but quickly discovered that they didn't come with the functionality I needed. I'm completely happy with my choice of getting an iPad.
 
What else do you use as a med student? I'm going into that field next year and kind of want to know what I'll need/want. Do you use a macbook at all? What do you suggest for a upcoming med student?

I have a Macbook Air, but I never take it to school. I use it around the house along with our iMac. I study on all three, but the iPad is the only thing that goes to class.

I pretty much just use GoodReader and GoodNotes now. Those two do everything I need. Wacom Bamboo for a stylus.

Congrats on getting into medical school. It's going to be exponentially harder from now on.
 
Med student here. I convert all documents from class (ppt, docs) to PDF and annotate them in the best PDF app > PDF Expert. Very polished app, great customer support and excellent file management.

From there, the app syncs to DropBox so i have all my notes and docs appearing the same on my mac and iPad at any given moment. E.g. I'll take notes for a clinical case on my computer, and save it and then it shows up on my iPad to present in group discussions.

I take notes on my PDFs with this app too, i can add text+drawing to slides or insert blank sides and produce mini outlines for the subtopics found within lectures (my personal study style)

Just my 2 cents. I heard iPad 3 is coming out, you should wait a few weeks for that.
 
Med student here. I convert all documents from class (ppt, docs) to PDF and annotate them in the best PDF app > PDF Expert. Very polished app, great customer support and excellent file management.

From there, the app syncs to DropBox so i have all my notes and docs appearing the same on my mac and iPad at any given moment. E.g. I'll take notes for a clinical case on my computer, and save it and then it shows up on my iPad to present in group discussions.

I take notes on my PDFs with this app too, i can add text+drawing to slides or insert blank sides and produce mini outlines for the subtopics found within lectures (my personal study style)

Just my 2 cents. I heard iPad 3 is coming out, you should wait a few weeks for that.

That's exactly my workflow as well (Dropbox and all). I just didn't like PDF Expert.

I think each user just has to try the different apps and find the one that fits best. I really like the ink in GoodNotes and the double pane. May switch to Tapose if it comes out soon.
 
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