I can make you all sorts of wish lists around the Surface Pro X. Surface Pro X 2: The wish list Thunderbolt
That also means less time between when it’s announced and when it’s modified into the Microsoft SQ3. The Surface Pro X, which used the modified 8cx known as the SQ1, shipped a bit earlier in November 2019.īecause of that shift in strategy, we won’t have to wait as long between when the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 was announced and when it begins to ship, and indeed, Qualcomm said devices based on the SoC are coming in the first half of 2022. Indeed, the Snapdragon 8cx was originally announced in December 2018, but the Samsung Galaxy Book S - the first laptop to use it - didn’t ship until the beginning of 2020. Qualcomm said the reason for such a minor refresh was because it was trying to shorten the time between when a chipset is announced, and when it lands in products you can buy. The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 was a difference of 150MHz clock speed over the original, and that’s it. For a Microsoft SQ3, Microsoft will be using the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, which offers a 60% boost in CPU performance, an 85% boost in graphics performance, and triple the AI performance. Save your money for good food and drinks, you’ll need them.The Microsoft SQ3 will be a much bigger difference. Good luck!Īt the end of the day, you just need something to watch videos on from home and something that can run Anki, so no need to buy multiple expensive devices. Save your money for good food and drinks, you’ll need them. Or you could spring for the new MacBook Air ($899 with edu discount), but the base processor in that leaves something to be desired for the price point and the webcam still looks like ****.Īt the end of the day, you just need something to watch videos on from home and something that can run Anki, so no need to buy multiple expensive devices. If you think you wanna jump to Apple, I’d recommend just getting the base MacBook Pro (wait for the new one to come out, it should have a bunch of improvements this upcoming iteration), that should serve you very well for 6+ years if you take care of it. It’s great if you’re really into writing with the pen on Notability or another program like that, but otherwise it’s easier to do pretty much anything else on the computer. A lot of my classmates didn’t use the iPad either. For pre-clinical, I used a MacBook Air and then our school “gave” (used our tuition money) us an iPad, but I hardly used the iPad. It's currently 1399 (10th gen i5/8GB/256GB SSD) on Dell or 1599 (i7/16GB/256GB SSD) for the upgraded version. If I had to pick one now, I would go with the XPS 13 2-in-1 (2020).
If you are dead set on handwritten notes on a tablet, I would recommend a solid 2-in-1 like XPS 13, HP Spectre x360, or Lenovo Yoga C930 plus iPad Mini with bluetooth keyboard. It was small enough to fit in my white coat on rounds so when the students inevitably lost their computers to residents, I could still follow-up in my patients chart for new labs/imaging from that morning while on rounds, for example.įor notetaking, I preferred using pen and paper and never took typed or stylus notes on my Surface Book. The best tech I ever used was an iPad mini with bluetooth keyboard. Looking back, while I think it was nice to have the detachable screen, I don't think I used it more than a couple times and mostly for pre-clinical. other 2-in-1s) since the start of med school and recently switched to the XPS 13 (not 2-in-1 2019) after some persistent hardware problems with my Surface Book (1st gen). But writing out notes is so nice if you're considering it.Ĭurrent MS3. If you're worried about cost at all, think about if you really need the laptop if you already have a desktop. An iPad for notes and a macbook air or something would give the best of both worlds, but is kinda expensive. You probably would feel like you're missing out on not being able to iMessage, etc from your Surface. I'm also getting an iPhone and might get a macbook as my next laptop.
The only complaint I had is it tends to be a bit laggy/glitchy, which is likely better on the new models, but Windows laptops have their limitations in terms of fluidity of OS. Usually fast, good touchpad, 10+hr battery life. Rewriting notes alone (when done right) even without anki or other resources helped me do well above average some blocks. The actual form factor and overall design is essentially perfect in my opinion, and annotating notes on OneNote was so helpful for my classes. I used a surface pro (2017) for the first two years while I watched/went to lectures.
I have a desktop PC for watching lectures, etc at home.