Which one for law school?

[kellemonster]

Okay, I haven't done much research, I'd rather let you all tell me what to do.

Law student who wants to scan in his textbooks and make his own PDF so I don't have to lug them around.

These are large books. So need a large screen.

Since these will be my own PDFs, I won't have a TOC. But I also need to be able to skip ahead to page 300 if necessary and not have to go through each page.

Thanks.

[HarryT]

The iRex DR1000S is clearly the best choice, if finances permit. It allows you to search and annotate PDFs, have multiple documents open at once, and quickly flip between them.

[Sonist]

Dunno..., may be the iRex 1000S comes closest right now, but I am not certain anything is perfect, yet.

See what the next few months bring: there are large-screen Sony rumors, Apple tablet rumors, etc..

Oh, and unless you start now, you'll spend the first semester scanning...

Good luck.

[HarryT]

Oh, I'm certainly not saying that the DR1000 is "perfect" - it plainly isn't. However, it is unquestionably the best eInk device for PDFs that's on the market at the moment.

[kellemonster]

Actually, I would do what a friend did last year, he went to a copy place, had them rip off the binding, and scan the pages through a large copier all at once. Destroys the resale value of the book, unless you can find someone that wants to buy the now unbound book from you and with it get the rights to the PDFs you've created.

[kellemonster]

So the DX would not be a good choice for this purpose?

[richman]

Get a notebook or netbook if you are gonna go that way. I don't think an ereader is gonna work for law stuff. Even medical stuff I would recommend notebook or netbook.
I mean 800 dollars for the 1000s is not cost effective I don't think for you. It wouldn't be for me. If it's a text book that can be read cover to cover or chapter to chapter , yeah , ereader could work. Are you gonna orc it or just do straight copy TEXT book just scanning it. If you orc it you could do searchable search, hopefully the orc errors are not bad. I would check with other law students how they are doing it, and copy them.
Now the 505 or other ereaders could be cool for copying your notes to your an ereader and flash card type stuff, so you can study on the fly. So there are uses for ereader but it's good you are asking us our opinion, maybe some lawyer is on the board that could also advise you.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by kellemonster

Okay, I haven't done much research, I'd rather let you all tell me what to do.

Law student who wants to scan in his textbooks and make his own PDF so I don't have to lug them around.

These are large books. So need a large screen.

Since these will be my own PDFs, I won't have a TOC. But I also need to be able to skip ahead to page 300 if necessary and not have to go through each page.

Thanks.

Your best bet, hands down, is to find a good used Compaq TC 1000. That was a wonderful Tablet PC that ran XP and had a close to letter sized screen.

Put the rest of the money into purchasing a good scanner and Adobe Acrobat, or another good PDF creator. (Unless you've can find one that you really like for free).

In order to study effectively, and I do mean effectively, you need to be able to color highlight PDF. In addition, using a color tablet and the internet, you can get a lot of your reading material through Lexis or Westlaw without the need to scan it. Print it directly into PDF and then use the included stylus to highlight it.

The TC 1000 is thicker than most ebook readers, but not by much, and you'll have close to a full sized keyboard to work with. In addition, if you can find an extra battery or two, you can take one along to class rather than hauling all of your books along with you (and the need to take both your hornbook and your case book along is absolutely necessary).

Further, you need something that allows you to bookmark pages in PDF (and the DX does not allow you to do this), so that when the prof tells you to turn to page 347 of your hornbook, you can do it quickly.

Last, but not least, while I normally prefer reading on something other than a backlit screen, this is one time that I would suggest otherwise. The lighting where you need to read or study may be less than optimal, and that, combined with the ability to highlight in color (different colors for facts, issue, rule of law, analysis, and holding or conclusion) make having a tablet PC much better than an ebook reader for this particular usage.

Handwriting recognition software can also make it possible to take notes on the tablet PC and create your outline for study much more quickly than from handwritten notes on paper. Either that, or being able to scan your notes (assuming they are legible) and have Adobe's OCR turn them into printed text, can save you hours.

If you can't find a TC1000 (I still have mine and love the thing), a good tablet PC is much better than any ebook reader on the market (even the Kindle DX) for law school. I say this as a former law student. Trust me on this.

If you create your PDF's using Adobe, at least the page numbers can be maintained to match those of the book, and that is a godsend when you are trying to find the correct page in class.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by kellemonster

So the DX would not be a good choice for this purpose?

No. Not at all. Also, I think a tablet is better than either a netbook or a regular notebook. My reasons being, the text is too small to read with the full page view on most netbooks, and most students, while in class need to see the full page while in class, without zooming in and out to read.

In fact, a two page view that you can actually read is very helpful. Also, with either a notebook or a netbook, the tendency is to try and type your notes. There isn't all that much space on the typical law school classroom desk, and some profs get really pissed off if they see a bunch of students typing. (I know this first hand. Many profs will assume that, if you are typing on a notebook PC in class, you must be writing emails to your friends, or twittering ... certainly NOT paying attention to them).

A tablet PC will usually allow you to take handwritten notes in class). Very easy to have your PDF text in one window, and another window open in which you can hand write class notes. This part is true of both medical school and law school. And, profs in both types of school may have a small hissy fit about typing in class. They are perhaps a bit behind the times, but they have a point about what students may or may not be doing on their PCs when typing in class (another reason that if the student is surfing the web or something .... it can be a major distraction to the students sitting next to them). You might still be doing it on a tablet, but it will be much less obvious to the teacher.

Just my two cents, but I've been through the mill at both schools, and a lot of my friends are now profs at both types of schools, so I do have a little more insight on this than most proponents of ebook readers.

Oh, and I just checked, there are a few on ebay right now for about $200. You could probably upgrade the drive and memory for not too much money as well, although, most students only need to have 3 or 4 textbooks on the device at any one time, and just the notes for the 3 or 4 classes you take each year, so masses of HD space are generally not an issue (although, for $100 you can get a great 500 GB portable USB HD). RAM is easy to upgrade.

So, for less than $400 ($800 or so if you get Adobe Acrobat Pro 9.0) you can have something that should get your student through his or her entire law school career and which would still be useful as they start being an attorney. I still use my TC1000 to this day as a backup in my law practice.

[richman]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

No. Not at all. Also, I think a tablet is better than either a netbook or a regular notebook. My reasons being, the text is too small to read with the full page view on most netbooks, and most students, while in class need to see the full page while in class, without zooming in and out to read.

In fact, a two page view that you can actually read is very helpful. Also, with either a notebook or a netbook, the tendency is to try and type your notes. There isn't all that much space on the typical law school classroom desk, and some profs get really pissed off if they see a bunch of students typing. (I know this first hand. Many profs will assume that, if you are typing on a notebook PC in class, you must be writing emails to your friends, or twittering ... certainly NOT paying attention to them).

A tablet PC will usually allow you to take handwritten notes in class). Very easy to have your PDF text in one window, and another window open in which you can hand write class notes. This part is true of both medical school and law school. And, profs in both types of school may have a small hissy fit about typing in class. They are perhaps a bit behind the times, but they have a point about what students may or may not be doing on their PCs when typing in class (another reason that if the student is surfing the web or something .... it can be a major distraction to the students sitting next to them). You might still be doing it on a tablet, but it will be much less obvious to the teacher.

Just my two cents, but I've been through the mill at both schools, and a lot of my friends are now profs at both types of schools, so I do have a little more insight on this than most proponents of ebook readers.

Makes sense, a pc tablet seems good to me. I guess I was comparing the netbook/notebook to ereaders. And it would be better than ereader.
I am surprised to hear that you think netbooks/notebooks would be looked down at in schools, although a pc tablet would be better, depending on typing styles.
Gee when I was in medical school, I had notebook computer, video camera, and mp3 recordings going at same time. My teachers didn't think anything of it. I can't imagine teachers coming down on laptops/netbooks but if you say so, times have changed.
Today I would probably bring vado HD camcorder, a zoom h2 recorder, netbook to take notes I type pretty fast (and I like the battery life on netbooks compared to my notebooks.
p.s. your comments seem like they might be right maybe for high school. But college and above, netbooks, laptops and pc tablet seem like they could be interchangable. As to reading pdf's on netbooks/laptops I don't have trouble, but I can see advantage of PC tablet too. Which PC tablet do you recommend.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by kellemonster

So the DX would not be a good choice for this purpose?

It would be a poor choice, I think. It has no search or annotation facilities, and I'd imagine that they would be important to you.

[richman]

maybe go to the library of school and lunch room and see what the other students are using! And then walk up to them and ask what they recommend. Get it from the horses mouth. That is what I would do if I was preparing for law school today! Pick someone smart looking and if you are single, someone of the opposite sex!

I think most medical and law stuff would be on computer disks already, I know medical stuff is nowadays, in fact, my school sells laptops with medical programs installed on it as package, I would think law schools would be the same way. Text books seem so old school today, when you are in court or law office, it's all computer/laptop/tablet, same in hospitals.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by richman

Makes sense, a pc tablet seems good to me. I guess I was comparing the netbook/notebook to ereaders. And it would be better than ereader.
I am surprised to hear that you think netbooks/notebooks would be looked down at in schools, although a pc tablet would be better, depending on typing styles.
Gee when I was in medical school, I had notebook computer, video camera, and mp3 recordings going at same time. My teachers didn't think anything of it. I can't imagine teachers coming down on laptops/netbooks but if you say so, times have changed.
Today I would probably bring vado HD camcorder, a zoom h2 recorder, netbook to take notes I type pretty fast (and I like the battery life on netbooks compared to my notebooks.
p.s. your comments seem like they might be right maybe for high school. But college and above, netbooks, laptops and pc tablet seem like they could be interchangable. As to reading pdf's on netbooks/laptops I don't have trouble, but I can see advantage of PC tablet too. Which PC tablet do you recommend.

It all depends on the prof. And some profs are dead set against typing (and some get really pissed off about recording) in class. It is especially true in law school where they think, and there is some truth to this, that if you are recording, then you aren't paying attention in class. I happen to think the reverse is true, but that's me. There are students, even in college courses and grad school courses, who are idiots ... don't ask me how they got into school, but they did. I have seen professors ban a particular student from class for acting like a complete twit.

In addition, some profs find the background noise of several hundred students typing furiously away to be a bit distracting.

My absolute favorite combination would be a nice tablet PC for my textbooks, and a Livescribe pen and pad for taking handwritten notes. Livescribe has good OCR, and the voice recording feature is marvelous. The sound reproduction is amazing. Plus, you can easily sync your notes with the tablet. Also, recording is ultra subtle, so if you do have a prof, they probably won't even notice you are doing it.

The reason I wouldn't recommend just wandering around school and asking other students what they think or what they use, is that .... well, I'm assuming that your student wants to be in the top 5% of his or her class. Just wandering around the school means that 95% of the people that you talk to will be lower down in the class rankings than you want to be.

I started each graduate program with the idea that I wanted to be either at the very top of my class or in the top 5% at least. So, I found that not paying any attention to most of what my classmates said or recommended was very important in terms of succeeding.

They were all lovely people, and some of them (even the idiots) have gone on to be successful, but the bottom line when you are looking at positions post-graduate school is class ranking. So, why start taking tips from the people you are hoping to pass in the rankings??

Any good tablet will work. It's just that, if you are looking for something that won't break the bank, the TC1000 was and still is a great choice. It is lightweight, cheap, easy to upgrade, and .... having a licensed copy of Acrobat Pro is a great thing to have as you start a law practice. (Maybe not quite as important for a medical practice, but for law .... seriously important.)

[richman]

the hp pavilion tx2500z seems to be new around 750 dollars and it's touch screen notebook and comes with pen for taking notes!
Good points Ricky!
Here is a review of a hp tx from utube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0WxN...eature=related

[RickyMaveety]

Oh, that thing is freaking sweet!!!