S
syd430
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The comments about adding an external keyboard are misleading. Try making dozens of tedious edits by reaching your hand out every minute or so and targeting the cursor/selection on a touch screen. It's a real pain.
The comments about adding an external keyboard are misleading. Try making dozens of tedious edits by reaching your hand out every minute or so and targeting the cursor/selection on a touch screen. It's a real pain.
The comments about adding an external keyboard are misleading. Try making dozens of tedious edits by reaching your hand out every minute or so and targeting the cursor/selection on a touch screen. It's a real pain.
But ....
you'd want a bluetooth keyboard. Typing on the screen is only good for short notes.
I think you could structure quite complex docs using Tex Writer
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tex-notebook/id552717222?ls=1
Note this does not constitute a rec for the app as I haven't used it. However if it supports full Tex then you should be able to structure pretty much any academic doc.
The comments about adding an external keyboard are misleading. Try making dozens of tedious edits by reaching your hand out every minute or so and targeting the cursor/selection on a touch screen. It's a real pain.
I love how everyone in this thread who talks about advanced text editing not being possible on the iPad later go on to saying that you need Word or similar programs. That is still basic text editing, LaTeX is an advanced form and honestly someing I thought everyone in higher education was aware of. I cant imagine the pain of writing my thesis in Word, might as well have written it in the iPad standard notes program.
In my opinion, Word is pretty advanced, and there is a reason why it is pretty much ubiquitous on college campuses and in the business world. Pages is advanced as well, but doesn't really measure up to Word -- I only use it because it is the only app on the iPad with footnotes (create, view, and edit).
I don't know if newer versions of word are any better, but when I was writing up (2007-8), the tales I heard in the common room from people trying to write a PhD thesis in word were alarming. Things like word documents crashing and being un-openable if they were longer than a certain (not long enough) limit, with a work-around being to split the thesis over multiple documents inducing deep pain in getting page numbers and references to sync between them. I will never forget the person who announced that she had finished her thesis, just needed to get the bibliography sorted out, and that would take "a couple of days". For me, getting the bibliography right involved typing "bibtex" a couple of times.
Unless it has significantly changed, Word is an absolute disaster for writing a thesis (including in humanities).
Bumping this to ask your opinions now that iOS is so advanced and (I think?) allows for multiple simultaneous windows. Is it possible on an iPad Air 2, 128 GB to have folders of PDFs-images-docs on the "desktop" and consult them while Word is open, as well as Chrome (or Safari) with many open tabs?
Also: how good/bad are those Logitech keyboards/covers?
There is still no "desktop" in iOS. You can keep PDFs in apps, and organize them within folders inside the app. And yes, now that there is multitasking, you can see a PDF and Word document side by side. But you are limited to two open apps at a time, and you can't have two Word documents open side by side, at least not yet. Safari and Chrome, yes, you can see one tab of those apps alongside Word, and you can have multiple tabs "open," but you will see only one tab at a time.
Haven't used any external keyboards, so can't comment on that.
Can you have two Word documents open by having OneDrive open on one side and Word on the other?
I believe so, but I haven't tried this myself. Both apps need to support multiview, and I'm not sure if they do or not, as I don't use those apps.
Hello all, I have been writing my thesis on an Macbook Air which got dropped and is too expensive to fix. So I am debating between getting a regular MacBook and an iPad as a replacement.
The problem of course isn't the iPad's memory, but the typing function. My question is: How difficult is it to type for one or two hours at a time on the iPad? Is the screen to small for text docs?
Also, I read somewhere that typing on the same plane as the screen feels unnatural. Do you find this to be the case?
Thanks for your advice.
forget it. Buy a macbook / or any notebook.
iPad is a toy for a lot of people.
Not necessarily. Just wrote an urgent letter for my work on the iPad Pro. Sure, the iPad doesn't do everything my desktop can do, but it's a pretty useful tool that enhances how I do my job.
Totally disagree. The iPad Pro is more than adequate using the SmartKeyboard and Apple Pages. Pages can do anything Microsoft Word can do and you can export the Pages document out as a Word document.For writing letters a Macbook is much better. Or a 300$ windows notebook. That is an absurd use case for an iPad (pro).
You don't need to tell me that. I am earning money using the iWork Suite. I personally think its a capable office suite. BUT don't forget an iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard costs about 1300€ / 1200$ -- why wouldn't you rather have a nice Macbook? More horsepower, more freedom, and a much much better physical keyboard.Totally disagree. The iPad Pro is more than adequate using the SmartKeyboard and Apple Pages. Pages can do anything Microsoft Word can do and you can export the Pages document out as a Word document.
For writing letters a Macbook is much better. Or a 300$ windows notebook. That is an absurd use case for an iPad (pro).
That's true. I had a full loaded rMB (1.3Ghz, 512GB) and it was $1700. My iPad Pro (128GB LTE) with SmartKeyboard was cheaper at $1250.You don't need to tell me that. I am earning money using the iWork Suite. I personally think its a capable office suite. BUT don't forget an iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard costs about 1300€ / 1200$ -- why wouldn't you rather have a nice Macbook? More horsepower, more freedom, and a much much better physical keyboard.
With a BT keyboard, there isn't any significant difference between the two. There are plenty of use cases where the iPad alone is just fine. Writing a thesis is one of them, with caveats, as I mentioned above. Fortunately, Apple makes plenty of products, and we can get the one that suits us best. Typing on the iPad without a BT keyboard is doable, but not terribly pleasant, or recommended for a thesis. Still, it can be done.
You don't need to tell me that. I am earning money using the iWork Suite. I personally think its a capable office suite. BUT don't forget an iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard costs about 1300€ / 1200$ -- why wouldn't you rather have a nice Macbook? More horsepower, more freedom, and a much much better physical keyboard.
I can strongly recommend NOT to write any kind of scientific paper on a toy like the iPad.
This is more or less a software issue not a hardware issue. (ok, I personally would get crazy using an iPad for writing a scientific paper BUT the iPad would be a great companion for the research of information: for example reading papers, books, websites etc.)
That's true. I had a full loaded rMB (1.3Ghz, 512GB) and it was $1700. My iPad Pro (128GB LTE) with SmartKeyboard was cheaper at $1250.