Would the iPad 2 be powerful enough to suit my needs?

[Furifo]

I'm considering purchasing an iPad 2 to use on the go and also as a pdf reader and I have a couple of questions:

1) I'm a med student and as a result I have alot of very big PDFs. Is the iPad 2 powerful enough to comfortably display a 300mb, 1200+ page PDF containing numerous pictures, alot of text + a large number of tables/graphs?

2) How is the iPad for actually reading PDFs? I've had a play around on a Kindle before and was impressed by the eink. How does the LCD of the iPad compare?

Note - I'm not going to be using the iPad outside in bright sunlight very much so the glare of an LCD will not be an issue. I also don't really tend to suffer from eyestrain from looking at a screen too long so that won't be an issue either.

3) If I do buy an iPad, I'm expecting it to be powerful enough (and reliable enough) to meet my PDF needs for at least 3 years. Is this realistic?

Thanks!

 

[rgarjr]

Yeah iBooks really does a good job with PDF files. I have 1300+ page PDFs and it works fine.

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

1) I don't have big PDFs but I'm sure it can
2)I love reading on my iPad. My mom has one strictly to read and she loves it as well
3)Should be PDFs don't take to much power and my iPad 2 seems to zoom through everyone I have tried without flaw

My advice is get at least 32gb for all your PDFs

 

[Furifo]

Thanks to both of you!

I'm pretty much convinced now that I should go for an iPad. I'm dead set on the iPad/iOS. I've demoed Android tablets instore and none have felt as smooth as the iPad has. Android phones may be getting closer to the iPhone in terms of apps but the lack of tablet specific apps on Android tablets (especially medical related ones) when compared to the iPad is shocking meaning it's iPad all the way for me!

Yeah, I have quite alot of PDFs and I'm going to be receiving alot more in the coming years so I think a 32gb iPad2 should be sufficient storage for my PDFs, a couple of apps and some media. I have my iPhone for my music on the go

A final question - Is the resolution on the iPad sharp enough for reading small text? Retina display on the iPhone4 is incredible but the iPads relative lack of screen resolution (even when compared to Android tablets like the Galaxy Tab 10.1) gives cause for concern.

 

[kalex]

I don't think Ibooks would be good enough for u but what you should take a look at is Goodreader. Its pretty good at handling large pdfs and it gives you ability to annotate them as well. Plus it has better organizational abilities to organize your pdf files as you can create folders for different subjects and stuff.

As far as resolution - not sure. I would prefer to have better resolution on the ipad. I prefer to read on my Kindle but it is ok to read kindle books on my ipad. PDFs on 6" kindle are horrible and much better on ipad's 9.7" screen

 

[radiogoober]

Thanks to both of you!

I'm pretty much convinced now that I should go for an iPad. I'm dead set on the iPad/iOS. I've demoed Android tablets instore and none have felt as smooth as the iPad has. Android phones may be getting closer to the iPhone in terms of apps but the lack of tablet specific apps on Android tablets (especially medical related ones) when compared to the iPad is shocking meaning it's iPad all the way for me!

Yeah, I have quite alot of PDFs and I'm going to be receiving alot more in the coming years so I think a 32gb iPad2 should be sufficient storage for my PDFs, a couple of apps and some media. I have my iPhone for my music on the go

A final question - Is the resolution on the iPad sharp enough for reading small text? Retina display on the iPhone4 is incredible but the iPads relative lack of screen resolution (even when compared to Android tablets like the Galaxy Tab 10.1) gives cause for concern.

The resolution is just fine. I read small print on the iPad all the time. If the resolution is ever an issue, you can just pinch-to-zoom and blow up the text a little.

 

[palpatine]

i'm a researcher and bought the ipad in order to read pdfs. the resolution is usually great, and you can pinch to zoom if necessary. i often read massive files on it without problems. i think you will enjoy it. here is some advice.

1. buy goodreader. it is inexpensive and will make your pdf reading experience quite pleasant. it is full of features. it is by far the app i use the most, and it has a special place in my dock. ibooks is fine, but is featureless and fails to take advantage of everything the ipad has to offer.

2. use goodreader usb. it is a free app you install on your mac that enables you to easily move files into the ipad by dragging and dropping. i have thousands of pdfs (20,000+) arranged nicely in folders on my computer/external hard drives. but, itunes sucks. it strips out the folders and i end up with a disorganized mess. goodreader usb solves this by not using itunes at all, just as it should be.

3. optimize pdfs if necessary. unfortunately, pdfs sometimes crash on the ipad. i don't know the technical details, but something in newer pdfs cannot be rendered correctly. the files work fine on the computer but fail on the ipad. it is easily solved by saving your pdf as an optimized one. i usually choose the (save as adobe acrobat 4 and later) setting just to be on the safe side.

 

[TebWeb]

I use my iPad1 with GoodReader to read all the broadcast equipment manuals that are now mostly on PDF. Lots of diagrams, pictures, schematics, etc.

GoodReader handles them really well, and makes it easy to "thumb through" large files. Resolution has been fine so far, and I end up zooming in on certain diagrams, sections anyway.
It's been awesome having all my manuals that easily accessible & portable--less clunky than when I used my MacBook for the same task.

GoodReader is also handy for other tasks, too. You can FTP and connect to Web Shares through it---I've downloaded manuals directly to it this way.

 

[vistadude]

The big problem is that the rendering is very slow and often results in browser crashes. The ipad does NOT work well with google reader. Plus you need to sync your pdf's with itunes.

Android tablets are a lot easier to download and read pdfs.

 

[palpatine]

The big problem is that the rendering is very slow

it can be a little slow, especially if you compare it to flipping through a publication to find something, like you would with a dictionary. but, smart bookmarking will solve this problem nicely. it only takes a few minutes and lasts forever

and often results in browser crashes

i read a lot of pdfs and i have NEVER had a crash using an optimized pdf in goodreader. never. most pdfs work fine, but as i wrote above, occasionally they contain incompatible elements and you have to optimize the file.

The ipad does NOT work well with google reader

i don't use google reader. i highly recommend goodreader.

Plus you need to sync your pdf's with itunes.

read my post above. no need for itunes if you use goodreaderusb.

Android tablets are a lot easier to download and read pdfs.

i haven't made up my mind about these yet, but it is something i will definitely consider in a year or so after the ipad3 comes out and i am considering a new tablet. at the moment, i am thrilled with the ipad, but i could imagine enjoying pdfs more on a larger 10" screen, for example. the apps would have to be pretty good to top goodreader, which is probably one of the highest quality pieces of software i have used on the ipad.

 

[Furifo]

It seems the general consensus indicates that I should pick up Goodreader for the iPad which I'll definitely be doing.

It also seems you guys aren't really having any issues with small text + the resolution so I'll be 100% picking up an iPad2 very soon!

Thanks alot for the help, guys!

2. use goodreader usb. it is a free app you install on your mac that enables you to easily move files into the ipad by dragging and dropping. i have thousands of pdfs (20,000+) arranged nicely in folders on my computer/external hard drives. but, itunes sucks. it strips out the folders and i end up with a disorganized mess. goodreader usb solves this by not using itunes at all, just as it should be.

Drag + drop on an iOS device? :O!! Brilliant! Awesome piece of advice, thank you very much

 

[nateDEEZY]

I have issues with small text and the way certain PDF's are formatted that makes pinching/zooming rather annoying. Even more so if they're scanned pages converted to PDF's.

The screen resolution was the only reason why I didn't upgrade to the iPad 2 and is the only reason I'm considering getting an Android Tablet.