These days, law school isn’t just about tons of hardcopy books, digests,pads of paper, and a good set of pens (especially during exams). In many countries, that’s probably considered the ‘old law school’. Apparently, most universities have adapted to the digital era, maximizing the use of available technology for easier access to references and cases. Storing digital files also allows the exchange of important documents such as exam papers, projects, and assignments between professors and students.
While many students would still prefer physical law books and readings rather than soft copy materials, having a laptop is definitely usefulfor time-consuming activities such as researching information, reading tons of material, and writing a handful of review papers and essays. But before rushing to a computer store, what should law students consider when choosing a good laptop for their education?
What Your Law School Requires
Some law schools give a list of required laptop specifications to their entering students. Check out this example.Not meeting those basic requirements could impact a student’s entire education in the university. He may not keep up with the lectures, exams, recitations, paper works, and other school activities as some schools make use of an exclusive network, system or software applications that a student should install in his laptop.This is exactly the reason why entering students should first find out if the school has specific requirements when it comes to educational tools such as computers and laptops before buying one.
What if there aren’t basic computer requirements for law students in your university? What specifications should you look for?
Storage: Opt for Solid State Drive (SSD)
Nothing wrong with an HDD, but you’ll want a more robust, more reliable kind of storage drive that will never break down easily, but will rather give you a faster, and more pleasing overall computer experience.SSD has definitely got that edge over HDD. In fact, it’s been regarded as the ultimate cure for turtle-like laptops.
With an SSD, your laptop’s system as well as its software apps could start in a pretty speedy manner. It also takes just a few secondsnavigating your way through files and documents. Typically, law schools require at least a size of 250 GB for your SSD. However, 512 GB SSDs would make a better choice. Good news is, more laptops with 512 GB SSDs are becoming increasingly affordable these days.
Law students would do lots of researching, downloading tons of digests, and writing a bunch of case reviews and essays. This amount of work would require a laptop with excellent speed and large storage space. And oh, just in case you want to figure it out, here’s how you can manage your time for all of that once you start law school: https://abovethelaw.com/2017/09/how-to-win-the-time-management-game-in-law-school/
Processor: Go for an Intel i5or i7
You wouldn’t usually make use of powerful software applications in your law subjects. But for great performance and efficiency,choose either an Intel i5 or i7. With either of these processor versions, you’re getting not just a decent laptop for your law studies, but the best laptop you can rely on throughout your years in law school.
RAM: Choose at least 8GB
A laptop with built-in SSD, Intel i5, plus 8GB of RAM will surely offer you a satisfying, speedy and reliable performance for your law education.You can’t go wrong with 8GB RAM size or more. It’s important to look at this spec especially if you constantly need to run several software apps, open multiple browser tabs, and do lots of multitasking. Sites like Orphan Laptops provides useful reviews about laptops suitable for law students.
Weight: Something Your Shoulders Can Tolerate
In and out of class, you’ll spend endless amount of time reading, researching, downloading, and writing. Being a law student means living a life like that. We couldn’t mention those tasks enough. And so, you’ll want your laptop to stay by your side all the time, like a best bud you can’t live without. But hey, carrying around a heavy, bulky laptop doesn’t sound like a good idea. It would just add to the pressure and stress you’re already coping up with.
Thus, go for a laptop that’s lightweight—even something that your back and shoulders wouldn’t feel it’s there. Take note though that you shouldn’t compromise a long battery life and decent screen size that’s comfortable to stare at even during long hours for something that weighs almost nothing.
Storage, processor, RAM, weight, screen size and battery life are the features you should pay attention to if you’re looking for a laptop that you’ll heavily use in your law studies. Make sure to jot down the mentioned specs.
