iPad for college?

[BizRunner]

So I am a Senior in High School. I am going to school next year and I am going to major in English. I already have a 13" MacBook Pro and an iPhone 4. I have been thinking about getting the next generation iPad when it comes out. I have really wanted one for a while now, and I feel like it would be nice for school next year.

What do you guys think? Anyone in college who has an iPad, any help would be great!

 

[crobbins]

This topic has been widely debated on these forums numerous times, but I'll add my 2 cents in..

As someone who is nearly done with college now and has an iPad, I would say it is not all that necessary. I have a 13inch MacBook Air I take with me and use it all of the time. I find that my iPad rarely leaves my bag. It is great if I have a few minutes to kill and I want to review notes or something that I have online and I want to do it while walking or standing up. I have an iPhone and that is perfectly capable as well, but the iPad does make it nice.

The real takeaway here is that it does not enhance my college experience all that much, but it is great to have around. The one benefit is that the university pays for me to go to conferences every now and then and I have the 3G version which is nice on the road, but if you're on campus, your WIFI is likely good..

 

[vega07]

You're much better off doing a search my friend.

 

[palpatine]

i'd strongly recomend it, but the topic has really been discussed plenty on these forums already. do a search and you will find a lot.

 

[RLesko]

Depends on your uses. My parents bought me one as a Christmas gift last year - I made them return it because I know I wouldn't use it enough to justify the $600 price tag. I am hard pressed to think of something your iPad would be better than your laptop or your phone at. Definitely don't plan on being able to compose any sort of long document on it.

 

[Surely]

I don't see why a freshman in college would need an iPad for anything school related, especially since you already have a MBP and an iPhone 4.

 

[_Matt]

Well, if you really want it, you should get it. I'm a senior in college and I can't say I would have preferred anything other than my 13" MBP to get me through writing papers. However, now that I'm graduating I'm going to get an iPad 3 because I won't have papers to write anymore.

It also depends on how safe you think your electronics will be in college. My college just put out an email that over 50 unattended laptops and cell phones have been snatched from the library during finals week, which is absolutely incredible to me.

 

[brnbshuffle]

I was just lurking around on the front page and saw your post. As a senior in college and as an English major myself, I really wanted to let you know my experience with my iPad! (I should be writing an essay now too, and more on that later!)

A lot of my classes have required reading novels, ranging from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison to Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. Most of them, save for the classic stuffs or obscure, independent titles, are probably available in iBooks and/or the Kindle app. You even have .pdf readings and supplements that your professors may give you. Up til this quarter I had been buying most of my books in physical form.

In contrast to other quarters it was nice not having to carry around 2-3 books in my backpack. I find reading on iPad to be a pleasant experience but I think that depends on personal preference. To me it's definitely different than reading on my MacBook. I find that zooming in and page layouts were an issue for me.

The only thing I don't like about it in comparison to physical books is the ease of picking up a physical book and leafing through it to find ideas to write about. Maybe it's just me -- I think it's one of the things that helps me get started on my papers.

Obviously iPad doesn't just do books, and there's one app out of many that's worth mentioning, and it's Notability. It uses the iPad's mic to record lectures while you type your notes out. The killer thing about it though is when you review and tap to a part of your notes, it plays back what was being said at that point in time.

And like the previous poster said, be safe with your electronics. You have some pretty nice stuff even without the iPad. Don't leave your stuff unattended a year from now.

If you have any questions, let me know and I'll get back to you on a study break.

----------

And on the topic of writing anything long on it, I still would rather use my MacBook Pro rather than my iPad. If anything think of iPad more as a supplement to your MacBook Pro to take notes with in class, check emails from, Facebook stalk, and play games with.

 

[jmjoh122]

i'm going to throw in my two cents since i have recently graduated. If you already have a mac book, I don't think that you really need one for class. It is more difficult to type fast and accurately on the ipad, but the posters above are right. It would be nice to have to review notes that you have taken. If I would have had an ipad, then I feel as though my grades would have improved. So, it's not necessary and wouldn't help that much, but It would be good to have.

 

[fleeper]

Need is a strong word. I am 43 and back in school for another year and I have an 11" MBA and an iPad. I take notes in class on my MBA (using evernote) and then I go over my notes with my iPad later. It does make reading these notes easier b/c I can be in my fave chair or sofa and read easily.

Also, my professors use power point (like most) and I convert them to PDFs and open them in iBooks. And this semester I purchased my textbooks as ebooks and read them on my iPad. I found all of this very convenient but NOT necessary.

 

[motulist]

As others have said, you definitely don't need an ipad for college, especially since you already have a laptop and an iphone. Would you find some useful things to do with an ipad? Of course you would, but they would be minor uses that could be done almost as well using your laptop or iphone. In your situation, 95% of the time you'd be using it for having fun rather than school work.

The only question you need to ask is, "Would I get more value out of $600 spent on an ipad, or would I get more out of spending $600 on something else?" I bet that if you think about it you'll quickly think of things that you could do with the $600 that'd be more useful to you. For example, how about a car payment, or even just money in the bank so that you can afford to go out for a nice meal every now and then instead of having to boil up another pack of Top Ramen.

 

[BizRunner]

Found other debates

Hey I did a little searching and found the other threads about college.
Thanks anyways!

 

[boy-better-know]

As an (expenisive) aide, yes. As your only form of computing device, hell no.
I take mine to uni about once a week and only use it for reading journal pdf's. You can do this on a computer but i hate the computer rooms at my uni, people are always shouting and socialising. So the iPad is nice to take away and sit with the books in the quiet bit. I am so glad i have an iPad purely for that.