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RenaudGade

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 1, 2013
2
0
I am going to be starting post-secondary school in a few months. Right now I have an iPhone 4, a iMac 21.5 inch, and I will be getting one of the Mac laptops for school.

I am thinking of buying an iPad mini but am afraid that I will not find use of all my apple products. My iPhone will obviously be used as my phone, my laptop for taking notes in class and my iMac for my actual school work.

My question is if I will be able to find use in an iPad mini when I already have all these other products, or will one of the products end up being unused?
 

Mr Kram

macrumors 68020
Oct 1, 2008
2,388
1,237
i've got just about every form factor that apple has made and i find a use for everything. could i do without one or two devices? probably, but it's nice to have them all available.
 

Jessica Lares

macrumors G3
Oct 31, 2009
9,612
1,055
Near Dallas, Texas, USA
Skip the Mini. It's not really useful in greater education, except for textbooks, which in that case the bigger iPad would be a better choice due to how stuff is formatted.

I still use a small notebook and pencil to take notes myself. It's a lot faster unless you add a keyboard.
 

Nightarchaon

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,393
30
I have a Macbook Pro (Early 2008) that's pretty much become a mac Mini in my house (doesn't move, just servers iTunes from a Firewire connected drobo library)

My main "tools" are my iMac at home, and my iPad mini/iPhone on the road.
I am considering a Macbook Air 11" for those times i have to go away for work, coupled with the iPhone and unlimited data i will just be remote connecting to the iMac desktop any time i need more power.
 

Machinehead119

macrumors newbie
Jan 4, 2013
11
0
Nashville TN
To be honest, there was a time where I had a MBA Air and a iPad at the same time. Are there specifics you need a mini for that you cant do on a MBA or MBPro?

My set up now is just a iMac and iPad mini. I bring all my adobesuite/itunes/iphoto stuff to my iMac as a general store house then run everything remote to my iPad if I need it.

My iPad is basically for surfing (on a phone is lame) , app integration, movies on the go, reading books/newspapers on the go..etc.


If you're getting a laptop - I'd just stick with that and save yourself some cash :) I think you'll find you're being redundant..

-R
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AppleNewton

macrumors 68000
Apr 3, 2007
1,697
84
1 Finite Place
I'd say get the iPad Mini or a regular sized iPad instead of the MacBook Pro.

you can easily take notes on the iPad and sync them to your Mac via iCloud or other free apps. you can get a case with a keyboard for class and remove it for other purposes.

IMO its easier to sync from an ipad to a mac then mac to mac unless you do it diligently.


or sell the imac and get both the portable devices..however i think an iPad would do you justice.
 

26139

Suspended
Dec 27, 2003
4,315
377
Huh?

Man, you're just asking for something to get stolen.

Not saying it would be your fault, but that many high-priced products laying around at school...
 

glenthompson

macrumors demi-god
Apr 27, 2011
2,982
842
Virginia
I have found that I use my MBP when I need a full featured computer or large screen. I use my iPad for most of my media consumption. I use the iPhone as a phone and for simple tasks. I've read a book on an iPod Touch and while it's possible, it pretty well sucked compared to an iPad.

I find this combination to work very well for my needs. My wife has an iMac and iPad and uses them similar to me.
 

maxosx

macrumors 68020
Dec 13, 2012
2,385
1
Southern California
We all have very different wants, needs & ways we use tech gear. Especially given the vast capabilities of most of the products Apple sells. Therefore I simply don't see much use in comparing when many of us have a bare minimum of two computers, two tablets & two phones. Then there's those that have twice that number. It's all personal preference.
 

Zeov

macrumors 6502a
Apr 1, 2011
634
113
Odense
heres what i do:

I wake up in the morning to the alarm from my iPhone, and use it throughout the day as a phone, and also as an iPod when walking around town or on my way to something.

To get to school i travel by bus, thats about 45 minutes each way where i use my iPad as my music player and browse / play games or watch movies. My iPad is basically my traveling companion so that i can be entertained during transportation.

When i arrive at school i hook my MacBook Pro Retina up the dual monitor setup i have arranged at school and work on 3D and video editing.

When i get home i hook up my Retina to my gaming monitor, boot up in windows and i now have a desktop that can play games just fine.
 

KylePowers

macrumors 68000
Mar 5, 2011
1,688
197
I'm about to graduate with a degree in electrical engineering, here's my flow:

iPhone 5: Well, duh, it's a phone. I use it for texting, checking email, social networking, perusing the interwebz, GPS, taking photos, etc.

iPad (3rd Gen): I mainly use it to take notes with in class. I have a really nice stylus that I use (I tried a handful before finding one that was actually useful). It's awesome with the app Notability, because I can change pen colors, line widths, highlight things, cut+paste, type, record audio, etc. People always ask me to send them my notes, since they're much more organized and colorful (which can help with studying). My notes also automatically backup to Dropbox in pdf format, so I can access them from any computer, and even my iPhone! Other than taking notes, I also have my textbooks on it, as well as the typical slew of social networking apps and games... but in all honesty, it's really only for academia and I'll probably sell it soon.

13in MacBook Air (2011): My main computing device that I consistently use for homework, surfing the web, writing reports, etc. Will probably be moving to a 13in Haswell rMBP here soon for the beefed up hardware and higher resolution (when scaled to 1680x1050, that is).

27in iMac (2011): Used to use it a lot, and sometimes I do if I really, really need to be productive (like with this take-home exam I'm procrastinating on...) or if I need the screen real estate. But I've since been seldom using it and it's really only serving as my media center (to stream movies/shows/etc. to my AppleTV). Will probably sell it soon and move to a Haswell Mac Mini + TBD.

Definitely like the form-factor of the iPad Mini though. Will definitely get one when it gets upgraded to the retina display (though may consider the 5th gen iPad if it's significantly lighter)

EDIT: And for those wondering, OSX has never hampered me in pursuing engineering. Any Windows-only apps I run via Windows 7 in VirtualBox (free) and any unix software (like Cadence), we typically VPN into our school's servers, so that's not a problem either. Office for Mac has served me swell and Mountain Lion has arguably bettered my work-flow (such as having multiple desktops/spaces)

EDIT EDIT: I also have a 6th gen silver iPod Nano that I wear on a brown leather wristband as a watch. It has music on it, but I mainly stream from Pandora on my iPhone. Nonetheless, it looks really snazzy and I always get a ton of inquiries/compliments about it. So in the end, you can never have enough Apple products!
 

RenaudGade

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 1, 2013
2
0
Thanks for all the responses! I'm starting to think the iPad will cover the essential needs of the MBP unless I am not thinking of something major. The iPad can take notes, play movies, and surf the web which is all I really use the laptop I have now for.
 
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