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Nursing can be a very practical and physical field of work, but learning it is another matter. Most nursing schools in the United States require a good quality laptop that is no more than three years old.
While you don’t necessarily need a high-end laptop with high-end processors and graphics cards, especially since you’ll be working primarily with Microsoft Office and surfing the web, your laptop should still be rugged, lightweight, and offer impeccable performance.
So finding the best laptop for nursing students is a pretty easy task. And to help you do just that, we’ve put together this year’s list of the best options, with a handy shopping guide at the end to help you choose the best laptop. Let’s go!
Contents
Recommended book features
While the high-end configurations of a nursing school laptop may be excessive, there are still some things to consider to ensure you get a good working and teaching experience, not to mention value for money.
These include the following:
Minimum requirements | Recommended requirements | |
CPU | Intel Core i5 from 7. Revival | Intel Core i7 out of 10. Revival |
GPU | Integrated Intel UHD graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 with 2GB vRAM |
RAM | 8 GB | 16GB |
Storage | 256 GB SOLID STATE DRIVE | 512 GB SSD |
show | 13 Full HD IPS | 15 Ultra HD 4K IPS |
Battery life | Around 8 o’clock. | About 12 hours. |
Our favorite nursing books
We took the time to research, test, and review dozens of laptops on the market to create a definitive list of the best laptops for nursing students in 2021. All the options below are guaranteed to work well and flawlessly for you and can handle all your tasks and searches with ease.
Acer Aspire 5 Slim Notebook
For us, the best laptop for nursing school is the Acer Aspire 5 Slim laptop, which is a best seller with no surprises because it contains serious hardware that is not only great on its own, but also contains rare gems at this price.
The device is equipped with a 10th generation Intel Core i5 processor. Generation, 8 gigabytes of RAM and 256 gigabytes of ultra-fast SSD storage. This means you don’t have to think twice about multitasking and you can be sure you’re protected from glitches, delays and interruptions. The notebook even has an excellent thermal design and quiet operation even with heavy applications.
But perhaps the best thing about Aspire 5 is that it’s suitable for students and professionals alike. It does wonders for productivity on the go, especially with its 12-hour battery that won’t leave you stranded in the middle of a project.
- 15.6 IPS display in Full HD (1920 x 1080)
- 4.2 GHz Intel Core i5-10210U processor
- NVIDIA GeForce MX250 Graphics Processor
- 8GB DDR4 RAM, 256GB SSD
- Windows 10 Home OS
- 12 hours battery life
New Apple MacBook Pro
First off, this is the new Apple MacBook Pro laptop, one of the best and most promising on the market today. In fact, it is also one of the best laptops for web design today. The combination of synergistic hardware and stable software is particularly commendable because it ensures serocompatibility and offset.
As you can see, this laptop is powered by a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and supports turbo charging technology that delivers a maximum speed of 3.9 GHz. This ensures compatibility and smooth operation when running various maintenance programs and applications.
It’s also equipped with an Iris Plus Graphics 645 GPU, allowing you to immerse yourself in graphic design and illustration in your spare time. Plus, the True Tone technology on the 13-inch screen makes for a sharper picture. With the high-resolution Retina display, you’ll also enjoy sharper viewing angles and better visibility in bright sunlight, as well as an enhanced sRGB color gamut.
- 13.3 (2560 x 1600) IPS Retina display
- Intel Core i5-8275U CPU at 1.4GHz
- Intel Iris Plus 645 Graphics Processor
- 8GB DRUM, 512GB SSD
- 10 hours battery life
Microsoft Surface Pro 7
You should also check out Microsoft Surface Pro 7, which is considered by some to be the best computer for nursing schools because it offers fast performance that allows for easy workflow, quick note taking, and efficient tasks – all essential for clinical work. This is a particularly interesting option if you are looking for the most portable laptop possible.
Preparing documents and browsing large files is easy with an Intel Core i7 processor for superior, fast and reliable performance. With this laptop, you won’t have to deal with lag times and frozen screens, even if you use it for hours on end. In fact, it is also a good choice when it comes to laptops for engineering students.
Additionally, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 offers a decent amount of work and storage capacity with a choice of 4 to 8 gigabytes of RAM and 128 gigabytes of SSD. Battery life may not be as impressive at just 6 hours, but it’s still enough to get you through a hard digital workday.
- 12.3 Touch screen
- Intel Core i5 CPU
- Intel Iris Plus GPU
- DRUM 8GB, 126GB SSD
- Windows 10 Home
- 10 hours battery life
Read more here: 10 reasons why every nursing student should come up here.
Asus VivoBook 15 Slim and Lightweight Notebook
We also like the Asus VivoBook 15 Thin and Light Notebook, an affordable model that pleasantly surprises with its size, shape, weight and design. You’ll see that these are all the features of a much more expensive notebook, but the VivoBook 15 proudly displays these superior qualities for an incredibly low price.
Now, the hardware configurations of this laptop are entry-level, but you can expect such low prices, and that’s not bad either, especially if you’re going to use the laptop mainly for nursing school.
The Intel Core i3 processor is an entry-level dual-core processor. While it’s ideal for all sorts of things like using social media, web browsing, online video streaming, and lighting effects, it’s not really suitable for demanding applications. However, it should be noted that it has a 4 MB cache for multitasking.
- 15.6 Full HD IPS display (1920 x 1080)
- Intel Core i5-8145U CPU at 3.9GHz
- Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU
- 8GB DDR4 RAM, 128GB SSD
- Windows 10 S-Mode
- 10 hours battery life
Asus ZenBook 15 Notebook
Another promising option from Asus is the Asus ZenBook 15, which features an innovative keyboard layout, dual screen functionality and a premium overall design – all of which make it an excellent laptop for nursing school.
One of the many things we like about this laptop is that the Intel Core i7 processor is powerful and energy efficient, allowing resource-hungry software modules like Skyscape and WebMD to run easily and smoothly. This chipset also supports turbo charging technology for a maximum speed of 4.9 GHz.
It also features a graphics card in the form of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650. It offers 4GB of vRAM and handles titles in elite HD resolution. This GPU also allows for 3D anatomical modeling, which is always an interesting possibility.
- 15.6 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) IPD Display
- Intel Core i7-10510U Processor at 1.8 GHz
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics processor with 4GB vRAM
- 16 G IEM. DRUM, 512 G SSD
- 9 hours battery life
Lenovo Yoga 730 2-in-1 Laptop
Finally, there’s the 2-in-1 laptop Lenovo Yoga 730, which prides itself on its 4K panels for better graphics. Sure, it’s a bit too much (not to mention terribly expensive), but who says you don’t enjoy playing games and watching movies during breaks?
The 4K screen isn’t the only thing this laptop has to offer. It is equipped with a mid-range Intel Core i7 processor running at 1.8 GHz and supercharged at 4.0 GHz. This processor is more than capable of managing applications and maintenance programs, even all those documents, spreadsheets and datasets with ease.
In addition, the notebook is equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card with 2 gigabytes of vRAM. Although it does not meet the requirements of serious games, it can still handle entry-level games with ease and, most importantly, it greatly enhances the viewing experience. The touch screen also makes it an excellent notebook for writers.
- 15.6 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) touchscreen display
- Intel Core i7-8550U 1.8 GHz processor
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Graphics Processor with 2GB vRAM
- 16 G IEM. DRUM, 512 G SSD
- 9 hours battery life
Laptop computers for nursesPurchasing tips
It’s easy to find a good nursing school laptop, but it’s a little harder to find the best nursing school laptop. There are several things to consider first. For your convenience, here is a buying guide that explains the key considerations when buying a laptop for nurses.
First: Your care plan
Now, before you start buying laptops online, it is important to check with your sister’s department to find out what her recommendations and requirements are, if you need other equipment, or even if she can point you to a store that offers the best deals.
You can also visit Nurse.org, where you’ll find a practical guide to all things nursing.
Portable computer/other device requirements
Some schools require students to have not only a laptop, but also a separate portable device, such as a B. tablet, for use in clinics and classrooms. This is largely due to the tablets being portable, fast and easy to use, especially for accessing clinical information and medical records on the go.
Software requirements
At school, you’ll primarily use Microsoft Office for reports and presentations, Adobe Reader for assignments and course notes, and tools like QuickTime, Java, Shockwave, and Flash for training videos, quick animations, and podcasts.
However, you will likely use applications such as Epocrates as a universal reference application, Lexicomp for a complete library of drug information, and Typhoon Clinical Journals to track your patients’ data during clinical operations.
While it is important to understand these programs and their requirements for your laptop, you should be aware that they all run on different operating systems and are not compatible.
Software solutions, information and services for healthcare and medical professionals are available at wolterskluwer.com.
Take note of
School of Nursing is a combination of ancient and digital technology for lectures, presentations and note-taking. You will receive z. B. slides in PDF format and can annotate them with a pen.
Therefore, touch screen laptops and tablets are very useful in nursing schools. You can record audio files of lectures, view and write plans on PowerPoint slides, study summaries of the information instead of reading hundreds of pages of study material, and much more.
Power
Several factors affect the performance of a laptop. These are the processor, main memory or RAM, storage and graphics card.
Processor
The processor is the main power source for the laptop, so it needs to be powerful enough to handle what you want to do with the laptop. This prevents crashes, corrupt files, lagging, slow operations, or worse, your laptop from dying.
If you’re a multitasker, e. B. Downloading multimedia files from the Internet while listening to podcasts and writing reports requires a processor with more cores. Therefore, you should at least invest in a Core i5 processor.
RAM
Random Access Memory (RAM) also affects performance by helping to store important data and to process and transfer that data as needed. Availability of sufficient RAM is essential to avoid bottlenecks and ensure fast and smooth operation.
RAM is also important because nursing students have to deal with many heavy applications that require a lot of RAM. In this case, the main memory must allow for a sufficient number of application operations and data requests. In other words: Stay away from laptops with 2 GB RAM and try to get at least 6 GB of DDR4 memory.
Storage
You should also consider the type and capacity of the laptop. First of all, you need to have enough space to store all your applications, programs and files on your laptop, especially if you are going to use these things on a daily basis and you don’t want to worry about external hard drives, USB, SD cards, etc.
Sufficient memory not only ensures the storage of your files and programs, but also the proper functioning of your laptop. This also reduces the load on the processor. When it comes to the use and proper operation of processors, SSDs or SSDs are the way to go for better, faster, cleaner and more reliable than hard drives.
Graphics card
The final performance factor is the graphics card or GPU. Now, even if you want the best computer for nursing, it probably won’t have a high quality graphics processor for the simple reason that you don’t need it for nursing tasks. Of course, if you want to do other things like gaming and video editing, invest in a good GPU. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter.
Operating system
For the operating system, just choose between Windows, Mac and Chrome – unless you’re a Linux fan. In some ways, it is a personal choice of the operating system you want to use, but the important thing is that the operating system you choose meets the needs of your school of nursing and is compatible with the programs you will be using.
Yet all three operating systems are capable of effectively performing the demanding tasks of patient care. Each operating system has its advantages and disadvantages: Chrome is cloud-based and easily accessible, Windows is the most widely used and easiest to use, and the Mac is much more flexible and high-tech.
Battery life
As someone who moves from classroom to classroom for visiting or clinical work, you need a device, whether it’s a laptop or a tablet, that has a decent battery life to ensure flawless operation. You certainly don’t want your laptop to give up the ghost in the middle of an important recording or presentation.
You need to be able to use your laptop for as long as possible, sometimes a whole day, without having to find an outlet. Remember, nursing school is tough and nursing school has a busy schedule, so don’t add sports to your suffering.
Ideally, you should choose a laptop with a battery life of at least 8 to 12 hours. This shouldn’t be too difficult, as most modern laptops have decent battery life and the maintenance programs don’t use too much juice.
Display
Remember to look closely at the laptop’s screen – its quality, size and resolution. The display should be good enough so that you can easily read and view the files. It needs to be clear, deliver sharp images, have the right brightness, enable multitasking and offer a good balance between viewing comfort and portability.
size
13-inch laptops are the best laptops for nursing students because they are portable without being too uncomfortable to work with. Less than that, you’ll tire your eyes out after an hour of work, and more than that, you’ll find it difficult to move from one class to another.
Resolution
In terms of resolution, 1080p or HD resolution is a good place to start. It is suitable for multitasking because it allows you to view multiple windows side by side, which is advantageous when you are surfing the web or reading documents while typing in MS Word.
Of course, you can opt for a higher resolution such as Full HD or even Ultra HD (4K) if you want a more enjoyable viewing experience, but never consider resolutions lower than HD, even if the price is tempting.
Portability
We’ve talked about this many times, but we have to insist on portability when it comes to a laptop for nursing school. It is very important that the laptop is easy to carry, so you can move around easily and not feel weighed down.
The trade-off between portability and wearability is, of course, the size of the screen, which affects your work or viewing comfort. So you have the choice of how much of each factor you want and which factor you want to prioritize. Again, 13-inch laptops offer a great combination of portability and convenience.
Weight
One thing that affects the portability of a laptop, besides its size, is its weight. It doesn’t matter how small the laptop is if it weighs a ton. It should be light so it’s easy to carry and not bulky in a bag already filled with books and files.
To give you an idea, thin, portable laptops weigh up to 3 pounds. Everything else means you’ll have to use either old, bulky laptops or high-end gaming laptops.
Accessories
When you go to nursing school, you will find that there are additional requirements for laptops and accessories. The best computer in a nursing school comes with at least two of them, but you can also buy them separately.
Integrated webcam
Integrated webcams are important not only for online courses and assignments (e.g., telemedicine), but also for attending lectures, live courses, and webinars offered inside and outside the school.
A good webcam should offer decent, pixel-free image quality (which is a problem for many embedded webcams) and clear voice transmission so others can see and hear you clearly.
For better online working and learning, use the Mpow 059 Bluetooth Headset.
CD ROM
Don’t be surprised, but despite the technological advances in the world today, some nursing teachers still use CDs, especially for revising textbooks and supplemental exams. Since most modern laptops don’t come with a CD-ROM or don’t have room for one, there are two ways out of this situation:
You can buy an external CD or DVD player and plug it into your laptop, or spend time transferring all those textbook CDs to an external hard drive or USB drive, maybe even downloading them to a cloud drive using your department’s computer lab.
Other
- You will also need a VGA adapter if your laptop does not have one. This is useful for PowerPoint and other presentations if your school is still using these VGA projectors. An interesting and affordable option is the gold plated VicTsing HDMI-VGA converter adapter for PC.
- Even if your laptop runs on battery power 24 hours a day, it doesn’t hurt to have a backup on hand to avoid problems, especially in the middle of important moments like presentations and final exams. Buying an extra battery will definitely be beneficial.
- Your school probably offers free or cheap unlimited printing, but if you want your own printer at home or in your room, there are many affordable options like the HP Envy 4520 All-in-One Wireless Photo Printer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a high-end processor for nursing school?
No, not really. Basic i7 and i9 processors are a bit overloaded with software and nursing school programs, and entry-level processors can certainly do without. However, make sure the processor is of the latest generation, has excellent performance in single-core mode, is capable of multithreading or hyperthreading, can achieve high turbo speeds and is energy efficient.
How much RAM is needed to process large medical resources and patient records?
8 GB of RAM can be enough for most basic medical tasks, and you can even get excellent processing speeds with it. But 16 GB RAM is more secure and able to manage large amounts of resources and data, including real-time anatomical imaging, patient management and online resources.
What should be taken into account when mapping?
The high-quality screen, touchpad and stylus make it easy to take notes during lectures and clinical sessions, as well as when working with patients, administering medications and drug interactions. The matte panel also helps with visibility in direct sunlight, which can be important in outdoor medical camps and other environments.
Are MacBooks a good choice for a nursing school laptop?
Yes. The Macbook is an excellent laptop for nursing school because it is professional, durable, portable, fluid, versatile, powerful, and relatively easy to use. MacBooks are known for their many software features and excellent storage capacity. Of course, there are also reasons not to buy a Macbook Air, which you can see in this YouTube video.
Are Chromebooks a good idea for nursing students?
Online and cloud-based resources are becoming increasingly popular with the development of various SaaS platforms. Chromebooks therefore also become a good choice to meet the needs of nursing schools. With Chromebook, you can enjoy online file management applications, cloud storage support, real-time rich backups, and more.
Can tablets replace laptops in nursing schools?
Yes. In fact, some schools may need tablets instead of laptops, or both. It can be helpful to use a tablet or iPad for nursing school because it is portable, easy to carry, convenient to write on, and does not require much maintenance. Of course, there will be certain limits as far as performance is concerned, so that needs to be taken into account as well.
Conclusion
After all, the best laptop for nursing students is the one that allows you to work and learn comfortably and efficiently on the go. This means finding the right balance between portability, weight, size and performance.
The laptop’s display and battery life are reportedly excellent. The operating system must be compatible with the programs and software you need to use at school. It is designed to capture and retrieve data quickly and easily. Finally, it should come with the right accessory kits.
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