Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What is the Best Note Taking App for Engineering Students?

S

sw6lee

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 4, 2013
200
28
Hi guys,

Although I am not a freshmen in engineering, I am thinking of using iPad as a note-taking app. The reason is that I want all my notes to be stored in iPad, instead of carrying 5 different notebooks for all courses, as well as my laptop, etc.

I believe that there are note-taking apps where when you write something, it will automatically insert that writing in the next space. However, the requirements for me is that I need to be able to write equations, draw diagram in the pages, and also possibly insert picture inline, so that when the professor goes too fast at times, I can take a picture and just insert it in the spot.
Another thing is that sometimes professors draw arrows, from one place on the board to another. So I need to be able to do that by drawing an arrow from one place of my note to another, ignoring the writing formate.

And it'd be very good if it syncs with my macbook, via box or google drive. I don't use dropbox..And it'd be even better if there is a same note app for macbook, so that It automatically syncs, similar way to Evernote. I think evernote doesn' support equations or diagram, etc.

And the reasons I don't use macbook for taking notes is because it's very hard to draw diagrams with the trackpad, and writing equation is cumbersome for me, and also it can't take a picture of the board.

Any good note-taking app for me?

Please share your opinion!
Thanks.
 
HengenJL

HengenJL

macrumors 6502a
May 27, 2007
701
296
Rochester, NY
Penultimate syncs with Evernote, allows you to take photos, and write handwritten notes. However if you were to download Penulitmate I would recommend purchasing a stylus such as the Wacom Bamboo.
 
T

tyche

macrumors 6502
Jul 30, 2010
413
65
Take a look at the Livescribe pens. There's 3 models and unfortunately they all offer different features. Like the echo sends notes to different services, the Sky wirelessly syncs to Evernote and the new Livescribe 3 uses bluetooth to sync to your ios 7 device but this one doesn't record audio.

I've just never been able to write on an iPad with a stylus. You spend a lot of effort messing around with the screen size or I write giant letters and it's sluggish.

Using a traditional ink pen on paper lets you write quickly while you're jotting notes down as the professor rambles on nonstop and two of the pens have audio recording with link to the words you are writing to when you review it a month later, you have audio to go with what you wrote down to job your memory.
 
S

sw6lee

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 4, 2013
200
28
HengenJL said:
Penultimate syncs with Evernote, allows you to take photos, and write handwritten notes. However if you were to download Penulitmate I would recommend purchasing a stylus such as the Wacom Bamboo.
Click to expand...

Accord3 said:
I use Notability for note taking with a stylus. You can add folders and sync to Dropbox.
Click to expand...

Hmm..I think notability may be a good choice, as I heard it was good before, and it has amazing reviews. Penultimate seems like a good option as well though, with evernote syncing. I don't have evernote premium account yet, but if I decide to get it, it's extra 45dollar per year, so I'll have to think about it more.. :)

----------
tyche said:
Take a look at the Livescribe pens. There's 3 models and unfortunately they all offer different features. Like the echo sends notes to different services, the Sky wirelessly syncs to Evernote and the new Livescribe 3 uses bluetooth to sync to your ios 7 device but this one doesn't record audio.

I've just never been able to write on an iPad with a stylus. You spend a lot of effort messing around with the screen size or I write giant letters and it's sluggish.

Using a traditional ink pen on paper lets you write quickly while you're jotting notes down as the professor rambles on nonstop and two of the pens have audio recording with link to the words you are writing to when you review it a month later, you have audio to go with what you wrote down to job your memory.
Click to expand...

That seemed like a very interesting option, so I went to their website, but wow..the pens are super expensive..haha. Will have to think about that as well..:) Thanks.
 
chickenwingfly

chickenwingfly

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2012
633
22
sw6lee said:
Hmm..I think notability may be a good choice, as I heard it was good before, and it has amazing reviews. Penultimate seems like a good option as well though, with evernote syncing. I don't have evernote premium account yet, but if I decide to get it, it's extra 45dollar per year, so I'll have to think about it more.. :)
Click to expand...

I don't have evernote premium either, but I've been using their free service for a while now, and as much as I'd like another "subscription model" (hate annual fees) to take the plunge, free has been a viable alternative so far.
And there are frankly so much apps out there that can sync with evernote that it's hard to "get away from it".

sw6lee said:
That seemed like a very interesting option, so I went to their website, but wow..the pens are super expensive..haha. Will have to think about that as well..:) Thanks.
Click to expand...
There might be better styli than others (and heck, you can even make your own but the quality will be cheesy), but I'm using Penultimate and Notability with a cheap pen bundle I got from Amazon, and it has worked pretty well for me so far (if you can live with the current limitations of writing with a stylus vs real pen and paper).
 
ScottNWDW

ScottNWDW

macrumors 65816
Jul 10, 2008
1,231
315
Orlando, Florida
HengenJL said:
Penultimate syncs with Evernote, allows you to take photos, and write handwritten notes. However if you were to download Penulitmate I would recommend purchasing a stylus such as the Wacom Bamboo.
Click to expand...

I would get the Jot Script Evernote Edition Stylus. It is designed to work with Penultimate and iPad.
 
J

Jimpcarrillo

macrumors newbie
Nov 7, 2013
1
0
Listen up!

I am a graduate aeroastro engineering student with a meche bs. You need to use goodnotes and an Adonit stylus. Your going to be drawing lots of pictures and writing math equations. There are Some apps that even recognize your handwriting and convert it to a picture or LaTeX (mathpad). Main reasons for goodnotes is the ability to sync with Dropbox or google drive, import PDFs AND annotate them, resize and rotate written text, and my fav... Geometry. It lets you draw nice circles and straight lines... This may sound dumb but it really helps out for sketching new plots. Take it from me, I've tried penultimate (easily the most useless), noteshelf, onenote (ipad version), coursenotes, and noteability. Noteshelf was my second fav and recommended by a professor that used it, but it didn't have PDF capabilities...

Good luck! Find me on twitter
 
Menel

Menel

Suspended
Aug 4, 2011
6,351
1,356
sw6lee said:
Hi guys,

Although I am not a freshmen in engineering, I am thinking of using iPad as a note-taking app. The reason is that I want all my notes to be stored in iPad, instead of carrying 5 different notebooks for all courses, as well as my laptop, etc.

I believe that there are note-taking apps where when you write something, it will automatically insert that writing in the next space. However, the requirements for me is that I need to be able to write equations, draw diagram in the pages, and also possibly insert picture inline, so that when the professor goes too fast at times, I can take a picture and just insert it in the spot.
Another thing is that sometimes professors draw arrows, from one place on the board to another. So I need to be able to do that by drawing an arrow from one place of my note to another, ignoring the writing formate.

And it'd be very good if it syncs with my macbook, via box or google drive. I don't use dropbox..And it'd be even better if there is a same note app for macbook, so that It automatically syncs, similar way to Evernote. I think evernote doesn' support equations or diagram, etc.

And the reasons I don't use macbook for taking notes is because it's very hard to draw diagrams with the trackpad, and writing equation is cumbersome for me, and also it can't take a picture of the board.

Any good note-taking app for me?

Please share your opinion!
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Evernote smart notebook + real pen.

Write notes, photo them into Evernote. Then have on iPad when in lab or reference.
 
Swiss-G

Swiss-G

macrumors 6502a
Jun 3, 2010
750
88
United Kingdom
Notability for ease of use.

You could consider Notes Plus which is a great app. Steep learning curve but can handle drawings, equations etc and has hand writing recognition. Syncs with Dropbox but can export to Google Drive and Evernote.
 
0r30

0r30

macrumors 6502a
Aug 12, 2010
529
29
Texas
I'm doing engineering and just can't see my self taking notes on a note pad. Especially when going back and forth a lot and comparing calculations.

If it's possible I'm eager to know as I go through a lot of paper.
 
JoeRito

JoeRito

macrumors 6502a
Apr 12, 2012
505
155
New England, USA
Notability by a mile... Syncs to Dropbox or other online storage locations. Has numerous formatting options. Standard IOS 7 notes are stark white and HORRIBLE to use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom