iPad Pre-Purchase Questions

[cshearer]

In the next week or so, I'll be purchasing an iPad 2 on a financing plan. I've seen enough of it to know that I would enjoy it, but my quest for information runs a bit deeper than that.

I'm a college kid, and the way I organize my college things is mostly digital. The gripe I've had is not only the weight of carrying around my MBP, but also the fact that I'm also carrying around a lot of money's worth of hardware and software. Therefore, I've found that it's in my best interest to purchase an iPad to serve the function (in the realm of my schooling) as my main input of information. Evernote on the iPad looks pretty swell. I've used the keyboard, and I think I could really gain a lot of speed with personal use, but do you think it's a good keyboard for medium-paced input? I take notes, not copy the lectures word for word .

I would also like to hear from other people who are in my position who do own one. Any college students here that have found usefulness in their iPad in an academic sense? Even people who use it in business I'd like to hear from, because I find the basic demands to be similar for iDevices.

Any information would be wonderful, thanks!

 

[Apple...]

In the next week or so, I'll be purchasing an iPad 2 on a financing plan. I've seen enough of it to know that I would enjoy it, but my quest for information runs a bit deeper than that.

I'm a college kid, and the way I organize my college things is mostly digital. The gripe I've had is not only the weight of carrying around my MBP, but also the fact that I'm also carrying around a lot of money's worth of hardware and software. Therefore, I've found that it's in my best interest to purchase an iPad to serve the function (in the realm of my schooling) as my main input of information. Evernote on the iPad looks pretty swell. I've used the keyboard, and I think I could really gain a lot of speed with personal use, but do you think it's a good keyboard for medium-paced input? I take notes, not copy the lectures word for word .

Any information would be wonderful, thanks!

Like you said, you can grow accustomed to it and gain lots of speed with constant use. If you don't find it fast enough, use can always find a real physical keyboard and connect it via Bluetooth.

 

[cshearer]

Like you said, you can grow accustomed to it and gain lots of speed with constant use. If you don't find it fast enough, use can always find a real physical keyboard and connect it via Bluetooth.

Very true. I did see the split keyboard in iOS 5 for the iPad. I'm still unsure if I'd want to register that as one of my devices. I can deal with my iPhone being on the fritz, but I'm not so sure about my school device hah.

My other issue with that split keyboard is, and correct me if I'm wrong, it'd only be practical in portrait? If I used that in class, I'd look like I was texting on a reeeeeally big cell phone.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

My other issue with that split keyboard is, and correct me if I'm wrong, it'd only be practical in portrait?

split keyboard also works in landscape on iOS5 (at least in Beta 5); better get a BT keyboard. That saves also space on the screen you can use for content

 

[Apple...]

Very true. I did see the split keyboard in iOS 5 for the iPad. I'm still unsure if I'd want to register that as one of my devices. I can deal with my iPhone being on the fritz, but I'm not so sure about my school device hah.

My other issue with that split keyboard is, and correct me if I'm wrong, it'd only be practical in portrait? If I used that in class, I'd look like I was texting on a reeeeeally big cell phone.

I believe you can use it in portrait or landscape. And you do realize the split is optional?

 

[Alaerian]

What specific classes are you taking notes in?

 

[cshearer]

I believe you can use it in portrait or landscape. And you do realize the split is optional?

Indeed, it's hard to explain where I was coming from with that. I was mostly coming from the ways to make typing easier, I should've made it more clear that I knew it was only an optional feature.

What specific classes are you taking notes in?

The one class I won't be using digital notes is my math class, because even with my Macbook this has been cumbersome. The others include social psychology, philosophy, and an American pop culture class. All of those kinds of classes were easy to take notes when I was using my Mac.

 

[Ecoh]

I am old enough that the only computer I owned in college was a slide rule. I do use my iPad for note taking at work, would have loved to have had it in college for note taking.

Since I got the iPad I leave the notebook behind when going to meetings and seminars, it is the best thing I have found for keeping organized notes. I don't have a problem with the keyboard, I can type just as fast on the iPad as on my notebook.

If you can get some of your reference books or text books as ebooks that would also cut down on weight that you have to carry from class to class.

 

[LanEvo]

Where do you go to finance an iPad 2? I had to buy mine outright and I'm a college student.

 

[saberahul]

Where do you go to finance an iPad 2? I had to buy mine outright and I'm a college student.

Apple.com. They have financing available.

 

[Carlanga]

I would say it depends on the class, if you need to write everything the prof says then the MBP is better, but if it's short notes then the iPad is fine w/out a physical keyboard. Now a keyboard for the iPad would make it the best of both worlds; I have even seen covers that have the keyboard integrated so you don't carry extra stuff.

 

[palpatine]

i bought the ipad as a content consumption device (PDF journal articles, books, and ebooks) and it took some convincing and good advice on the macrumors forums for me to realize its potential as a content creation device. here is some advice that might help you out. good luck with your ipad!

1. Getting Things Done with the iPad
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1197650/
2. Going from Paper to iPad
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1198956/
3. Getting Things Done: iPad for Academics
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1189442/

 

[palpatine]

Nice summary; thanks !

glad i could help. the posts kind of ramble, but basically: ipad + apple keyboard + incase origami workstation + evernote (writing) + goodreader (reading) and you are all set.

by the way, i see you are in japan. one wonderfully convenient way to get books into the ipad is to buy them at bookoff, tear them apart, and run them through a scanner. apparently there are companies in japan that will do it for you--you just box the books up.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

by the way, i see you are in japan. one wonderfully convenient way to get books into the ipad is to buy them at bookoff, tear them apart, and run them through a scanner. apparently there are companies in japan that will do it for you--you just box the books up.

That's actually a really nice proposal. When I moved over to here I took quite some books with me, heavy books from high school and university. Like controlling, linear algebra, all those stuff. Actually it would be nice to get them digitized. On a home scanner it would take ages to do. Didn't know they offer that for private; I knew for business. That will for sure help to reduce shelf space.

 

[cshearer]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A5288d Safari/7534.48.3)

Where do you go to finance an iPad 2? I had to buy mine outright and I'm a college student.

Like another poster said, Apple does offer the Barclay Visa, but the problem is I don't have good enough/enough to get one. Today my mother is consigning for me to get a credit card at a local credit union where I do all of my banking. It offers a bit better rates, and allows for consignment, which the Barclay Visa does not.

 

[palpatine]

That's actually a really nice proposal. When I moved over to here I took quite some books with me, heavy books from high school and university. Like controlling, linear algebra, all those stuff. Actually it would be nice to get them digitized. On a home scanner it would take ages to do. Didn't know they offer that for private; I knew for business. That will for sure help to reduce shelf space.

There are probably several avenues for getting the books digitized, including the simplest one of taking digital pictures of them yourself. Some regular copy places will do it for you as well for a reasonable rate, and it sure beats trying to stuff it all into your luggage or ship it by sal. The only problem might be dictionaries and other books with abnormally thin pages. For those, you might be better off biting the bullet and purchasing some of the fabulous digital versions available on DVDs/CDs. The Logophile app (for OSX) is useful for searching through the dictionaries if you go that route.

 

[aneftp]

In my opinion (at iPad's current stage in it's developement cycle) is this:

If you are a college kid who has to get financing in order to get the iPad, you seriously need to look at your priorities.

The iPad is first and foremost a consumer device at it's current developemental levels.

Sure many professionals are using it as part of their everyday lives. But the vast majority of them earn a living and use other computing devices as their primary devce.

Now let's get back to you. I just do not think the iPad is good for college students unless they have disposable income. Sure to digitized everything. I do it myself.

But your laptop should always be your first choice for digital storage as a college student.

If you really wanted something portable and much more useful, the MacBook Air is by far the better choice for college students.

Sure I know the iPad is the sexy choice. But when it comes down to getting real work done, full computing needs college students need to think computing needs first. You just cannot get that with the iPad.

 

[palpatine]

In my opinion (at iPad's current stage in it's developement cycle) is this:

If you are a college kid who has to get financing in order to get the iPad, you seriously need to look at your priorities.

The iPad is first and foremost a consumer device at it's current developemental levels.

Sure many professionals are using it as part of their everyday lives. But the vast majority of them earn a living and use other computing devices as their primary devce.

Now let's get back to you. I just do not think the iPad is good for college students unless they have disposable income. Sure to digitized everything. I do it myself.

But your laptop should always be your first choice for digital storage as a college student.

If you really wanted something portable and much more useful, the MacBook Air is by far the better choice for college students.

Sure I know the iPad is the sexy choice. But when it comes down to getting real work done, full computing needs college students need to think computing needs first. You just cannot get that with the iPad.

As someone who didn't even own a computer when he got his BA, I have to respectfully disagree. You could easily get by with no computer then, and now, because the school provides plenty of free ones on campus (even community colleges). I spent a lot of time in computer labs, and I was especially fortunate that my university had many open 24 hours.

The truth of the matter is that for many students, especially ones in the humanities, the iPad easily covers the majority of their work: reading and writing. For final drafts, I think you'll need a computer (footnotes on the iPad are not especially pleasant), but otherwise you'll be fine without a computer (in my opinion). Because the iPad functions as an e-reader, you can get a phenomenal amount of work done with it. I believe it has become a valid option.

Engineering, architectural, and other professional degrees will have more specific and rigorous demands, of course. So, it is an option that won't work for everyone.

 

[dccorona]

I find the iPad plenty fast for note taking. I used it in my film theory class all the time last semester, and it actually ended up being faster and more efficient than pen and paper for me. If you're interested, I can show you a sample of the notes I was able to produce in an hour and a half lecture, so you can see how much I am able to get done with it

 

[palpatine]

I find the iPad plenty fast for note taking. I used it in my film theory class all the time last semester, and it actually ended up being faster and more efficient than pen and paper for me. If you're interested, I can show you a sample of the notes I was able to produce in an hour and a half lecture, so you can see how much I am able to get done with it

I'm interested

 

[chris2k5]

As someone who didn't even own a computer when he got his BA, I have to respectfully disagree. You could easily get by with no computer then, and now, because the school provides plenty of free ones on campus (even community colleges). I spent a lot of time in computer labs, and I was especially fortunate that my university had many open 24 hours.

The truth of the matter is that for many students, especially ones in the humanities, the iPad easily covers the majority of their work: reading and writing. For final drafts, I think you'll need a computer (footnotes on the iPad are not especially pleasant), but otherwise you'll be fine without a computer (in my opinion). Because the iPad functions as an e-reader, you can get a phenomenal amount of work done with it. I believe it has become a valid option.

Engineering, architectural, and other professional degrees will have more specific and rigorous demands, of course. So, it is an option that won't work for everyone.

1. There is a difference between college now and in 1970's when you went to college.

2. Sure he can go to a computer lab but he wants to choose between an iPad and a laptop and laptop will probably be the better choice.

3. For notes in class, pen/pencil and paper slays all unless it is a class with Powerpoints with endless notes --> Then you can use a laptop to type it all out.

 

[calvinc]

In the next week or so, I'll be purchasing an iPad 2 on a financing plan.

If you need to finance a relatively small purchase, then you can not afford it. It's a want not a need. You do not deserve an iPad until you save enough money to pay it in full.

 

[SBDenali]

If you need to finance a relatively small purchase, then you can not afford it. It's a want not a need. You do not deserve an iPad until you save enough money to pay it in full.

I have to disagree with that entirely based on the assumption that the OP is choosing one of the interest free financing offers that are out there. Why does he not "deserve" an iPad if he would rather pay for it over 6 months than all up front? The cost is exactly the same (actually it would be marginally less if you take into account the time value of money). Do you pay your cable bill annually? If not, by your own logic of it being a want and not a need, you don't deserve to have cable.

 

[jsh1120]

I find the iPad plenty fast for note taking. I used it in my film theory class all the time last semester, and it actually ended up being faster and more efficient than pen and paper for me. If you're interested, I can show you a sample of the notes I was able to produce in an hour and a half lecture, so you can see how much I am able to get done with it

Since you're apparently attending my alma mater I won't assume you don't know what you're talking about. I'll just be very surprised and (only) a little skeptical.

At a very advanced age (60+) I've been struggling for several months to gain the skills necessary to equal my pen and paper note taking ability on my iPad. I've found the capabilities of Notes Plus and Note Taker HD to be impressive but I haven't yet found I can be as efficient with either as I can be with a legal pad and a pen. As noted, it might have more to do with having used the old fashioned method for note taking for well over half a century.

The younger generation is either less skilled at traditional methods or more flexible. I hate to admit that I think it's the latter.

P.S. Like Palpatine, I didn't have a computer in college. The one I used occupied a space about the size of a football field in the basement of one of the buildings on campus. A huge advance was the Michigan Terminal System (MTS) that enabled students to type program code and limited text into specially built IBM Selectrics linked to the central computer system. It was delightful not to have to deal with punch cards.

 

[saberahul]

Since you're apparently attending my alma mater I won't assume you don't know what you're talking about. I'll just be very surprised and (only) a little skeptical.

At a very advanced age (60+) I've been struggling for several months to gain the skills necessary to equal my pen and paper note taking ability on my iPad. I've found the capabilities of Notes Plus and Note Taker HD to be impressive but I haven't yet found I can be as efficient with either as I can be with a legal pad and a pen. As noted, it might have more to do with having used the old fashioned method for note taking for well over half a century.

The younger generation is either less skilled at traditional methods or more flexible. I hate to admit that I think it's the latter.

P.S. Like Palpatine, I didn't have a computer in college. The one I used occupied a space about the size of a football field in the basement of one of the buildings on campus. A huge advance was the Michigan Terminal System (MTS) that enabled students to type program code and limited text into specially built IBM Selectrics linked to the central computer system. It was delightful not to have to deal with punch cards.

You have a valid point but at half your age, I am faster at taking notes on the iPad rather than pen and paper. I don't like Note Taker HD; I mainly use Notes Plus for GoodReader (for PDF annotation).