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Going to College This Fall-iPad Possible Instead of MacBook?

A definite hell to the no!

Try writing a research paper on this where you need multiple PDFs, websites, and word documents and your gonna pull all your hair out in frustration.

If money is a problem, I agree, buy a cheap windows laptop for school only.

The iPad is a luxury item that you can live without if money is a huge issue but a full fledge laptop is as important as underwear for school. Makes life much easier. You're gin give yourself a headache trying to fit the iPad into your workflow.
 
If you're on a budget, get Windows Laptop (Dell is very cheap)... If you can afford Macbook White, it's a good choice too... If you have $$ to spare, get Macbook Pro 13" + iPad.

But I am 1000% sure you need laptop or some sort of computer for college. There is no way for you to organize a bunch of PPT, PDF, Word, and Excel files in an iPad and be productive at the same time.

Imagine having to open up research website, professor powerpoint file, your notes, and writing research paper at the same time..... Yeah :(
 
barkomatic said:
The choice here isn't just between an iPad and a macbook. I disagree with those saying that if you don't get an iPad you should get a macbook.

NO Apple product is advisable for someone on a budget. For $500 you can get yourself a decent, full powered PC laptop that will do everything you need for school and provide ample entertainment. I enjoy Apple products myself--but don't buy into the marketing that any PC will be non-functional compared to a mac. Yes, it will be plastic but a $500 PC laptop will probably have better components than a $1400 macbook pro. Windows 7 is a great improvement over XP or Vista.

If you're on financial aid, don't waste your funds on stuff you don't absolutely need.
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$500 for PC laptop, I agree.

But after spending literally days disinfecting my kids PC's from viruses, applying patches, running anti-spyware, etc......I can't imagine being in college with one and having to do this when I have projects due.

Stick with the Mac. The Mac tax is worth it for the lessened hassles.
 
ReallyBigFeet said:
$500 for PC laptop, I agree.

But after spending literally days disinfecting my kids PC's from viruses, applying patches, running anti-spyware, etc......I can't imagine being in college with one and having to do this when I have projects due.

Stick with the Mac. The Mac tax is worth it for the lessened hassles.
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I agree. Consider a used Mac over a new Windoze box. There is one scenario where you might get away with an iPad. If you load some sort of remote desktop software on your iPad and are able to always always always connect to your main machine, and you could always always always print from your main machine to wherever you happen to be you could get away with just an iPad.

My daughter has an hp tablet pc that is mandatory for her high school. We all hate it. I'd much rather she had a Macbook or an iPad. But even at community college, I would not rely on only an iPad to get through school. What is your major? English? Psych? Journalism? Then perhaps you can make it. Pre Med? Science? Nursing? Engineering? Fuggedaboudit, you need a real computer. You aren't gonna impress a chemistry prof with that "elements" app on the iPad, no matter how cool it looks. If you're a science major, it's time to man up and carry that heavy notebook.
 
1rottenapple said:
The iPad is a luxury item that you can live without if money is a huge issue but a full fledge laptop is as important as underwear for school.
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As someone who has recently worked in college administration and seen the frequency with which some college students get, um "friendly" with each other, one could make the argument that for a certain percentage of the college population, a laptop is far MORE important than underwear.

:eek: :eek: :eek:
 
ReallyBigFeet said:
$500 for PC laptop, I agree.

But after spending literally days disinfecting my kids PC's from viruses, applying patches, running anti-spyware, etc......I can't imagine being in college with one and having to do this when I have projects due.

Stick with the Mac. The Mac tax is worth it for the lessened hassles.
Click to expand...

Was that with a PC running windows 7? Yes, the anti-virus, anti-spyware stuff is a bit of a pain. However, I think we mac fans we tend to exaggerate the problems with PC's. I owned PC's for many years and they really aren't *that* bad at all--especially the newer ones. I'm typing on a PC as we speak and *gasp* somehow its still functioning.

I always suggest macs to people -- except when there is a tight budget -- then PC's tend to be the better choice.
 
I say go for it, but not for the same reasons. When I was in college, I rarely used my own computer for assignments. I did most of my work in the university computer labs or the library computers. The iPad would be strictly for surfing the web and entertainment.
 
You'd be better off getting a cheap PC if you can't afford a Mac, because an iPad really can't replace the functionality of a laptop. I'm getting an iPad for reading/note taking in college, but I could never see myself writing long papers on it (even with an external keyboard).
 
Very Very Bad Idea

What ever you are going to learn - you will need a lot more then keynote papers and word processor.
Just for example - this is what i'm using in the social sciences almost daily:
Word - iPad papers is just not enough for writing papers you have to submit.
Excel (you might manage with Numbers but won't count on it)
SPSS
JMP
R-Plus
Endnote '(would be smart to start using it from day one - will save you alot of time!!)
Mathematics
xmind or mindmap
And this is the very very short list that will not run on Ipad at all!
 
I'd say that the iPad should not be a laptop replacement for most students. I'm not a student but my kid is. She has played with my iPad and has come to that conclusion on her own.

I really love my iPad and have been trying to use it in lieu of my MBP since April 30th in a higher ed. setting. I might be able to get by with it doing memos and e-mail, but the workflow between applications and the no printing to a work network printer is not something I think I can live with long term.

You just have to know what you need and make a decision based on your needs. Of course that is hard to tell if your just entering college.
 
I would get the Macbook. There's just too many limitations on the iPad which makes it counter-productive.
 
Late 09 macs usually sell for 799 at microcenter. If you can get your parents to understand and loan you the extra cash it would be so worth it.
 
gtvyt said:
Just for example - this is what i'm using in the social sciences almost daily:
Word - iPad papers is just not enough for writing papers you have to submit.
Excel (you might manage with Numbers but won't count on it)
SPSS
JMP
R-Plus
Endnote '(would be smart to start using it from day one - will save you alot of time!!)
Mathematics
xmind or mindmap
And this is the very very short list that will not run on Ipad at all!
Click to expand...

Was going to bring this up. Many fields of study have specific software packages that are essential. SPSS came to mind.

But check-off mindmap, at least - I've come across at least one, perhaps a couple of mindmap apps in the app store.
 
I would also agree to say no to iPad when deciding between that or a Macbook. You can get away with iPad if all you plan (for content creation) is stuff doable by iWork. (On campus, it's real easy to use iWork to email off a PDF and print it somewhere) However, a laptop is still superior for content-creation. iPad is a great consumption device, not so much a creativity one. Yes, you can type and answer informative posts with the Pad, but not all sites have forums that play nice. Some have proprietary code (not necessarily flash) which causes difficult text entry to anything that's not a Laptop-level machine or better. So you want that guarrantee for a machine that can access everything 100%.

iPad is more or less something secondary. There maybe days in which you can use that without touching a laptop, but you'll never get past a week or something without needing the laptop for something. Now, of course, I do a lot of content creation, so of course I keep my laptop around. It's just a shame that some sites don't have message boxes that play nice. There are some places with which I'd rather use my iPad to participate in, because it's more comfortable to do so, but I can't due to stuff like that. (A shame, because there's no excuse for a message-box using anything but good HTML standards. Can anybody in existence tell me any advantage proprietary coding has over simply allowing somebody to be able to type into a Text Box? I mean, they accomplish the exact same thing, except one bugs out on some browsers, the other doesn't.)
 
I want to say yes just to go against the grain, but if I were you, I would hold off until the new OS releases. Here's some of the reason I say Yes and No to the iPad for college over a laptop.

Yes: You'll have your bluetooth keyboard and your notebook handy to take notes. You won't have to lug around a laptop (if you get really proficient on the touch keyboard, you won't have to lug around the keyboard). It's really a great device to use when you want to access the web, e-mail, class readings (GoodReader). It takes absolutely no time to boot it from it's locked state. You'll have a lot of media (movies, apps, books, internet) at your fingertips. Not to mention wifi. Did I mention that there's a possibility that you won't even have to buy a physical textbook every again? All in a tiny package.

No: It may not be compatible with your school's online environment. You can't write up a term paper at the last minute and print from it. It's going to be hard to even focus on writing that term paper with all of that other media preying on your short attention span. Who really wants to lug around a keyboard? Who really wants to become proficient on the touch keyboard? You may not be able to find the needed textbooks on iBooks or Kindle. It's really expensive, for someone on a budget.

To sum, go for the iPad, but realize that you're going to have to write your papers on an actual computer. That's probably the real only hurdle. But who wants to go to the library to write, when they have an iPad. :rolleyes:

It's magical, to an extent.

Good luck making the best decision.
 
As a student iPad owner, I can tell you that you will need a real computer at some point. Colleges usually have public computers so you can live off of an iPad, but life would be much easier with a laptop. How are you going to sync the iPad to keep your data backed up?

In a budget situation, I'd go for a cheap win7 laptop that gets the job done (no ****** netbooks). When money is tight, it's hard to justify a Mac. You can get a used one off craigslist for a decent price if you look hard enough.
 
Full of Win said:
4. Many test are done on Blackboard, and I'm not sure of the iPad can do this. Not tried it, since I'm not the one taking the test, so I could be wrong on this.
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i tried it, it works, you can take tests on blackboard on the ipad. I wouldn't recommend it given the rate that ipad's safari crashes but it works. I was able to test this out since I already had enough points to get an A+ without taking my last midterm so I took the last midterm simply to "test" out the ipad.
 
bniu said:
i tried it, it works, you can take tests on blackboard on the ipad. I wouldn't recommend it given the rate that ipad's safari crashes but it works. I was able to test this out since I already had enough points to get an A+ without taking my last midterm so I took the last midterm simply to "test" out the ipad.
Click to expand...

I couldn't in the course i'm taking because i have to use a lockdown app. But so far i have been able to do the class on it if i need too...

But i haven't had safari crash at all - on my Touch the genius said that wasn't normal, and he wanted to do a restore from new to see if it was just something gone amuck. They can see that when they test them at the Apple store, so you might want to pop in and have them check it if you have one nearby.
 
Unless Steve decides to provide additional functionality like printing, I'd put my money on a laptop. You can buy a decent laptop for $500 and get a 13" Macbook for less than $900.
 
Are you going to get opinions to pick a major? What about what classes to take? Start making your own decisions.
 
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