An iPad for college?

J

JaHawk2009

macrumors member
So I'm contemplating getting an iPad 2 for college in September and I was wondering whether I'd be better off with an iPad or a MacBook Air. I will be studying English Literature, English Language, Geography & Media so lots of essays will be required along with presentations, video editing and music creation software.
I figure that given the iPad has Pages, Keynotes, iMovie and GarageBand that it will be just as good as a MacBook.
I am contemplating a 32GB iPad with a £25 iTunes Apps Card to start with. What do the rest of you think? Any advice, opinions or stories from people who have used iPad for school/College/University work?

Thanks

P.S. I already own a White Plastic 13" MacBook, an iPod touch 2G and an iPod Nano 6G.
 
While I love my iPad dearly, I do not consider it a laptop replacement
It is a supplement

In my opinion, for college, you will need a laptop
If your MacBook can suffice for that, then an iPad may well be a good bet for you

But if you are expecting the iPad to completely replace a laptop, I think you will be disappointed
 
Well the problem with my current MacBook is that I have relied on it so much since 2007 that the battery is now shot and I refuse to pay upwards of £100 on a BATTERY!! I will of course still have my MacBook at home but I'm thinking of using the iPad as more of an On-The-Go note-taker, i.e. Editing my coursework on iMovie on the bus, making notes in class, hooking it up to the iMacs in the music rooms and finishing my music editing during lunch break, etc.
 
Ditch the iPad and the Macbook....go for the Macbook air all the way.
I have the 13" 4gb MBA and it is supreme. It does everything I've thrown at it. I even have a 17 " Asus N70 and it's not as fast as the MBA.

Sell your Macbook, keep your money from the iPad and go for the MBA. You'll still be dishing out some cash but in the end it's worth every penny. It really is light and extremely convenient to use
 
It depends how much actual work you want to do at college. For taking notes iPad is ok, but I wouldn't do anything other than note taking on it for work. However if your planning on writing essays and stuff there I'd buy the MBA.
 
If I was a student again, I'd get the iPad. You can use an external keyboard for typing, and when you get home sync and do anything that you need to use a full blown computer for

That 9-10 hours of usable battery life is very much worth it

Back when I was a student, I used to use a palm device with an keyboard dock. It was great for on the go, and I even started many an essay on it before syncing back with a desktop.

I wouldn't know about the media aspect of your course though, and whether the iPad would be sufficient

Those american degrees just look crazy to me, in terms of how diverse the subject areas are (UK)
 
j_maddison said:
If I was a student again, I'd get the iPad. You can use an external keyboard for typing, and when you get home sync and do anything that you need to use a full blown computer for

That 9-10 hours of usable battery life is very much worth it

Back when I was a student, I used to use a palm device with an keyboard dock. It was great for on the go, and I even started many an essay on it before syncing back with a desktop.

I wouldn't know about the media aspect of your course though, and whether the iPad would be sufficient

Those american degrees just look crazy to me, in terms of how diverse the subject areas are (UK)
Click to expand...

I'm from the UK as well. Basically for the media I need to be able to insert images into documents and videos into presentations, start a project on GarageBand Mac and continue it on the iPad (or vice-versa), take down notes and/or essays (or at least be able to start essays) as well as editing and/or messing around with film clips.
 
I think you should keep the macbook:)

Just max out the ram, maybe get a faster SSD drive and a new battery.
(shouldt be that hard/expensive)

I am writing this with my 15" HiRes 1.67 Powerbook that i use in school and travelling.
This meets all my laptop needs for now, i actually had a mid 2010 13.3 MBP but i found it to be "too good" for me (i have a mid 2010 27" 2.8 i5 iMac at home) as i only use the laptop for writing and browsing the internet (and Fallouts 1&2of course)

Not to mention it is more economic to keep an old computer rather than replacing it before you actually really need to, call me a hippie but thats what i think.
 
JaHawk2009 said:
I'm from the UK as well. Basically for the media I need to be able to insert images into documents and videos into presentations, start a project on GarageBand Mac and continue it on the iPad (or vice-versa), take down notes and/or essays (or at least be able to start essays) as well as editing and/or messing around with film clips.
Click to expand...

I think you'll be fine with the essays, but will struggle a bit with teh media side of things

The new chip will speed things up, but keynote isn't perfect. I use it extensively for presentations at work, and it's totally fine. But for the most part, the type of presentations that I do don't include any video footage. I'd suggest going along to an apple store if you can and seeing if you can create the type of presentation that you want

I've never inserted an image into pages, but I"m assuming it can do so. You have other choices of office applications though, including google docs (there's an app that syncs with it I believe)

What's your degree in, seems like a combined studies or a foundation degree?
 
I'm not doing a degree yet (Thank God :D) .
I'm going to a sixth form college to do A-Levels, i.e. I'm doing my GCSEs in June. And I am contemplating a trip to the Apple Store once iPad 2 comes out since I will hopefully be able to test iMovie & GarageBand on the Demo Models in the store.
 
JaHawk2009 said:
I'm not doing a degree yet (Thank God :D) .
I'm going to a sixth form college to do A-Levels, i.e. I'm doing my GCSEs in June. And I am contemplating a trip to the Apple Store once iPad 2 comes out since I will hopefully be able to test iMovie & GarageBand on the Demo Models in the store.
Click to expand...

Ahh the subject areas make more sense now :0)

As you already have a macbook, I'd get the iPad personally. I'm not sure why so many people are obsessed with the need for a laptop, when they only perform basic functions like word processing and web surfing. I"m referring to student friends I've been yapping with recently
 
j_maddison said:
Ahh the subject areas make more sense now :0)

As you already have a macbook, I'd get the iPad personally. I'm not sure why so many people are obsessed with the need for a laptop, when they only perform basic functions like word processing and web surfing. I"m referring to student friends I've been yapping with recently
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice.
 
iPad it works well for both my online courses as well as in school courses.. Pending there are no flash modules rofl!
 
My old setup was an iMac and MacBook but I found the only times I used the MB was either taking notes in class or on the rare occasions when I went to the library so I decided to trade in the MacBook for a iPad. Great decision. I just got the iPad last week but I already use it way more than the MB. It's just as good for note-taking and word processing, plus it's way more fun to play around with.
 
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