IPAD owners..need a opinion

[busacouple]

HELP
So my wife already has a MBP 13' 2010 and loves it. But what i was wondering, she will be going to med school here in a few months, and I was thinking of buying her a Ipad2. We're well off enough so i can buy it off my savings, but not well off enough that $700 is nothing to us. I have no problems at all getting it for her, if it will really help her in school. But she already has a light weight laptop...so would it be that beneficial in school?
Please, only respond if you already have a IPAD.

Thanks guys!

 

[Ryanctf]

Well. What would she be primarily using it for? Notes I guess

 

[mikethebigo]

I'm in physician assistant school and have an iPad. What she really needs is a laptop. The iPad will be fun to play with and may even be good for some light studying, but I promise you she ultimately needs a desktop class OS to be productive in that environment.

 

[Night Spring]

It can be a really great supplement to a laptop, but how useful it is really varies greatly from person to person. If there's an Apple store near you, you and your wife should go and handle the iPad, see how she feels about the on-screen keyboard, see if she can visualize how she might use it to help her in school. If she can get specific ideas about how she might use it, then come back here and ask whether those tasks are possible on the iPad. But I think you need a certain degree of openness and flexibility to get the most out of iPad. It's a new tech, and it doesn't always work the way you think it *should* work, so you need to be willing to try new things and make adjustments as you go along.

 

[Mhotep]

Hey. I'm a physician and think these can be very useful for class. She may want to check the school and see if there is already any integration with the school and iPad. There are several books and some needed apps theat will be useful.

 

[avaloncourt]

Many medicine programs have tight integration for texts and classwork with iOS devices. My boss's son is in his residency and the team he's on has to use iPads for rounds. The hospital only supplies iPads to the team leaders. The rest have to buy their own.

I would recommend that she investigate much deeper as to whether there is direct usefulness to her program at this time. Since she's just beginning she may not actually need one (if at all) for some time and, at that point, this one may be quite outdated.

A laptop would be generally more useful. The iPad may likely not have broad enough use unless there is a specific need.

 

[busacouple]

Thanks so much especially those of you already in the medical field, you gave some very helpful incite. I think maybe this is some thing i wont just surprise her with, and actually go to the apple store here in Nashville.

mikethebigo, Its actually PA school, I only say Med, cause I know my wife is constantly having to explain what a PA really is, and the CONSTANT misconception of your guys profession. My hats off to you!

 

[mikethebigo]

Cool! Tell her good luck, I bet she's excited.

Like others have said, if you already have a good laptop for serious productivity, an iPad could definitely be fun to have/use as well. Especially if she can put study materials on it and then be able to bring them anywhere.