Laptop or tablet

I am going to uni in September (Oceanography course) and I have a good gaming laptop. However, it is really heavy and battery life is dreadful. The battery charger weighs a tonne so it will be impractical to lug around campus. I plan to use it only in my room in halls. But then I need something for using on campus. Would a tablet (ipad or refurbished windows surface) be a solution or the lightest windows laptop I can afford?

Reply 1

academicStingray

4

Original post

by Anonymous

I am going to uni in September (Oceanography course) and I have a good gaming laptop. However, it is really heavy and battery life is dreadful. The battery charger weighs a tonne so it will be impractical to lug around campus. I plan to use it only in my room in halls. But then I need something for using on campus. Would a tablet (ipad or refurbished windows surface) be a solution or the lightest windows laptop I can afford?

Do you know whether your uni has laptops that you can borrow? Im in Manchester uni and they have laptops you can borrow for a day to a week at a time from the library. I’d recommend to at least start your course first if you can and see how accessible your materials would be for each device (I have to use excel daily and prefer a laptop over iPad)

Reply 2

University of Bradford

Official Rep

18

Original post

by Anonymous

I am going to uni in September (Oceanography course) and I have a good gaming laptop. However, it is really heavy and battery life is dreadful. The battery charger weighs a tonne so it will be impractical to lug around campus. I plan to use it only in my room in halls. But then I need something for using on campus. Would a tablet (ipad or refurbished windows surface) be a solution or the lightest windows laptop I can afford?

Hi, an iPad with a keyboard (or a refurbished Surface) can be a great, super-portable solution with excellent battery life if your tasks are primarily note-taking, browsing, reading PDFs, and streaming lectures. However, a light Windows laptop will be more versatile and future-proof if you need to run Windows-only software, more complex data, or specialised university programs. While tablets are great for short, casual use and long-lasting batteries, a good laptop can manage complete desktop operations without sacrificing performance. Considering that you already have a strong equipment in your room for heavy work.

Kiran

Reply 3

PinkMobilePhone

Chat Forum Helper, Life & Style Forum Helper

22

Maybe I'm showing my age here, but why do you need to lug anything other than a pen and paper around campus?

In lectures just hand-write your notes, and then type them up when you get back to your room. That's what we all used to do back in the day. Or record them if you really can't be bothered writing I guess.

If you can afford it though, handwriting notes on something like a Remarkable Pro is excellent because it syncs to your laptop, so no typing-up required.

Reply 4

Kingston Eve

Official Rep

13

Original post

by Anonymous

I am going to uni in September (Oceanography course) and I have a good gaming laptop. However, it is really heavy and battery life is dreadful. The battery charger weighs a tonne so it will be impractical to lug around campus. I plan to use it only in my room in halls. But then I need something for using on campus. Would a tablet (ipad or refurbished windows surface) be a solution or the lightest windows laptop I can afford?

Hey,

I would usually recommend a laptop as it has more overall functionality than a tablet - however, as you already have a laptop that you can use in your room, you likely don't need to purchase another. If you want to take digitial notes, a cheap, refurbished tablet with a detachable keyboard could be a good option here.

As mentioned above, you could always borrow a laptop when you need to on campus and save your notes to the cloud. That way you could access them from your gaming laptop later on.

Hope this helps,
Eve (Kingston Rep).

Reply 5

LJMUStudentReps

Official Rep

18

Original post

by Anonymous

I am going to uni in September (Oceanography course) and I have a good gaming laptop. However, it is really heavy and battery life is dreadful. The battery charger weighs a tonne so it will be impractical to lug around campus. I plan to use it only in my room in halls. But then I need something for using on campus. Would a tablet (ipad or refurbished windows surface) be a solution or the lightest windows laptop I can afford?

Hi,

I’d recommend going for a lightweight laptop rather than a tablet if you plan to use it regularly for university work on campus. A laptop will generally handle Word, Excel, research, multiple tabs, and any course-related software much better than an iPad, and you can usually install anything you need without compatibility issues.

That said, if you prefer an iPad for note-taking and pair it with a keyboard, that can also work for lighter tasks.

It’s also worth checking whether your university offers any technology bursaries or laptop loans as some allow you to borrow devices for a week or even for same-day returns, which can be really handy.

Hope this helps,

Tayba
Student Rep

Reply 6

EssexStudentRep

Official Rep

14

Original post

by Anonymous

I am going to uni in September (Oceanography course) and I have a good gaming laptop. However, it is really heavy and battery life is dreadful. The battery charger weighs a tonne so it will be impractical to lug around campus. I plan to use it only in my room in halls. But then I need something for using on campus. Would a tablet (ipad or refurbished windows surface) be a solution or the lightest windows laptop I can afford?

Hi @Anonymous👋

Hope you are well. Hmm it depends on your preference really. Both are good options. The laptop may be a better option since it is lighter and more easier to do work on whereas an ipad is good for drawings and taking notes more. Laptop seems like a better choice but do you know if your university has borrow a laptop scheme? At Essex, we have a helpful scheme where we can borrow laptops and return them and we have computers on campus to use. Look into whether you have that option otherwise a laptop seems like a good decision 🙂

Essex Student Rep- Lavanya 💜

Reply 7

Adz2042

18

Original post

by PinkMobilePhone

Maybe I'm showing my age here, but why do you need to lug anything other than a pen and paper around campus?
In lectures just hand-write your notes, and then type them up when you get back to your room. That's what we all used to do back in the day. Or record them if you really can't be bothered writing I guess.
If you can afford it though, handwriting notes on something like a Remarkable Pro is excellent because it syncs to your laptop, so no typing-up required.

It depends on how you learn.
Some prefer to jot down notes in lectures using a pad and paper.
Others are environmentally focused, and don't like using pads that won't be looked at ever again.

And some, like me, prefer to type everything directly into a note-taking application, or document application, bypassing the need to carry pads of paper around.

Reply 8

hallamstudents

Official Rep

18

Original post

by Anonymous

I am going to uni in September (Oceanography course) and I have a good gaming laptop. However, it is really heavy and battery life is dreadful. The battery charger weighs a tonne so it will be impractical to lug around campus. I plan to use it only in my room in halls. But then I need something for using on campus. Would a tablet (ipad or refurbished windows surface) be a solution or the lightest windows laptop I can afford?

Hi there,

If you wanted to bring your big computer, you could still bring it and keep it in your room if you wanted to use it. However, I would get something else to take with you to uni as it will end up being quite heavy and annoying you when you are taking it around.

Either a tablet or laptop would be nice - it depends whichever you would use more outside of uni too. A tablet is good as it will be smaller and easier to carry, and you can often make some good notes on there too. However, for me I do prefer having a laptop with me while I am at uni as I prefer to type and write things with the physical keyboard rather than the keyboard on a tablet.

Another option which has been mentioned here is to try and rent a laptop from uni. We have them here at Hallam and you may well have them too as there may be times you need to use it but you might not want to buy one to use all of the time.

If you anted to, you could also just use paper and pen to make notes, however I do find it a lot easier to make notes and write assignments on a laptop or tablet. It also makes it easier as you will often have the slides uploaded so you can make your notes on each slide, rather than just having paper and pen notes that you need to write up later.

I hope some of this helps,

Lucy -SHU student ambassador 🙂

Reply 9

Manchester Met - Student Rep

Official Rep

16

Original post

by Anonymous

I am going to uni in September (Oceanography course) and I have a good gaming laptop. However, it is really heavy and battery life is dreadful. The battery charger weighs a tonne so it will be impractical to lug around campus. I plan to use it only in my room in halls. But then I need something for using on campus. Would a tablet (ipad or refurbished windows surface) be a solution or the lightest windows laptop I can afford?

Hey!
Carrying a heavy gaming laptop and a massive charger across campus every day is definitely not the one; it gets tiring very quickly!
Even though I commute, I’ve had to figure out the best way to stay productive on the go, and I can tell you that having a lightweight device makes a world of difference. Since you already have a powerful gaming laptop for your room, you really just need something for note-taking and light work in lectures.

Here are a few things to consider for your Oceanography course:

•

The Tablet Option: An iPad with a keyboard and stylus is amazing for annotating lecture slides and drawing diagrams, which might be handy for your science modules.

•

A Lightweight Laptop: If you prefer a traditional keyboard and do a lot of heavy typing for essays, a small, affordable laptop might be more comfortable. Look for something with at least 8 hours of battery life so you can leave your charger at home.

•

Borrowing Laptops: You should also look into your uni’s laptop loan schemes. Most libraries have "laptop lockers" where you can borrow a MacBook or PC for a few hours at a time, or a week, which is a great way to save money and keep your bag light.

My best advice is to weigh up the pros and cons of how you like to take notes and see if borrowing versus buying suits you better. If you're a fan of handwritten diagrams, a tablet is the way to go; if you're a fast typer who just wants a standard laptop feel, look for a lightweight notebook or check out those library loans!
I hope this helps you narrow down tech options!

Good luck starting your Oceanography course in September!😊

Rachel
(Third Year)
Undergraduate Multimedia Journalism

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