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iPad mini iPad Air or iPad mini retina for college?

F

Freedom144

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 12, 2014
21
0
I need one for college i already have a laptop
What is your experinces guys with either one ?
And which one do you recommend ?
I will be carrying it alot with me.
 
If you are someone who carries a bag or has any ability to touch type in landscape mode, get the iPad air.
 
I would say, if you are going to be carrying your laptop with you most of the time, get the mini. If the laptop is staying at home / dorm, get the Air.

Also, if you are going to be reading a lot of PDFs with lots of charts, diagrams, etc, an Air might be better regardless.
 
Like others said if you don't need your laptop for anything that the ipad can't do, get the air and use it instead.
 
I would not even use an external keyboard, typing on the ipad (especially in landscape mode) is very comfortable and just a little slower then on an actual keyboard, unless you type all day.
 
Air.

I used a retina mini for a while before I got irritated looking at small power point slides.
 
The air if you read a lot of things, such as doing research or something. It's a bigger screen, it has more real state and will be more comfortable for doing school related things.

But, you already have a laptop, so I'd say just go for the rMini.
 
I used my retina mini in classes last semester and found that it was doable. I've been able to look at PDF's and slides just fine, then again I don't mind pinching in a bit if something is a little too small. Note taking took a little getting used to at first on a smaller screen, but there's always the option of an external keyboard. I tend to use the devices together when studying, sometimes by having powerpoint slides on one device, and notes on the Mac, so I don't have to switch between spaces on the Mac as much. I do like that the mini takes up less space on a desk when I'm in class. I liked the size of the mini in my hand when I was walking around with it, but I wouldn't worry about weight with either of them, since they're both very light. I think either device will do what you want just fine, I just preferred to carry around a mini.
 
I have a Macbook Pro and I chose to get an iPad Mini for college. Mainly use it for web surfing and a lot of eBooks and PDF versions of my textbooks. I find the size to be more convenient than the Air and easier to carry around. Added side bonus is that the Mini Retina is cheaper. Either one works though.
 
I will be attending college as a Post-Bac student and I have a MBP 13 inch, and I also have an iPad Mini with Retina Display. I will be taking my iPad mini with me to classes for powerpoint slides that the professor will post, and take notes. Since I have a Apple Bluetooth keyboard.
 
iPad Air or iPad mini retina for college?

During my last semester of college I used my iPad air to annotate research articles and write notes. The iPad air would be better for writing notes and looking at power points and PDFs since it's got a larger screen.
 
iPad Air or iPad mini retina for college?

I had an iPad 3rd gen for a couple of years in college preceeded and followed by a bunch of other tablets of the non-Apple variety. I'm now working after just having graduated and bought myself a rMini coming from a surface pro and I really wish I had bought this earlier. I actually prefer the size of the display for scientific literature (I am in the biological sciences and work in an NIH lab now) and pretty much everything else. I don't usually annotate papers digitally unless the device has an active digitizer, so I'm not taking electronic annotation into account. TL;DR, I wish this had been released a few years ago. The only thing that's killing it for me after a few months of use (and getting over the muted colors) is the lack of memory or lackluster memory management. Having tabs reload on me when I switch between two within a minute is incredibly annoying.
 
I personally think the iPad mini with retina display is more comfortable to hold and you can always pinch to zoom. But the display on the mini feels surprisingly large after you spend some time with it. Speaking that it runs the a7 just like the air there are really no drawbacks in my eyes. For me it is a better device than the air.
 
I am a student at University and I use a Ipad mini with a Bluetooth keyboard. Touch typing on a ipad, mini or air, is not a joy. At least that is my experiece. Using a keyboard gives you the ability to make notes as fast as the laptop users.
Personnelly I think the Ipad mini is a bit more easy to carry around. But the ipad air is.. Well.. like air. So there is almost no difference.
 
I had the step-child iPad (iPad 3) for 18 months. I like to "write" my notes on the iPad since I take a lot of "mathy" classes and hence it is not practical to type either on the iPad or my laptop. I used apps like Notability and PDF expert to write and organize my notes. It was good.

But this time, I am on the fence if I should stick to the larger screen Air 2 or the rMini 2. The reason I'm considering rMini 2 is because I won't be taking a lot of classes anymore and most of my time will be devoted to reading PDFs and annotating them. And I have no idea how rMini will fare in this area. $100 and the more-portable feature are pulling me toward rMini.

Guess I will go to an Apple store and try the smaller screen.
 
Freedom144 said:
I need one for college i already have a laptop
What is your experinces guys with either one ?
And which one do you recommend ?
I will be carrying it alot with me.
Click to expand...


Before anyone can give you a good recommendation we need to know what you are going to be doing with it. Is it just for taking notes? Are your textbooks going to be on it. What about typing, will you and how much.

honestly my gut is to say get an Air and perhaps a bluetooth keyboard. But that is assuming that your intent is to do everything you can on it.
 
Infinite Jest said:
I had an iPad 3rd gen for a couple of years in college preceeded and followed by a bunch of other tablets of the non-Apple variety. I'm now working after just having graduated and bought myself a rMini coming from a surface pro and I really wish I had bought this earlier. I actually prefer the size of the display for scientific literature (I am in the biological sciences and work in an NIH lab now) and pretty much everything else. I don't usually annotate papers digitally unless the device has an active digitizer, so I'm not taking electronic annotation into account. TL;DR, I wish this had been released a few years ago. The only thing that's killing it for me after a few months of use (and getting over the muted colors) is the lack of memory or lackluster memory management. Having tabs reload on me when I switch between two within a minute is incredibly annoying.
Click to expand...

I wish the iPad had been around when I did my first degree in biological sciences. All those papers I used to print off and cart around with me.

I think you can't go wrong with either the mini or the air.
 
I know it's a kind of old thread, but having had both and being asked this question often, I always say this to people trying to decide...

I love holding the Mini, but I prefer using the Air.

For me the screen space outweighs the appeal of holding the smaller device, but since the iPads are currently more or less the same aside from the size of the screen that's kind of the only thing you need to consider. Do you prefer a smaller screen that's more comfortable to hold, or a bigger screen that's more comfortable to see?

Good luck, and enjoy whatever device you end up with.
 
Take the mini.

Hold it in landscape. Type with your thumbs.

I would never go back to a full-size iPad.
 
How will you transport the device?
I'm a guy and the mini will fit in my back pocket on most of my pants. For that reason I take the mini with me everywhere. I have an Air also but it stays at home. I prefer to use the Air but the rMini is my main driver just because I can and do have it with me. The mini works just fine for taking notes.
It's a matter of convenience for me.
 
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