Advantages of using an iPad at school ?

A iPad will not do anything that your MBPro or iMac will do and will, in fact, will do much more. Adding an iPad is more of a luxury giving you one of the best Internet appliances known to man.

If you got the extra money, you will enjoy it. If you don't, you can do without it.

 

This guy nailed it - considering your present setup.

 

I'm in the same situation, probably more so, since I have an 11" MBA.

But for me, I sold my original iPad to fund the MBA, which at the time was the best thing I could do to make my workflow better. However, I do miss the iPad for really fast browsing and consumption stuff without having to pull out my laptop. In between classes, walking around campus...places where having a laptop out is just awkward to do/hold, the iPad is unbeatable for that.

As for the school work part, I would probably only really use it for research browsing and stuff like that. Although, I did create a sweet Keynote presentation on my iPhone last semester that destroyed everyone else in the class, but maybe that was because none of them seemed to know how to make one. Keynote, Pages, and Numbers are all well done on the iOS devices for most tasks. It's just more advanced stuff is where a computer will be needed.

If I have the money when iPad 3 comes out, I'll be getting it.

 

One thing i do like the ipad for is so i can set up my lecture slides on the ipad, and type out notes and assignments on my macbook.

 

The biggest advantage to the iPad is that the device is all screen. So if you're going to be doings lot of reading, it is much easier to hold like one would hold a magazine or book.

 

The biggest advantage I see, and the reason I'm probably going to get it, is that you can connect a keyboard to it. It will then last for all of your classes, without requiring a charge - my laptop needs to be plugged in constantly which is really annoying because I can't sit in the front of the lecture halls.

You can also add diagrams in any classes, which is also helpful. I think I'm getting the ipad 3 when it comes out to do this.