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iPad Pro iPad Pro for school?

T

tony477g

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2016
8
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Whats going on guys, I currently own an iPad air and was thinking of upgrading to the 12.9 iPad pro. I really use the iPad for lecture my only problem is I can't draw on my powerpoint notes that are given to us by the professor on my current iPad . I have never seen keynote able to do this and have never found an app that was able to let me write/draw on the actual slides. I waste tons of money on ink and paper printing things out so in the long run being able to physically write on the actual slides would save me a good amount of money. So would the iPad pro and pencil allow me to do this? Also should I wait for an iPad pro 2 to be released? I heard a rumor that March they're supposed to bring one out but I'm not sure if it would be worth waiting for if the iPad pro is plenty fast.
 
Office for iOS allows you to annotate directly on them. What you could also do is save your slides as a PDF and open them in an app like Notability or PDF expert.

No idea when the next iPad Pro will be updated. The 9.7" iPad Pro was released in April and just got a minor price drop, so it should be fairly safe. The 12.9" iPad Pro has quite a few areas for improvement (true tone, 12mp camera), so it might see a refresh in October? But I don't think anyone can really say for sure.
 
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You just saved my life! Office does allow me to do this thank you so much! I wonder why keynote doesn't allow them to be drawn on
 
I always export as PDF and then annotate in Notability, I can insert extra pages if required which makes life much easier.

I do have the 12.9" iPad Pro now and it's great for this and problem set sheets too.
 
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tony477g said:
You just saved my life! Office does allow me to do this thank you so much! I wonder why keynote doesn't allow them to be drawn on
Click to expand...
I believe Keynote has a very basic pointer / annotation feature, but the issue is that the annotations are cleared when you exit the presentation or go to the next slide, so it's hardly suitable for your needs.
 
tony477g said:
You just saved my life! Office does allow me to do this thank you so much! I wonder why keynote doesn't allow them to be drawn on
Click to expand...
I do it with my schoolwork all the time. take all of my notes on it and it is a lifesaver for school lol!
But I am just about done with needing it in my classes, so I am actually about to sell mine if I can find a buyer lol
 
Just downloaded both apps on my iPad air and they work like a charm, now I just need a good stylus, any suggestions? I tried out the iPad pro in the store and i loved how easy it was to write on with the apple pencil and how you can have your hand on the screen while writing. It feels just like actually writing on paper
 
tony477g said:
Just downloaded both apps on my iPad air and they work like a charm, now I just need a good stylus, any suggestions? I tried out the iPad pro in the store and i loved how easy it was to write on with the apple pencil and how you can have your hand on the screen while writing. It feels just like actually writing on paper
Click to expand...

If you're not getting a Pro...
  • Pencil by 53 (You should be able to get the, fairly cheap)
  • Wacom's Fineline 2 (though they just came out with the Omni - not sure which would be better...
One word of caution though - the fine point (non-Apple Pencil) stylii have two big problems: lag and Oeven worse) parralex. The lag I could probably deal with, but Parallax I can't stand (meaning you put the stylus on the screen and draw, but the line ends up above or below where you expected it to be).
 
little impatient, huh? Chill dude.

The stylus you linked has issues with being super loud due to the "TAP" of the plastic circle on the screen for each letter you write. thumbs down.

The iPad pro 12.9" is regularly on sale at best buy, target, staples, etc. for $100-200 off. Many of us found a deal that allowed us to purchase a 32gb 12.9 for $499 because BestBuy has $200 off their iPad plus an additional $100 off with the student coupons.
[doublepost=1474402611][/doublepost]Note that you don't need a student email to get the student discounts at best buy.
 
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triple-tap said:
little impatient, huh? Chill dude.

The stylus you linked has issues with being super loud due to the "TAP" of the plastic circle on the screen for each letter you write. thumbs down.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I HATED that stylus - the disk was terrible and always felt "in the way".

I will say that isn't a universal opinion though - there are people who found that type of stylus (with the disk) to be useable.
 
I'm going to try it out when it gets here and if it doesn't work I'm just going to bite the bullet and get the iPad pro with the apple pencil just cause it really was like writing on paper
[doublepost=1474424584][/doublepost]
Ghostbuster386 said:
I just myself a 128gb wifi + cellular off Amazon for $685. Still waiting on it but I though that was a great deal. Definitely was the cheapest I found.
Click to expand...

Did you buy refurbished or new because that an amazing deal!
 
I love my iPad Pro 9.7" for school and since getting the Smart keyboard I can often leave my rMBP hooked up to my peripherals at home and not lug that to class.

I would always want a full computer and 1440p display for heavy research and work, but I use my iPad Pro for many things and find it invaluable:
  • Smart Keyboard + Apple Pencil + iPad's camera for note taking in class. I can type fast, use the Pencil for quick diagrams if necessary, and use the camera to capture anything the professor draws/writes. I can take images directly with my rMPB or draw diagrams.
  • I spend many hours each week reading scholarly articles, reports, booked, etc. No more need to print and use ink, paper, and lug it around. I use PDF Expert + iCloud/Dropbox + Apple Pencil to read and annotate all my PDFs - HUGE.
  • I teach accounting undergrads. I work all of the homework in Notability using a standard 8.5 x 11" sheet of lined notebook paper PDF template. I usually hand-write 3-7 pages of solutions and I can now effortlessly change ink color, highlight, draw, insert images, etc. with one tool. When I'm done I export my PDF solutions to PDF Expert and export it again as a flattened document so that my annotations can't be modified and upload it to the class site.
  • When I teach I use SplitView to have the homework problem open on the left and my solutions on the right. That way I don't have to keep pausing to walk over to the textbook and can view everything I need in one small slap that weights less than a point (so it's easy to hold for 1.25 hours at a time).

My rMBP is used for some advanced Excel heavy-lifting that Excel for iOS simply can't handle, heavy multitasking with research, and some of the online class portion management because Safari iOS doesn't always play nice with school sites so I use Google Chrome on macOS to upload grades and manage assignments.


Sorry for such a long post, but this is a topic I've always been interested in. My iPad Pro with Apple Pencil is what I've always wanted my iPads to be - which is why I was disappointed in my iPad 3 and even my Air 2 to some extent. The Apple Pencil has really been one of the most dramatic improvements to any user experience I've ever had. Completely changed how useful the iPad was to me.
 
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