It is widely believed that laptops in the classroom are beneficial. Well, let me clarify that statement a little. It is widely believed by college students (my peers) that laptops are beneficial to our educational success. Professors on the other hand, beg to differ.

Par for the course in my life, I disagree with my fellow peers, and surprisingly agree with the older and supposedly much wiser professors. Yes, laptops are a distraction in whatever lecture hall you happen to be sitting in. I know this from many of my college aged friends personal experiences on the subject, which lead to some hard learned lessons of failure.

Now, that is not to say that some of my peers aren’t capable of self control and can’t handle the potential distraction at their fingertips. Those people do exist, but if I am going to be honest with myself, if it comes down to fiddling with my computer or listening to my professors latest lecture, I am not one of those people.

I think I have accepted this about myself.

Still, I can’t just go to class with a notepad and a piece of paper. The nerd in me will not allow such nonsense in a room filled with PC’s, and I’m sure an iPad or two for the richer students amongst us. That is why I have been looking into the Pulse Smartpen from LiveScribe these past few months, and after some internal debate between getting a new phone and the Pulse Smartpen for a grad gift from the ‘rents, I chose the Smartpen (see, I do have my priorities in line ;D).

I haven’t regretted my choice.

1. Usage

I love my G1, it surfs the web, has GPS navigation and integrates beautifully with Google services. The one thing it really sucks at though? Making phone calls. It would be nice if a smartphone was smart and worked great as a telephone. I thought this might be the same problem with the Livescribe pen. Sure, the software might work beautifully, but does it feel good to write with?

Yes it does.

The Pulse Smartpen was meant to be held. It is perfectly balanced, weighty, large enough so that you know it exists in your hand, but not large enough to be cumbersome, and beautifully made with a solid metal body. I feel very cliche saying this, but the design and the seemingly minute attention to detail was very reminiscent of nearly every device Apple has made.

2. Software

The Livescribe Desktop software is just as beautiful. It is ridiculously easy to upload and manage your documents, as well as share those documents with friends. As for the handwriting recognition? It is no better or worse than Evernote. In other words, I am accepting of the technology, but I believe it can be much better.

3. Accessories

I won’t lie, it bugs me a little how much the special dot paper costs, but, I took the costs into consideration when purchasing the pen. At least it’s not like the ridiculous cheap printer = expensive ink situation that we all hate. It seems that Livescribe charges a fair price for the necessary dot paper, ink refills, and other accessories. You can even print the special dot paper in the Livescripe application if you are in a bind.

Final Thought

I love the pen and have very little to complain about. I think it will strike the necessary balance of usefulness that I will need during class while keeping my attention on the professor I am paying a pretty penny for their thoughts.