Apple stylus good enough reason to upgrade?

[nyy13251]

Hey everyone!
So I am in a Gradute Program and one issue I have always had is taking notes. I have a 2018 MPB pro and I love it (except I have no idea what to use to clean screen and keyboard. Tips?)

When it comes to taking notes, I either type it as the professor goes over slides (usually missing some of the info due to typing errors) or I will write on the slides I printed. But I have bad handwriting so I never really go back to it.

I’ve been contemplating selling my current iPad (iPad Air 2) and getting the new iPad (not pro) so I can get an apply stylus and be able to write and draw on the iPad for notes. Especially sciences classes which they do some drawings, I thought it would be helpful. I also use a whiteboard to study and I figure this can replace it on days I don’t want to pack up whiteboards and markers.

I just can’t figure out if it’s worth it just for that reason. Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[Garsun]

Definitely, although I’d wait till after the 30th
I did most of my creative writing and drawing using an iPad Pro. I sold it last month with the expectation of a refresh.
Reverting to the computer for writing has been rather painful. Let’s hope I’m not disappointed at the end of the month.

 

[Kostas3000]

Hey everyone!
So I am in a Gradute Program and one issue I have always had is taking notes. I have a 2018 MPB pro and I love it (except I have no idea what to use to clean screen and keyboard. Tips?)

When it comes to taking notes, I either type it as the professor goes over slides (usually missing some of the info due to typing errors) or I will write on the slides I printed. But I have bad handwriting so I never really go back to it.

I’ve been contemplating selling my current iPad (iPad Air 2) and getting the new iPad (not pro) so I can get an apply stylus and be able to write and draw on the iPad for notes. Especially sciences classes which they do some drawings, I thought it would be helpful. I also use a whiteboard to study and I figure this can replace it on days I don’t want to pack up whiteboards and markers.

I just can’t figure out if it’s worth it just for that reason. Any advice?

Thanks!

the apple pencil is such a “liberating” experience

it allows you to write notes without the restrictions of being able to type just text

in another post, I praise the iphone XS Max, the main capability of the ipad over the iphone XS Max is the pencil. That says all about how important I consider it

 

[secretk]

In my opinion it is worth it. Honestly the thought of purchasing iPad did not even cross my mind before the pencil came around. I honestly did not feel the need for a tablet in general. Adding the pencil to the picture definitely changed things for me.

I love to put handwritten notes to the documents/books I read when it comes to work or studying in the past. I use to print a lot of documents at work just so that I can write down stuff. Now I just use the iPad to add my notes directly to the documents.

The pencil is also quite useful for taking notes during lectures/meetings. If you don't have documents to annotate, you can still use it. I do it at work. And for brainstorming. You say that you use whiteboard, there are a lot of apps for iPad where you can have white canvas to write down stuff with the pencil.

Maybe you could go to some apple store and play with the iPad and the pencil and see how you feel using the pencil on it. For me the pencil is quite useful. 70 % of my time on the iPad is with the pencil.

 

[sracer]

Hey everyone!
So I am in a Gradute Program and one issue I have always had is taking notes. I have a 2018 MPB pro and I love it (except I have no idea what to use to clean screen and keyboard. Tips?)

When it comes to taking notes, I either type it as the professor goes over slides (usually missing some of the info due to typing errors) or I will write on the slides I printed. But I have bad handwriting so I never really go back to it.

I’ve been contemplating selling my current iPad (iPad Air 2) and getting the new iPad (not pro) so I can get an apply stylus and be able to write and draw on the iPad for notes. Especially sciences classes which they do some drawings, I thought it would be helpful. I also use a whiteboard to study and I figure this can replace it on days I don’t want to pack up whiteboards and markers.

I just can’t figure out if it’s worth it just for that reason. Any advice?

Thanks!

I guess I'll be the contrarian here.... you said,

"...I will write on the slides I printed. But I have bad handwriting so I never really go back to it. "

Obviously your handwriting is not going to get better simply because you are using an Apple Pencil... in fact, it might get slightly worse because the stylus on glass is more slippery and you have less control. (I use a matte screen protector on my 2018 iPad which helps a bit to give more control) So if you never really go back to your notes on paper, that probably won't change on an iPad.

Given what you've said, I don't see how an iPad will help you with that.

Having said that, I have found the iPad + Pencil to be a terrific replacement for paper and pen. I try to keep my project documents in electronic form as much as possible (I'm successful at being paperless), but for meetings and brainstorming sessions I would keep little paper project notebooks.

I tried taking digital notes on my 12.9 iPad Pro but the Pro was a bit too large to be comfortable. But when the 2018 iPad was released with Pencil support, I switched to that. The difference was night and day. I use only a smartcover for the front, a thin clear skin on the back, and the Moko Pencil holder sling to attach to the iPad... it is the lightest, thinnest, most portable solution I've found. Even on those days when I take my Logitech keys-to-go BT keyboard (a super thin Apple Smart Keyboard-like keyboard) it is still extremely portable.

I use the iPad for all note taking. GoodNotes is terrific for this (though there are many other fine apps) and I have separate "notebooks" set up for home, work, and church. GoodNotes can use custom sheet templates and is capable of searching handwritten notes.

If you think that you'd still like to try it for your purposes, I'd heartily recommend the 2018 iPad (128GB model) and avoid the Pro models. For note taking purposes it is perfect and the additional features and over double the price, the Pro models are overkill.

Keep us posted on what you decide!

 

[tromboneaholic]

But when the 2018 iPad was released with Pencil support, I switched to that. The difference was night and day. I use only a smartcover for the front, a thin clear skin on the back, and the Moko Pencil holder sling to attach to the iPad... it is the lightest, thinnest, most portable solution I've found.

My wife takes notes on clients she sees. I am thinking of getting her a 2018 iPad (waiting for October event to make sure) just for this.

She currently uses an 8.5 x 11 notepad, and has to flip through to find each client, and it's becoming a bit cumbersome for her. She has tried using her laptop, but it's easier for her to write with pen and paper.

Do you know a note taking app that would allow her to organize her notes by client, or allow notes to be grouped/organized?

 

[Greenmeenie]

Should you upgrade to an iPad with pencil support? Well, as an artist, my answer may seem obvious. Of course!

But even as a non artist, I think you’ve made the case yourself why you should upgrade to the 2018 iPad with Apple Pencil support. It will obviously help your note taking in class and Enable you to do what you did before, only better and more conveniently. Plus the 2018 iPad with the Apple Pencil is rather affordable. So yeah, I say go for it.

No need to wait for the Oct 30th iPad Pro event since the iPad Pro is more than you need, not to mention much more expensive. Unless you want an iPad mini with possible pencil support. But there is no guarantee the new mini will be announced then anyway...or if it would even have pencil support(which it should!).

So yeah, I say get the current 2018 iPad with an Apple Pencil now, and start being productive right away! Well that’s my answer.

Me personally? I’m waiting for the new iPad pros because I’m an artist and want the latest hardware.

 

[sracer]

My wife takes notes on clients she sees. I am thinking of getting her a 2018 iPad (waiting for October event to make sure) just for this.

She currently uses an 8.5 x 11 notepad, and has to flip through to find each client, and it's becoming a bit cumbersome for her. She has tried using her laptop, but it's easier for her to write with pen and paper.

Do you know a note taking app that would allow her to organize her notes by client, or allow notes to be grouped/organized?

Sounds like the 2018 iPad + Apple Pencil would be perfect for her.

Any of the major note-taking apps on the iPad could accomplish what you're describing. Depending upon the number of clients and/or the amount of notes taken on each client, a separate digital notebook could be set up for each client in GoodNotes... maybe even having "title pages" within a single GoodNotes notebook would work and then just search on the title. I like GoodNotes because it can sync to the cloud and be accessed by their macOS version. But I especially enjoy using GoodNotes because I can create my own custom tabbed notebooks separated by sections. Here's one of my custom notebooks...


Notability and OneNote are two other apps that have even greater organizational abilities.

 

[tromboneaholic]

Sounds like the 2018 iPad + Apple Pencil would be perfect for her.

Any of the major note-taking apps on the iPad could accomplish what you're describing. Depending upon the number of clients and/or the amount of notes taken on each client, a separate digital notebook could be set up for each client in GoodNotes... maybe even having "title pages" within a single GoodNotes notebook would work and then just search on the title. I like GoodNotes because it can sync to the cloud and be accessed by their macOS version. But I especially enjoy using GoodNotes because I can create my own custom tabbed notebooks separated by sections. Here's one of my custom notebooks...
View attachment 798672 View attachment 798673 View attachment 798674

Notability and OneNote are two other apps that have even greater organizational abilities.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think GoodNotes will work, especially with it syncing to other devices.

 

[sracer]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think GoodNotes will work, especially with it syncing to other devices.

OneNote also syncs... and there are native macOS, Windows, Android, and web-based versions... all free. I suggest giving that a try first since it is the most flexible and the OneNote experience on the iPad is very, very good. On those occasions when I only have my Pixelbook, I'll take notes in OneNote on that and then pick them up "on the other side" when I've got my iPad.

 

[LibbyLA]

I have OneNote on three iPads, Windows desktop, and a couple or three Android devices. I like that it syncs across all devices. I have notebooks for different big categories and lots of pages within each notebook.

 

[AttilaTheHun]

Hey everyone!
So I am in a Gradute Program and one issue I have always had is taking notes. I have a 2018 MPB pro and I love it (except I have no idea what to use to clean screen and keyboard. Tips?)

When it comes to taking notes, I either type it as the professor goes over slides (usually missing some of the info due to typing errors) or I will write on the slides I printed. But I have bad handwriting so I never really go back to it.

I’ve been contemplating selling my current iPad (iPad Air 2) and getting the new iPad (not pro) so I can get an apply stylus and be able to write and draw on the iPad for notes. Especially sciences classes which they do some drawings, I thought it would be helpful. I also use a whiteboard to study and I figure this can replace it on days I don’t want to pack up whiteboards and markers.

I just can’t figure out if it’s worth it just for that reason. Any advice?

Thanks!

I suggest to you by a good voice recorder

 

[nyy13251]

Thanks everyone!

Good advice! And yes, I don’t have good handwriting and using the iPad may not make it better but I am
Hoping it would be a little more clear and organized. I am currently taking anatomy and it is hard taking good notes (for me at least) and having paper everywhere when I study. It may be nice to have it all on the iPad and I could print it afterwards. I think it could also be helpful when I am doing fieldwork and observing, I could take my notes on iPad.