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College Students with iPad Pro's and Apple Pencils, does it work for you?

Alvi

Alvi

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 31, 2008
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I've tried to make this relationship work once before with the iPad Air and the Apple Wireless Keyboard but it didn't work out because I felt kind of self conscious about the noise the keyboard made (it was also a pain to carry and I still can't figure out how to turn it off) and the overall awkwardness of not having a mouse. It always made me feel somewhat restrained and my iPad only made me miss my MacBook more instead of making my life easier by being a smaller, lighter and longer lasting battery device.

Since iOS7 and the 1st gen iPad Air many things got definitely better here and there, but are you actually able to take notes with decent speed with the pen or is it just a gimmick for us and a great tool for graphic designers?

I'm planning to flat out use Noteability's voice recording feature and write a note here and there to reference what I'm listening to and then full on transcribe everything I found interesting in text. I have several professors that talk way too fast and are okay with tablets but totally hate how a laptop blocks a student's view.
Is it worth the 750$ expense? Should I go 12.9 if I want to take notes?
 
If you are planning to hand write your notes then go with the 12.9. however if you can use the latest keyboard on the 10.5 then that is the way to go.
 
batman75 said:
If you are planning to hand write your notes then go with the 12.9. however if you can use the latest keyboard on the 10.5 then that is the way to go.
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I'm a bit worried of it's size in the class room though, and I'm not talking about peer pressure from my colleagues but how the professors might perceive it. I played with it for a while and I guess that with the pen's accuracy and it being almost the size of a sheet of paper it could work out nicely though.
 
Alvi said:
I'm a bit worried of it's size in the class room though, and I'm not talking about peer pressure from my colleagues but how the professors might perceive it. I played with it for a while and I guess that with the pen's accuracy and it being almost the size of a sheet of paper it could work out nicely though.
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Exactly its about the size of a sheet of paper, and if you are taking notes with a pencil then you are using it horizontally. So it should be very low profile.

I do think that a 10.5 inch version with the smart keyboard is a more compact and functional solution though. Notes which are typed are better than hand written IMO. Also your whole concern about the laptop obstructing the view wouldn't apply without the 10.5 iPad with keyboard setup since it's tiny.

I'm not a student but when I go to meetings, I use my MacBook if I am planning to take a lot of notes (keyboard essential for lot of writing). And for light notes, or meetings where it would be inappropriate to use a laptop, I just use my iPad with the onscreen keyboard and pencil.
 
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batman75 said:
Also your whole concern about the laptop obstructing the view wouldn't apply without the 10.5 iPad with keyboard setup since it's tiny.
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That is true, however I might just use the smart cover as a kickstand horizontally and maybe figure out my old bluetooth keyboard for those situations. However for class notes I do prefer pen over keyboards because I memorize things better. The 12.9 definitely sounds more appealing now since I can't really see myself writing and reading on a small iPad. I tried reading and I always ended up printing things on paper because the size bothered me, not the backlight.

Jeez now I need to figure out what I want in terms of storage and accessories, 12.9 is already a budget increase for me and then comes the pen, and a cover and some sort of sleeve, I'd love the apple leather one but it's super expensive.

Also, I don't really feel that I need more than 64GB mainly because I doubt I will ever do more than productivity apps that don't use up that much storage, but I do feel kind of ridiculous having a 256GB iPhone and a 64GB huge iPad. What do you think?
 
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I have the 12.9 and take notes with notability and love it for that. I ended up getting notability and good notes so that i could have multitasking view with a to do list from notability on the left side of my screen and a planner in good notes on the right. Makes it easy to see my day at a glance.
 
I just ended up ordering the 256GB 12.9" iPad Pro and the Brown leather cover and the pen obviously.
I didn't go for the 64GB one because I realized that I got the 256GB iPhone to be able to not give a crap about space on my phone and this definitely should translate onto a productivity device like the iPad Pro.
I also figured out how to make my old Apple Wireless Keyboard work and I guess I'm all set.

I would also like some back protection but I haven't really found something nice enough.
 
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A really nice accessory for the iPad Pro with Apple Pencil is the TORCHGRIP. TORCHGRIP (http://www.torchgrip.com) is a great grip/stand for the larger format iPads. It allows you to rotate the tablet into portrait or landscape mode. It works as a great stand on hard and soft surfaces. It allows you to ergonomically hold the larger tablets reducing strain. The grip also is a great way to carry your tablet with one hand and the grip is removable for easy storage. The ring and grip only weigh 2.6 oz yet they are surprisingly strong.
 
its a good note taking device. one of the better stylus experiences you can buy.

for graphic design its a nice companion device but is lacking features some professional users need. i just finished art school a year ago and while nice to have, the ipad was a companion device to a windows tablet with wacom pen.
 
I'm anxiously waiting for mine to arrive today. Sadly I think the pencil will only arrive on Monday :(
 
Teacher here who uses the iPad 10.5 in the classroom himself, I would have no problem at all with a student using an iPad in the class to take notes. For me, functional pencil and paper-sized iPad was life-changing for convenience.
 
I have the 2015 12.9" iPad Pro with Pencil for school. I lay it flat on the desk and do all my hand written notes on the iPad. Its convenient having the textbook or slides on the left side of the screen and OneNote on the right side of the screen.

Before you record your lectures, you should speak to your professors and ask if they are ok with you recording them. I've had multiple professors who said no to being recorded. I've seen students expelled from classes because they recorded the lectures against the professor's wishes.
 
HengenJL said:
Before you record your lectures, you should speak to your professors and ask if they are ok with you recording them.
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Let me second HegenJL's point. 90% of teachers are okay with students recording lectures (especially in the case of students with disabilities), but you should indeed always ask as a matter of policy.
 
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