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iPad mini First iPad, advice.
- Thread starter rtomyj
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I actually use Drive for notes. Pages and Keyntoe would be great if I had a Mac ;(
If you will use it to read PDFs and such. iAnnotate is a MUST.
Pages and numbers is good, but kinda futile. You probably would rather type your essay on a real keyboard, not a miniature touch screen key.
Get quick office had instead, it has Dropbox access...which brings me to:
Drop box is amazing. Get an account, allows you to access your assignment files on all your devices.
In college I used to print my PDFs and annotate as I go with notes and stuff. I don't imagine it to be too different nowadays
I will probably get a lot of people telling me I'm wrong for saying this, but hey.
Get ready to find out that the iPad really isnt terribly useful for college/University/school/whatever. When it comes to actual work, the iPad makes a really good PDF reader for browsing notes, and reading textbooks.
However, what else is it good for when it comes to proper work? Well, in my own experiences not that much. Although the iPad is great for web browsing, if you are ever doing proper research, chances are you are going to have a LOT of tabs open, and you are going to be wanting to copy parts of these, making notes of these in a word document, reading through your other tabs for similar info, adding a little edit again to fill in new information...
This just really isnt that feasible on the iPad. Switching between browser->pages is tedious after a while because you obviously cant have two programmes on the same screen at once. This means you have to swap CONSTANTLY, or start copying/pasting things a lot into your word document.
On the other hand, on a laptop you can just snap your web-browser to fill up half of the screen, and then your word document in the other hand. Easy.
When it comes to taking notes, I still believe that a piece of paper and a pen is the best method. You can get digital 'pens' for iPads and make hand-written notes, but I dont think they are that great because (for me, at least), the hand writing you produce on a screen just isnt as good as on paper. So, some iPad owners get a bluetooth keyboard so they can type on; if you do that, then why dont you just buy a laptop?
That is just my own opinion and experiences of iPads in an educational environment. However, just because it didnt suit me, doesnt mean it wont necessarily suit you; I'm just telling you not to get your hopes up for the iPad being a content-creation device, or one terribly useful for university.
Get ready to find out that the iPad really isnt terribly useful for college/University/school/whatever. When it comes to actual work, the iPad makes a really good PDF reader for browsing notes, and reading textbooks.
However, what else is it good for when it comes to proper work? Well, in my own experiences not that much. Although the iPad is great for web browsing, if you are ever doing proper research, chances are you are going to have a LOT of tabs open, and you are going to be wanting to copy parts of these, making notes of these in a word document, reading through your other tabs for similar info, adding a little edit again to fill in new information...
This just really isnt that feasible on the iPad. Switching between browser->pages is tedious after a while because you obviously cant have two programmes on the same screen at once. This means you have to swap CONSTANTLY, or start copying/pasting things a lot into your word document.
On the other hand, on a laptop you can just snap your web-browser to fill up half of the screen, and then your word document in the other hand. Easy.
When it comes to taking notes, I still believe that a piece of paper and a pen is the best method. You can get digital 'pens' for iPads and make hand-written notes, but I dont think they are that great because (for me, at least), the hand writing you produce on a screen just isnt as good as on paper. So, some iPad owners get a bluetooth keyboard so they can type on; if you do that, then why dont you just buy a laptop?
That is just my own opinion and experiences of iPads in an educational environment. However, just because it didnt suit me, doesnt mean it wont necessarily suit you; I'm just telling you not to get your hopes up for the iPad being a content-creation device, or one terribly useful for university.
I agree. I'd still take my binders of print outs and a notebook even if I had an ipad during my uni days
I'd take a MacBook Air over an iPad for college any day
While in not sure this is appropriate for this thread, I completely agree with you. I'm a senior undergrad in a field of research science and while tablets have been invaluable for replacing physical textbooks and printed research articles (especially in a physical laboratory ) , I'd take my 5-year-old, 7 lb, Dell clunker any day for even typing up a half-page document, much less doing anything more in involved.
That said, evernote is a very useful complement to a daily planner. Also, grab chrome browser I'd you're going to be accessing websites that give safari trouble. Beyond that, you'll have to do research based on your needs.
Wish I had Evernote and other apps available when I was in college. I sometimes drifted to sleep and my handwritten notes just become squiggly lines after about 20 minutes in class. If I could've typed it, at least it would be legible non-sense.
I also do agree that a Mini is more a companion device and shouldn't be much more for college. I have a laptop so that's no problem for me. Thanks for the suggestions guys and will prolly see into PDF's (most of my teachers use PowerPoint and don't have PDFs on their webpage, but editing my notes might be easier with PDF).
Lol
I hand-write all of my lecture notes and most of my lab notes, but I'm sure my professors would be happier when grading in-class assignments if I had typed them.
Well, everything is subjective. For me, I just cant sit and stare at a screen for hours on end; it makes my eyes hurt and I just dont like learning in that way. My own method is to take quick notes during lectures based on what the lecturer says (that is not present in his presentations). Since all of the notes go up online, I then go home and write proper, neat and tidy notes (with pictures printed out in colour) based on what the lecturer has said+the notes he has given us in our presentations. Some of my friends use a dictaphone, and I believe that could be a worthwhile purchase if you can motivate yourself to listen to hours worth of lectures.
I think people have to remember that Universities have been around for centuries, creating brilliant scholars and educated peoples. People excelled without iPads before, and I believe that you dont need such expensive products to be a successful student; I even think there is a case that such products actually hinder your education. However, that is another debate for another time...