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Ipad2 imac combo for school, until university? Help!

D

Dennisjorgensen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2009
5
0
Hi, I'm a 33 year old carpenter going back to school.
The goal is a degree in engineering at the university (5+ year runtime), starting with 18 months of courses to get in to the university.
(Math, Physics, chemistry and Danish + english) (I live in Denmark).

Now I'm going to wait until I have started the courses, and talked with my teachers and fellow students, so I'm not getting something on a whim.

But I "know" I will need a laptop at the very latest when I start at university, but until then, I am thinking about the POSSIBILITY, of using a ipad2 the first 18 months (or so), and getting the laptop later?

My idea (maybe flawed):

I own imac at home.
Ipad, I could use as e-reader for pdf's and scans+books, possibly saving some money on actual books (may be kidding myself of the actual uses of this)
Also the ipad is pretty light, and I'm already familliar with the os.
I will be able to use it, when I get a better laptop later.
Also I will sync my keyboard to the ipad, so that should help typing a bit.
Lastly, the school might have laptops we can loan while at the school premises.

Or I could get a Laptop in the same'ish pricerange now that might be so-so when I get to the university, leading me to need to buy a new one again.

Lastly, I could wait until I can afford a more powerful laptop, but then again, I don't know if I would get a pc or mac. And then there is stil the thing about getting a computer that might not be what I need in one or two years.

My idea is I can use the ipad for all the "cool", things later, even if I get a new laptop. Having a cheap laptop, and then get a better laptop seems more of a waste?

Any input is greatly appriciated. Specially from people with experience. Also I am a bit of a mac guy, so it's better to hear from fellow user, than the usual "gamer", android, linux, pc guys.

Thanks, and I hope the spelling and wall of text is passable
 
I am a graduate student / researcher / lecturer, and I am a proponent of using the iPad at university. I use it for maybe 90 percent of my work.

Specifically, I am in the humanities, and most of my work involves reading, writing, and taking notes. I think the iPad is generally quite good at all three. I have purchased the digital version or scanned the paper one for pretty much all of my materials (we are talking over a thousand items here), I have gone from 0 (the first word) all of the way to publication with the iPad for some work, and I regularly take notes on it using the bluetooth keyboard and/or a stylus.

The biggest problem I see for you is that you are not in the humanities, and if you have to do anything remotely technical, then the iPad is severely limited. You'll need a laptop for that.

But, as you readily admit, you have no idea what you will need. Assuming you do not have much money to spend on gadgets (that was the feeling I got), my advice would be:
1. Take pen and paper to school
2. Type up your notes or scan them into PDF form
3. Talk to advanced students (2nd or 3rd year) and ask them what they use

Or, even better yet, physically go to campus and sit in on a couple of classes. Pay close attention to what type of computer people use and the programs they use on them.
 
you might want to look at the software that you will need to use for some of the subjects. i had a pc and was doing engineering and a few of the programs i needed to use were only available for the pc.
 
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