Note Talkers

Last semester was the first full semester I had a Tablet PC, OneNote, Windows Journal, and other things we talk about on this blog. Here are the lessons (in no particular order) I learned from my experience. This is part 1 of a two part series.

1) Tablet PCs are cool

I thought Mac owners were in an exclusive group but Tablet PC owners are in a more exclusive and cooler group. Besides the wow factor of the Tablet PC, I found it very useful and handy. I wrote all of my class notes and homework assignments on it. In fact, I stopped carrying pen and paper to class.

2) Weight/Battery Life Issue

I own the Gateway Tablet PC and it is a whopping 8-9 pounds. This include an extended battery and a second modular battery. From my personal experience, I loved having 10-11 hours of battery life. I could go to classes in the morning and return home in the evening without worrying about battery life or bringing my power cord along. To me, the weight is worth it and as an added bonus, my biceps are stronger.

3) Computer/Software Crashes

Once in a while, my OneNote and/or my computer would crash during lecture. Lets just say I let out a big “Nooooooooo!” What did I do about it? First, I kept my computer free of viruses, bugs, spyware, etc by downloading latest updates and actually running those programs once a week. Second, I invested in a system optimizer (System Mechanic) that optimizes my computer. Third, during lecture, I would close down unnecessary programs like music players (yes, I listen to music during boring lectures) and only kept my note-taking program running.

4) Powering Up

In the beginning, I would turn on my computer at the start of each class and turn it off at the end of each class. Don’t! No matter how fast your computer is and how fast it boots, it will still be “slow” when you realize the teacher went over the entire test in the 50 seconds it took your computer to boot up. Plus, those boot up and welcome noises distract the class.

First, turn of the boot up and log-in sounds. Second, start using stand-by and hibernate. I come back to my work in less than 10 seconds with stand-by or hibernate.

5) Staying Organized

Towards the end, I had many different types of files on my computer. I had class notes, lecture notes, homework assignments, programming assignments, pdf files, mind maps, etc. Unfortunately, all of these were created in different programs. I kept the files in the default folder of the application. So, OneNote stayed in “My Notebooks” folder, Matlab files stayed in Matlab folder. This method was not perfect because information for one class was scattered everywhere, but it was better than no system. Staying organized is a continuous process and I will continue to find ways to better organize my information.

One a side note, I am looking forward to Windows Vista and its “virtual folder.” I think this will help solve some of my organizing problems.