You joke, but that was one of my major reasons for leaving my 17" MacBook Pro at home most of the year.
My new 15" rMBP is much lighter! Might actually get some work done on campus again!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
All iPads How useful is iPad for a university student?
- Thread starter vmflapem
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
You joke, but that was one of my major reasons for leaving my 17" MacBook Pro at home most of the year.
My new 15" rMBP is much lighter! Might actually get some work done on campus again!
Interesting, I have one of the earily releases too and have really had no issues with it. My spacebar seems to register without problems. Overall I've been really happy with the case, especially how the early releases have grooves to angle the speakers forward. I read something about later models just opening the speakers to the side, but not sure if this is true.
Note takers and university students aren't all identical. For some it is, for others it isn't. Take it for a spin and see for yourself. You'll have a return window. Decide before it closes.
There are also existing threads on keyboards, styli and note taking apps that you should refer to in order to see what sounds best suited to you.
This past semester in my senior seminar, there were 3 of us in my class that used our iPads to take notes. One girl would use the on screen keyboard to type her notes into notability. The other girl and I would use a stylus to take hand written notes. I've only seen one other person take notes on an iPad in another class using a stylus. I've never seen anybody take notes using a keyboard, but it's probably going to be a lot like taking notes on a computer. The thing about the iPad that makes it a little more useful compared to a normal laptop is that you can draw diagrams easily on the page.
Well crap, maybe I just got a lemon. Too bad because I really like this thing. It's probably one of the better designed keyboards out there. I'm also out of the return period and I don't want to shell out another $100 for new one one.
Thanks for getting back to me.
Why do you want to buy a MBA if you already have a MBP? I think you should buy either rMini or Air. I am a student at my school I leave my 15" rBMP in my dorm room. I take an iPad 2 with me to my classes and use it a lot during class break without have to take out my rMBP creating too much distraction. 
The MBA is clearly the safer option, in that it's basically a lighter laptop, and you will still be able to do all your work on it (as most university workflows are built around the assumption that you have access to a PC). Laptop + smartphone combination will probably cover all your needs there and then.
what app do you use with a stylus if you don't mind me asking? Would be interested in checking that out. I tend to just make notes on pages, with a keyboard case for my iPad, then switch to a drawing app for diagrams. If an app could streamline that process my life would be a lot better!
Extremely useful for me, I use it for the gazillion PDF's I have (lecture notes, exam papers, everything else).
In fact I have the ipad air and rMini, just because they're so damn beautiful
In fact I have the ipad air and rMini, just because they're so damn beautiful
I use Notability. You can type your notes and draw diagrams on the same page and export the notes to google drive or drop box if you want.
I use Notability for making hand written notes, and 7NotesHD and WritePad for converting hand writing to text. I've written about them here:
http://macademise.wordpress.com/201...-the-ipad-ii-hand-writing-to-text-conversion/
http://macademise.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/hand-writing-on-the-ipad-note-taking-with-notability/
Seems like a lot of work for some note taking. Typing on a keyboard is so much quicker than hand writing on an iPad screen. Would definitely get a tablet with a digitizer for this use.
Personally, I'd give my iPad up for a Surface 2 if it were to be used more for school work than for personal use. The ability to have two sizeable windows side by side is so useful in school... going back and forth between apps when doing research is just too cumbersome and slow. Also, being able to have a mouse for quick and accurate text selection is a big plus. Not to mention USB drives work, so you can quickly transfer things, and a file structure to sort your files... being able to use an external monitor simultaneously..
I like my iPad for some things, but it is severely limited in some key aspects, and in many more ways, it's just too much extra work on it. It is, effectively, just a big iPod/iPhone.
Of course, could always use pen(cil) and paper.. no animation delays or safari crashes there
That makes a lot of sense and the iPad Air will compliment the MBP more then the MBA and MBP would.
Congrats on your new purchase
Agreed. Enjoy your new iPad!
I don't find it a lot of work, personally, it's just writing as I would have done on a piece of paper. I always type on a keyboard when I do a lot of writing, whether that's on my macbook or using an external keyboard with my iPad. But there are some cases where I prefer hand writing. One is if I'm likely to use a lot of drawings or diagrams. Another is if I don't want to make 'typing sounds', especially when I'm doing observation as part of my research and try to sit quietly in a corner without attracting attention from what is going on around me. A third is when I just want to jot down some quick notes, and opening the iPad and making notes with a stylus is quicker than also opening up my wireless keyboard, connecting the bluetooth, and so on. YMMV.
Last edited:
Couple of other things to look into are whether you can save some money buying etextbooks or even renting them. Many students don't sell back texts from their major so getting a clean etextbooks at a used book price could be good. And if you could rent the texts for other classes that might go better than buying them and praying you can sell it back.
Also many professors are very keen about tech use and will do things like make slides available for you to download so you don't have to write everything down. Or don't mind if you record the lecture, even video, so long as it's personal use. Or they even record it and post it for folks to view again. These sorts of things often reduce the notes you need to take in class.
Also many professors are very keen about tech use and will do things like make slides available for you to download so you don't have to write everything down. Or don't mind if you record the lecture, even video, so long as it's personal use. Or they even record it and post it for folks to view again. These sorts of things often reduce the notes you need to take in class.
I am worried that you find a MBP too heavy to carry to school every day. If a MBP is too heavy, then what are textbooks?? When I started university, one would be glad to find a laptop below 3.5kgs, and those were usually $2k+.
For note taking, I'd say a cautious yes. Simply because its capacitive touchscreen doesn't bend well to fast, handwritten notes. Call me old-style, but note taking on paper is much faster and efficient.
I would add, check if your textbooks come with a CD inside. It's surprisingly common, and not having an internal optical drive just means you have to haul another, separate accessory.
Having to plug it in an external monitor is a pain, since whenever you need to go, then you lose all that screen real estate that made you efficient in the first place. And inexpensive means crappy most of the time.
What you can do, though, is take the secondary screen with you as, given the proper application, an iPad can act act a secondary screen for your Mac.
There is a large difference between a large-sized notebook, and the 13" that is very popular among students.
You say you don't find it a lot of work, but checking out your links, it sure looks like it is.
And wireless keyboard with BT and "so on" is done really easily on tablets like the Surface 2 and the hard keyboard cover (actual plastic keys). The iPad's touch sensor is both too slow and too coarse to keep up with handwriting easily enough, in my opinion. I tried to use my iPad for a few months at school, but it just got tiring having to put so much effort into such simple tasks. Trying to draw a precise diagram with an imprecise tool means I spent all my time zooming and panning, hitting undo, etc. Even when using text, having to select areas of text by tapping a word, waiting, expanding that selection using the little tabs, using effort to get just the right amount of characters selected....
It's just something one may want to consider when using a tablet for school purposes. The iPad is, in many ways, not necessarily the best option. It can be done, but it can often require a lot more effort and researching solutions to perfectly simple tasks that couldn't be done (such as viewing desktop versions of websites that aren't supported in Safari).
I'm not sure what about those links that makes you feel it's a lot of work. They are reviews of apps, rather than descriptions of my work flows. What I do in practice is tap on the icon for Notability or 7NotesHD, and start writing. That's really all there is to it. But there's no ideal usage scenario here as people's needs and preferences are different. For example, I don't need a high level of precision for my diagrams, I just sketch tables and drawings as I work. I imagine that an engineer would have very different needs. For more proper text editing and development, I use my MacBook. Sounds like that's what the OP is doing as well, as he decided to keep his MacBook but wanted something lighter to bring to uni. For my needs, a MacBook and an iPad complement each other very well, but clearly there are lots of alternatives out there. The surface looks nice, but eco-system integration is a non negotiable criteria for me, although I'd love a side by side display on my iPad.
Last edited: