All iPads For college (textbooks) full-size iPad and air or mini and rPro?

[xraydoc]

I say full-sized retina iPad plus either the MBA or the rMPB (depending on your budget and general computing needs).

I love my iPad mini, but would never want to study off one.

 

[tmarks11]

MBA without a doubt for portability. Most of what you are going to be doing with your laptop is typing papers (based upon your major), and the extreme portability of the MBA makes it ideal. Trust me, you will be doing homework and term papers and what not everywhere besides where you live, and will be dragging your laptop all over the place.

I know you hate the idea of the MBA 11, but to me it is the perfect choice based upon portability and functionality. Ipad is a good supplemental screen for textbooks, since it is a PIA to share screen real estate on a small laptop beween Word (pages) and a textbook... just too much flipping back and forth which interrupts your work flow.

bottom line... keep the MBA 13 (or trade it in for a MBA 11), get a full size ipad.

Now lets move on to the next issue: lets address your selection of majors...

you want gaming, buy a cheap desktop...

 

[lokster]

what degree are you taking for college? i say it would depend on that.

Im taking up Electronics engineering and im using an ipad 3 for my textbooks and pdfs, especially for powerpoint and word

i had a macbook pro but i sold it to use a windows computer. All my engineering simulation programs run on windows(Pspice,electric,matlab,isis,hitech and iAR)


For everything else like business or design

Sell both,

Get a rMBP and an ipad 4 or 5 when it comes out.

nothing beats retina display! the full size ipad will really be easier on the eyes for reading.

 

[Medic311]

go with a full computer that will last you 3-5 years

then when you graduate and get your first job making good money, then get an iPad.

 

[cardfan]

I'd keep what you have and try to get through a semester of college. You'll quickly learn what you need. Right now it just sounds like you want the latest toys and trying to justify them. Try to resist that urge. You want as little debt as possible.

Physical textbooks can be pain to carry around but you'll save much more time when studying (depends on the subject really) not having to deal with one ipad screen at a time. For my accounting major, I think depending on an ipad would've been suicide.

But do get a good coffee maker..

 

[Han Solo 1]

I say full-sized retina iPad plus either the MBA or the rMPB (depending on your budget and general computing needs).

I love my iPad mini, but would never want to study off one.

Agreed. I have to study (highlight, annotate PDF's ALOT) a ton of material each week. I tried the mini for about 10 days and couldn't do it.

iPad 4 is excellent, couldn't be happier with it.

 

[Dlanod]

I'd go for RMBP and a Galaxy Note 10.1 with 3G.

 

[Brandon0448]

I would go with the rMBP and mini. I am currently in college and have all my textbooks on my iPad. The only textbooks I really use are my math books and only to write problems down. I bet you could easily use the iPad mini in landscape mode and read through textbooks. I find myself doing it on my full sized iPad as well because the text is just too small in textbooks.

Plus I really want a rMBP, I would of bought that over my air if it was out or I knew it was coming out when it did. I love my MBA but really wish it had more GPU power.