Save the trees- use less notebook paper

[Amanjit]

Hi,

I'm graduating from my college this summer and going on to university. I was wondering if, with the advancments in hardwriting recognition software, whether a pocket PC could be effectively used to take notes during a lecture?

Thanks for any help,
A

[doctorgonzo]

I don't know about you, but I can type faster than I can write with a pen and paper these days. You may not need a table PC or handwriting-recognition software to use laptop to take notes.

[Staren]

I guess if you are good enough. Though there is still a high learning curve to it. Most of them still will not take your standard handwritting. It has to learn, and you will still have to clean up your style quite a bit before the error rate would be down to a point that it would be useful. I type on a quarty keyboard a lot faster then I can write anyway, so that's what I do.

[Amanjit]

I was looking to use hardwriting recognition becuase if I write my notes I remmber them better and by having them drawn up into a word processed document at the same time, kind of killing two birds with one stone. Anyone ever used say an iPAQ in this kind of situation?

What I'm thinking of doing at the minute is taking handwritten/audio notes and then typing them up onto my laptop later.
The laptop I have right now is powerful but huge, its the acer 1714SMi, they don't make it anymore becuase of its very poor practicality.
Its more like a desktop, in fact I use it as one at home.

I could get a highly portable budget notebook, but I think I thought PDA becuase I wanted to get something a little bit "cooler" i guess, never having a PDA before n after playing around with a few has intrigued me, but right now I havent got the budget to go gadget mad, so I'm just counting my options.

[sdkfz]

Have you checked out MS One Note? It might be the software tool to use for taking notes

http://www.microsoft.com/office/onen.../overview.mspx

Miind you I graduated from college in 1984 so I may be a little out of touch...

[flanzig1]

A PDA is great for writing quick notes or phone numbers but to take notes from an hour long lecture, you will fall behind on the note taking.

[Amanjit]

Humm, I've actually got onenote but dont use it at the minute, as I dont need it. However it can import the PDA handwriting in its raw format which I guess is one thing, but still means retyping to get into a word processible form.

I guess a cheap notebook is the way to go? I really had my heart set on getting a cool pocket PC

[thefultonhow]

Look at a Tablet PC instead of a Pocket PC. The tablet will be easier to take notes on because of its larger size, and you can switch to the keyboard if you ever want to.

[glc]

Yes, a Tablet PC with OneNote is the way to go, but they are nowhere as cheap as an entry level laptop or a PDA.

[Amanjit]

Ah, I think I'll have to ebay myself one in a few months. I'm still unsure whether to take a gap year or not, depends on my grade really, but cheers, thanks for the help.