Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPad for School

P

PanzyCat

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 7, 2010
21
0
Hi all!

I am planning on getting an iPad for school and developing uses. I need to test my apps on the iPad (obviously), and I need something to type up documents and take notes, while I am at school.

Do you guys think this is a good use of an iPad?

I have basically been stalking Best Buy for the last couple of days to see when their shipment comes in. Until then, I want to see if this is a good investment, or not.

Cheers
 
Are you saying you want to develop apps for the iPad? If you are, of course it's a good idea to have your own iPad. How else will you truly get a feel for your product? The simulation on the Mac is not the same as physically interacting with your software on the iPad.

If you are a serious developer, that alone is reason enough to own an iPad. If you'd like to use it for personal reasons, that's even more of an incentive to make the purchase.
 
Yes, I need to get one for development. I am already making an iPad app.

I do, however, need this for use after school. I generally have about 45 minutes from the end of school to the beginning of my EC activities to do homework or w/e. I would need to use the iPad as a reference to some mathematical concepts I am a bit hazy on. I would also need it to type up a document.

Is the iPad good for the afore mentioned tasks?
 
Some people say they can use the ipad on screen keyboard to take notes but I can't see how anyone could do that for any length of time. There is no tactile feel and you can't locate the keys without constantly watching your fingers. A few notes, fine. But if you intend to use it as a primary note-taking tool, definitely invest in the keyboard dock or wireless keyboard.
 
dacreativeguy said:
Some people say they can use the ipad on screen keyboard to take notes but I can't see how anyone could do that for any length of time. There is no tactile feel and you can't locate the keys without constantly watching your fingers. A few notes, fine. But if you intend to use it as a primary note-taking tool, definitely invest in the keyboard dock or wireless keyboard.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I didn't like typing on it too much when I tried it at the Apple store.
I have the keyboard that came with my iMac.
 
I find typing on the screen to be almost as fast as a regular keyboard as long as you use one of the cases that folds back on itself to elevate and angle the device. The Apple case works well. Since you're looking at the screen anyway, I don't really see how that's a problem...

And, not to be an ass, but what is with all these threads. You say you've already demoed the unit in the store, so why are you starting this thread? I mean, you're asking how good it is for taking notes, but you say you've already tried typing on the device. No one here knows better than you how useful it will be to you. Do you really need the opinions of others to validate your decision? Or are you just so excited to get one you can't resist starting a discussion about the experience?
 
Nausicaa said:
I find typing on the screen to be almost as fast as a regular keyboard as long as you use one of the cases that folds back on itself to elevate and angle the device. The Apple case works well. Since you're looking at the screen anyway, I don't really see how that's a problem...

And, not to be an ass, but what is with all these threads. You say you've already demoed the unit in the store, so why are you starting this thread? I mean, you're asking how good it is for taking notes, but you say you've already tried typing on the device. No one here knows better than you how useful it will be to you. Do you really need the opinions of others to validate your decision? Or are you just so excited to get one you can't resist starting a discussion about the experience?
Click to expand...


If you go back to the original post, you will see that the question was if this was a good use of 800 dollars.

I wanted to see if the iPad would be a good device for some random papers I need to type and potentially some math help.
 
As you're saying "school".. My guess is you're about 14/15 or younger. Make sure your school even allows them to be taken in, if you're in public school, don't be surprised if it gets damaged or stolen.

You don't need an iPad.. Just go to the library and use their computers.

And as for app development, you have to be 18 to join the developers program..
 
TheBritishBloke said:
As you're saying "school".. My guess is you're about 14/15 or younger. Make sure your school even allows them to be taken in, if you're in public school, don't be surprised if it gets damaged or stolen.

You don't need an iPad.. Just go to the library and use their computers.

And as for app development, you have to be 18 to join the developers program..
Click to expand...

You may be right, but he is also "developing" - which I take as current tense. So maybe he already is in the program and school = college.
 
mrathee said:
You may be right, but he is also "developing" - which I take as current tense. So maybe he already is in the program and school = college.
Click to expand...

Not when he is talking about extra curricular activities and homework...

And he might be developing, but it's easy enough to put in a fake age, and if he has, then its fraud as he shouldn't be developing if he's under 18.
 
dacreativeguy said:
Some people say they can use the ipad on screen keyboard to take notes but I can't see how anyone could do that for any length of time. There is no tactile feel and you can't locate the keys without constantly watching your fingers. A few notes, fine. But if you intend to use it as a primary note-taking tool, definitely invest in the keyboard dock or wireless keyboard.
Click to expand...

I find typing on the ipad to be a joy. It may be because I look at my hands when i type anyways and cannot do so by feel. I am just as fast as I am on a regular keyboard. I'm not a hunt and peck sort, it's kind of a hyrbid method that seems to work quite well for me on the ipad.
 
TheBritishBloke said:
Not when he is talking about extra curricular activities and homework...

And he might be developing, but it's easy enough to put in a fake age, and if he has, then its fraud as he shouldn't be developing if he's under 18.
Click to expand...

Extra-curricular activities and homework are around in college too..
 
It will help you a lot on your homework and other things for which you need to
Use the internet such as your hazy mathematical concepts. I think it is a very good use for you but why get the most expensive one? I feel 16gb is enough storage for an app developer/student cus you don't have much time for movies etc.
 
saberahul said:
It will help you a lot on your homework and other things for which you need to
Use the internet such as your hazy mathematical concepts. I think it is a very good use for you but why get the most expensive one? I feel 16gb is enough storage for an app developer/student cus you don't have much time for movies etc.
Click to expand...

Yeah, there's absolutely no point in getting anything more than a 16GB model if you legitimately want it for app development and documents. I find people often try to justify wanting the iPad by saying, oh, "I just need it for x!" when in reality it's just for leisure. There's nothing wrong with that, don't get me wrong, but if you honestly are just typing papers and loading a single app onto it, 16GB will serve you just fine. :)
 
I use my iPad at school (college) and find it better than when I used my MacBook. It is far friendlier to carry around, I can type on it nearly as efficiently, and my drawing graphs and diagrams in omni programs just a joy compared to both free hand and doing it on Mac.
I use evernote as my not taking program, however, this is because I used it on my Mac, thus the transfer to iPad was seamless. I wouldn't recommend it though, it has very few 'school features', doesn't support Rich text (and object placement) and offline notes. This makes it very annoying to use.
 
harry20larry said:
I use my iPad at school (college) and find it better than when I used my MacBook. It is far friendlier to carry around, I can type on it nearly as efficiently, and my drawing graphs and diagrams in omni programs just a joy compared to both free hand and doing it on Mac.
I use evernote as my not taking program, however, this is because I used it on my Mac, thus the transfer to iPad was seamless. I wouldn't recommend it though, it has very few 'school features', doesn't support Rich text (and object placement) and offline notes. This makes it very annoying to use.
Click to expand...

It does supportnoffline notes once they have been downloaded in the ever note app. You must launch the app and click on the PDF so to say and it'll download it for you, then you can access them even while offline.
 
PanzyCat said:
Hi all!

I am planning on getting an iPad for school and developing uses. I need to test my apps on the iPad (obviously), and I need something to type up documents and take notes, while I am at school.

Do you guys think this is a good use of an iPad?

I have basically been stalking Best Buy for the last couple of days to see when their shipment comes in. Until then, I want to see if this is a good investment, or not.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Buy Pages for iPad, it will be the most useful purchase you'll make. I've composed several papers in it and it rocks!
 
saberahul said:
It does supportnoffline notes once they have been downloaded in the ever note app. You must launch the app and click on the PDF so to say and it'll download it for you, then you can access them even while offline.
Click to expand...

This becomes very tedious when you have 1000+ notes... ;)
 
dacreativeguy said:
Some people say they can use the ipad on screen keyboard to take notes but I can't see how anyone could do that for any length of time. There is no tactile feel and you can't locate the keys without constantly watching your fingers. A few notes, fine. But if you intend to use it as a primary note-taking tool, definitely invest in the keyboard dock or wireless keyboard.
Click to expand...

It's all about how much you use it. With time, it is amazing what people can get used to.

Once I start typing a document, I don't need to look at the screen too much. I just quickly glance back and forth like I would on a laptop.

Also, I would suggest Pages. You can share your file online via iWork.com and print it from there via a computer. It really does work well, you can even invite people to make notes or suggest changes about it.
 
The iPad for school sounds pretty good, all you have to do is buy the iWork suite and there is also tons of more apps on the app store for sale, so theres even more possibilities.
 
Basically before purchasing an iPad, we should ask - whether are we "consume" data or "create" data?

Here's my review --> iPad after 100 days

Basically, my iPad is meant for reading purposes rather than creating notes.
I used my iPad more at home rather at office.
 
I'm starting my Master's in January in Business and Finance and I plan to use my iPad in lectures instead of taking my Macbook. I think it's awesome :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back