Being medical students, we deal with loads of study resources; medical textbooks, handouts, videos, and study apps.
You can bear witness that these study resources usually have a massive volume and are of great relevance that we need to carry them around for quick and easy references when needed.
Thank goodness! Most of these study resources have softcopy versions, so the concern now is finding a good electronic gadget that will last and as well help us in accessing these study materials easily.
This is why as medics, we need a very good iPad or tablet to help us with the task of containing these large study resources all in one place and having access to them seamlessly and whenever we want.
Table of Contents
- Is Ipad Important for medical students?
- Should I Get an Ipad for Med School?
- What to look out for in a good Tablet for Medical Students
- What Ipad Is best for medical school?
- Which Is the Best Ipad for Medical Students?
- Conclusion
Is Ipad Important for medical students?
Yes! Having an Ipad in medical school is a necessity. Personally, it saved me from having to carry my big medical books around the school on a daily basis.
It also made my homework, research, and project presentations easier.
As a medic, you should know by now that you can find almost any study material including your medical textbooks and videos for free on the internet.
So having an iPad will not only help you reduce the stress of carrying your books around, doing your projects and research effectively. It will also help you save a lot of money as a medical student.
I know some colleagues who have never spent a dime on any study material. They go for the softcopy of ever new recommended material during their days in college.
And of course, they still passed their medical school exams excellently.
Should I Get an Ipad for Med School?
Having a tablet in medical school will save you a lot of stress as a student. So you should really get a suitable iPad for medical school.
There are lots of things a good iPad can help you do as a medical student and I have outlined some of them below:
Reading
During my medical school days, I did most of my reading using softcopy resources.
With an iPad and internet access, you have nearly unlimited access to any study material you need. These include but are not limited to your course videos, textbooks (in PDFs and Epubs), medical apps, and so on.
The most important part is that you no longer have to show off that you are going to read or what subject you intend to read.
You no longer worry about whether you brought the right material to read or not, and even if you forget one, you can easily re-download it from wherever you are.
And this is simply because you have all the study materials you need on your iPad.
Also, personal experience has taught me that I tend to study faster when reading from a screen (wide ones), than when reading from books.
So anytime I have to cover lots of topics fast for an upcoming exam, I quickly switch from reading my hardcopy texts to softcopy. And everything flows faster.
Taking Notes in School
Even when you need to take important notes during classes or clinical rotations and still don’t want to carry a jotter around, but have your iPad with you, then you are covered.
You can take notes on your tablets from wherever you are using a Notes App.
Some newer generation iPads also come with a lightpen (like the apple pencil) that you can use in writing on them too.
This feature increases your speed of writing as you no longer have to type the words yourself.
Watching Medical Videos
I will never forget Dr. Najeeb’s Videos. His videos were my saving grace while I was studying Neuroanatomy.
With artistic drawing and detailed explanations, everything I study just doesn’t need a second-time read for comprehension.
Oh, and I am not forgetting my iPad which made it possible for me to download and watch his videos anytime I needed to learn a hard concept in school.
As a young medic, your best bet for understanding hard concepts is by watching medical videos on those topics.
It has worked for me and many people before you, so you should give it a try.
But before then, hope you have a very good iPad with a clean screen resolution and large memory capacity?
Research and Project Presentation
I have done an uncountable number of project presentations in medical school. And I never had to pay anyone to help me do the typing or arrange the work. Thanks to my laptop and tablet.
The former serves me whenever I am at home and needs to work on my project, and the latter becomes very useful when I am outside the home and need to make some urgent changes to the project.
As a medic, you will have lots of research and projects to do. And this is where your iPad comes in handy. Or else you have a lot of money to pay someone to do it for you.
Buying a good iPad for medical school is a good investment you will never regret. It will keep saving you money throughout your stay in medical school.
Just in case the above reasons are not enough for you to get a good tablet for medical school;
Having an electronic gadget in college with internet access will also expose you to the many ways you can make money online even as a medical student.
Now if you have lots of student loans piling up, this reason alone should be enough to make you get an iPad or a laptop you can use for a side hustle while pursuing your medical degree.
What to look out for in a good Tablet for Medical Students
Getting hold of the best iPads for medical students can be difficult especially due to the ‘white elephant phenomenon’.
The white elephant phenomenon simply refers to when the advertising, branding, and packaging of a product over-hypes the real quality of the product.
This is why it pays to carry out product research for reviews and recommendations are very important before investing in the product.
Having completed my stay in medical school, I know just exactly what the best tablets for medical students should be like.
I am not looking at the branding or beauty, but I am talking about the important components and qualities an iPad should have to serve the basic needs of an average medical student.
By the basic needs of an average medical student I mean; studying efficiently and passing your medical exams.
And these qualities include; Screen Size and Resolution, Speed, Storage capacity, Portability, and Price.
Screen Size and Resolution:
A good iPad for medical students should have a moderately sized screen. You don’t want it to be too large or just too big like a laptop that you find difficult to carry about.
That will defeat a major aim of getting the iPad in the first place.
You also want to make sure that the screen resolution is of top quality so that you can watch your anatomy videos clearly.
Processing Speed
Remember one of the benefits of having an iPad in medical school is to increase study speed.
You do not need a tablet that you will just hang whenever you are reading something important. You don’t have that time as a medical student.
So what you need is a very fast tablet that responds to commands just as you click any icon on it.
Portability
Portability is the core reason why we are recommending an iPad for medical students.
Carrying your Big Robbins, Bailey, and Love or Davidson’s around during clinical rotations is not funny at all. It will end up giving you serious back pain.
Your medical backpack should be just for your simple and portable iPad with the necessary medical instruments you may need for the day.
So in buying a good iPad for medical students, we recommend one that is not too small or too big, but just portable enough that you can fling it out while walking on the road to look up something.
Storage Capacity
All medical students need an iPad with a large storage capacity.
If not where will you store all your medical videos and textbooks where many are way over 500 MB?
How much iPad Storage Does a Medical Student Need?
Although I have a recommended benchmark, the iPad storage you need as a medical student depends on your personal needs and study plan. Your iPad should be large enough to contain all the study resources you need to write each medical professional exam.
This of course depends on the level you are in.
For instance, a 3rd-year medical student should have all the necessary study resources for 3rd year of medical school on his iPad.
And after each level in medical school, you can always move your old files to larger storage which could still be within your iPad.
Is 32GB Ipad enough for medical school?
No! A 32GB Ipad is not enough or else you plan on deleting every study material just after you have finished going through them in order to accommodate others.
The medical videos you will need in one class alone can take up this whole space if you are really into watching medical videos for a better understanding of topics.
Is 128 GB enough for Ipad Medical School?
A 128 GB tablet for medical school is just about enough. At least it can comfortably contain most of your study materials for one class.
But you may need more storage space if you like keeping your study materials for all classes in one place.
Is 256GB iPad Enough for Medical School?
Any iPad with a storage capacity of 256 GB and above is what I recommend for medical students. Personally, I use 500 GB capacity and I never worried about having to delete any document to create space for another.
With this, you can be sure that every study material you need throughout your stay in medical school will be contained and even more than enough space for other projects.
Price
An ideal iPad for medical students should have all the above qualities and on top of that, it should be relatively affordable for an average medical student.
Sadly, throughout my stay in medical school, I have never heard of an ideal situation or product. I just know that some things are manageable.
Getting a good tablet for your medical school journey is a worthwhile investment. And spending good money on it will definitely pay off.
What Ipad Is best for medical school?
There is no single best iPad for medical students. However, there are some tablets that beat others based on the above qualities I have listed which a good tablet should have.
I have written a detailed review on 7 such tablets that are a good fit for medical students.
What is remaining is for you to make a choice out of the 7 below depending on what works best for your budget.
The 7 Best tablets and iPads for Medical Students:
- Apple Ipad Pro
- 2021 Apple 11-Inch iPad Pro
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S8
- VASTKING KingPad M10
- CHUWI Hi0 Go
- ALLDOCUBE iPlay40 Pro
- Microsoft Surface Pro X
Apple Ipad Pro
I bet you are not surprised that Apple is topping my list of the best iPads for medical students.
This 4th generation of iPad is the only one that perfectly meets all the qualities I listed of an ideal iPad for medical students.
It is portable, has a very good storage capacity, lightning-fast, average screen size, and top-notch resolution.
Upon all these, it adds a bit of class to the user and of course, the camera quality is magnificent.
Specifications for Apple Ipad Pro:
Screen Size | 11 inches |
Storage Capacity | RAM: 256 GB Hard Drive: 256 GB |
Generation | 4th Generation |
Brand | Apple |
Operating System | Interactive Operating System (IOS) |
Battery Life | 10 Hours (A12Z Bionic Battery) |
Screen Resolution | 272 x 2048 pixels |
Touch Screen Response Rating | 4.6 out of 5 |
Processor | 2.49 GHz |
Camera | Rear webcam: 12 MP Ultra-wide: 10 MP Front: 7 MP |
Other Accessories | WI-FI Bluetooth NFC USB type – C 4 speaker audio 5 studio-quality microphones Apple Pencil Support for Magic Keyboard Smart keyboard folio |
2021 Apple 11-Inch iPad Pro
This is also one of the best iPads for medical students. It is just a chip off the newer version reviewed above.
It has a good memory capacity of 256 GB and will serve you perfectly if you just get a memory card to hold extra files.
Just like the newer version above, it is portable, has good speed and screen resolutions, and has excellent battery life.
It also has a 5G network for super fast downloads and high-quality streaming of your medical videos.
Specifications:
Screen Size | 12.9 inches |
Storage Capacity | 256 GB |
Generation | 4th Generation |
Brand | Apple |
Operating System | IOS |
Battery Life | 10 hours |
Screen Resolution | |
Touch Screen Response Rating | 4.7 over 5 |
Processor | M1 chip with a next-generation neural engine |
Camera | 12 MP wide 10 MP Ultra-wide |
Other Accessories | 5G Network USB Type – C Apple pencil Magic Keyboard |
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8
This tab is among my best iPads for medical students for special reasons; it speaks quality and efficiency.
It is one of the most recommended for college students generally.
It is very similar to the Apple iPad Pro, just that they are different brands. It is also portable and has a very high storage capacity.
Specifications:
Screen Size | 11 inches |
Storage Capacity | 256 GB |
Generation | |
Brand | Samsung |
Operating System | Android |
Battery Life | 8000 mAH |
Screen Resolution | 2560 x 1600 |
Touch Screen Response Rating | 4.7/5 |
Processor | Snapdragon (Qualcomm) |
Camera | |
Other Accessories | Samsung Dex and Microsoft 365 Integration Wifi 6E S Pen Bluetooth |
VASTKING KingPad M10
This gadget speaks quality and is undoubtedly among the best iPads for medical students.
It also meets the recommended specifications of an ideal tablet; good memory capacity, excellent speed, portability, and good resolution.
Specifications:
Screen Size | 10.36 inches |
Storage Capacity | 128 GB ROM 4 GB RAM |
Generation | |
Brand | VASTKING |
Operating System | Android 11 |
Battery Life | Lithium-ion |
Screen Resolution | 2000 x 1200 |
Touch Screen Response Rating | 4.3/5 |
Processor | Octacore (2.0 GHz) |
Camera | 13 MP rear |
Other Accessories | Bluetooth 4 Speakers GPS USB Type C 4G LTE |
CHUWI Hi0 Go
This is also another great brand of tablet and one of my recommended best iPads for medical students.
Its strength is in its RAM storage which supports up to 6 GB making it very fast to use even if you are multi-tasking.
Specifications:
Screen Size | 10.1 inches |
Storage Capacity | 128 GB ROM 6 GB ROM |
Generation | Intel Celeron 11th Generation |
Brand | CHUWI |
Operating System | Windows |
Battery Life | 2950 MAH |
Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1200 |
Touch Screen Response Rating | 4.2/5 |
Processor | Quad-core processor |
Camera | |
Other Accessories | USB Type C 1&2 WIFI GPS Bluetooth Light pen 5-pin dock keyboard interface Micro HDMI |
ALLDOCUBE iPlay40 Pro
Well known for its generous memory capacity and excellent screen display, ALLDOCUBE has been one of the very few excellent tablets dominating the market in recent times.
It is also one of my top recommendations for the best tablets for medical students.
Specifications:
Screen Size | 10.4 inches |
Storage Capacity | 256 GB ROM 8 GB RAM |
Generation | |
Brand | ALLDOCUBE |
Operating System | Android 11 |
Battery Life | 6200 MAH |
Screen Resolution | 2000 x 1200 Pixel |
Touch Screen Response Rating | 4.6/5 |
Processor | Mali G52 (2.4 GH) |
Camera | 5 MP + 8 MP with flash |
Other Accessories | USB Type – C WIFI Bluetooth 5.0 TF Expansion for Study work entertainment 4 Speakers 4G LTE Dual Sim Card GPS |
Microsoft Surface Pro X
Last but not least my best iPads for medical students was made by one of the most recognized brands worldwide; Microsoft.
It comes with an abundant storage capacity and screen resolution making it ideal for all your medical school videos.
Specifications:
Screen Size | 13.5 inches |
Storage Capacity | 256 GB ROM 8 GB RAM |
Generation | |
Brand | Microsoft |
Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
Battery Life | Lithium |
Screen Resolution | 2256 x 1504 PixelSense Touch Screen Display |
Touch Screen Response Rating | 4.8/5 |
Processor | Microsoft SQ1 Adreno 685 GPU |
Camera | 5 MP front 10 MP Rear |
Other Accessories | SSD WIFI 4G LTE USB Type – C Bluetooth 5.0 |
Which Is the Best Ipad for Medical Students?
With the above, we can hardly make out any one of the above as the best out of the 7 best iPads for medical students.
But the best approach to picking out which one to buy out of the 7 is to check out their prices and pay for the one that works best for your wallet.
Conclusion
iPad and tablets are excellent companions for medical students. I have outlined the best iPads for medical students and have included a quick review of their specifications.
This is bearing in mind the qualities of an ideal tablet for medical students that I have outlined above; the storage capacity, processor speed, screen size, display, and of course portability.
Even if you do not get any of the above iPads for any reason, the point is that you already know what to look out for. The entire goal of having an iPad in medical school is to help you make your studies effortless and easier.
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I wish you the best in your medical school journey!
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