All iPads Air or Mini for school?

krazykleo said:

Hello MRs,

So I'm just wondering which one would be better for school. I own a MBA mid 2013 which I currently use for school but 3/4 of my professors do notes on powerpoint and one just straight up does no notes but makes powerpoint slides and adds to them in class.

I'm interested only in the 16GB as I have the 2TB Time capsule so storage shouldn't be an issue for me..

TIA for the help

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Seeing as how both models are nearly identical in terms of specifications, it's comes down to what screen size you prefer.

How exactly do you envision using the iPad? Typing notes, reading/annotating PDFs such as case studies, something else?

What I'm getting at is whether the larger screen size would make a difference, such as typing on-screen or highlighting PDFs with an app like PDF expert.

krazykleo said:

Is there an advantage to buying the Air with the bigger size since I will only be using it for notes and youtube and online assignments and ebooks.

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It doesn't matter what you'll use it for. They are exactly the same except for screen size. If your eyesight is good you may not need to stretch/zoom the screen as often on a bigger screen. And the 1/4 lb difference might build some muscle for you. That's about it.

krazykleo said:

A little bit of typing, a couple of PDFs as well, and some additional last minute note additions for biology such as figures and stuff. My bio prof usually posts all her notes online and adds figures and tables and I wanted to buy an iPad as you can write on it(which is pretty cool in itself).

Other than that having the iPad I'd be able to buy ebooks rather than heavy books to carry around all day since I am recovering from an accident.

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Is there an advantage to buying the Air with the bigger size since I will only be using it for notes and youtube and online assignments and ebooks.

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Get the iPad air if you're going to be typing notes.

Typing notes is very easy on the full size iPads. Typing is more like an iPhone on the Mini, while the full size iPads feel identical to a physical keyboard.

I'm studying nutrition science and I'm planning to replace my iPad 3 32gb with an iPad Air 32gb. I would definitely recommend getting at least 32gb. The biggest benefit of having a tablet is storing all of your textbooks in high quality PDF format. For the average semester I have about 5-10gb of textbook pdfs stored on my iPad. I use Notability and a Adonit Jot Pro stylus to take handwritten lecture notes.

With most universities going paperless, it's very easy to store the majority of your documents on your iPad or in the cloud via dropbox, google drive, etc. Plus, it's always fun to see other students lugging around heavy backpacks that are as big as they are, while carrying a 1lb iPad.

krazykleo said:

A little bit of typing, a couple of PDFs as well, and some additional last minute note additions for biology such as figures and stuff. My bio prof usually posts all her notes online and adds figures and tables and I wanted to buy an iPad as you can write on it(which is pretty cool in itself).

Other than that having the iPad I'd be able to buy ebooks rather than heavy books to carry around all day since I am recovering from an accident.

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In my opinion (and others may differ), you'd find the larger screen a little nicer for typing and PDF highlighting/annotation. In the little bit I've played with an ipad mini (caveat being I don't have a lot of experience with the mini) the landscape keyboard is easier to type on if you're a multi-finger typist; may not matter so much if you're a hunt-and-peck typist.

With PDF's I was generally able to read and highlight 8.5x11 documents on my ipad3 without zooming / panning around the PDF. I feel the smaller screen on the mini may hamper this activity a bit, forcing more messing around than with the larger screen.

Capability wise, the two will be essentially the same; the deciding factor really boils down how screen size relates to the stuff you'll be doing.

Best thing is try to find friends with both size devices even of the current generation and try them out a little. See which you prefer. And of course buy what you choose from a place with an easy return policy in case you find you'd rather have the other one once you've had it for a week.

I'd go for the Air if most of your reading happens at school / home. If you need to use it on the go (bus, travel, whatnot) the mini does make an appreciable difference.

After using full sized iPads all the time, I might be a bit biased though

Get iPad Air 32gb

Finished graduate degree recently. iPad mini screen size is not ideal for PDF reading, have to zoom a lot. Bigger screen is better.

More capacity saves you the headache of having to decide on what to delete as 16GB gets filled up rather quickly with apps and dropbox sync.

krazykleo said:

After much thinking on my part I've decided to go for the Air. Just debating how many GBs. 16GB might not be enough for ebooks and saving powerpoints and stuff onto the Air.

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16 would be plenty for ebooks and powerpoints, but you'll never use it for just that go for the 32 to have space for retina apps and such!

krazykleo said:

Will I not be able to save stuff onto an external HD? say like the time capsule?

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Not directly from iPad. and it's a hassle.