iPad Pro vs MacBook Air new college student

[omelet1978]

After a long absence in school, I’ve decided to go to college. It is 100% online and in fall 2019 they are opening up to fully digital textbooks via Cengage.

I already have a Mac mini at home. I am going to install parallels with windows 10. Since Microcenter is having a good sale on the new iPad Pros, I was going to grab a 12.9”. My use case is as such:

-Access to the school LMS. There is an iOS app for this as well. This will also be my access for text books when that’s enacted.

-I will need to run Microsoft Office, including Access for a semester. I will have office 2016 free from school, that doesn’t include Access, but am willing to pay for office 365 which will give me Access and Office on iOS, if I am reading correctly.

-I would like to be able to keep notes with the iPad via pencil, keyboard or both so everything is in one place.

The price point would be near if not exceed a MBA when all is said and done. I like the thought of being to have a dedicated device just for textbooks and even can use to extend my Mac’s monitor if I want.

Is there a better option for me than this? I’m open to other products, but I’m heavily invested in Apple’s ecosystem and loathe the thought, but am not closed to the possibility, of having a Windows machine I won’t likely use after school is over.

I'd just go with the iPad Pro and not look back especially since you have a Mac Mini. My solution is to have a very old Windows laptop that I keep in a drawer for the 1% of the time there is an old application or something that just won't work with the iPad.

Good luck

 

[bluespark]

After a long absence in school, I’ve decided to go to college. It is 100% online and in fall 2019 they are opening up to fully digital textbooks via Cengage.

I already have a Mac mini at home. I am going to install parallels with windows 10. Since Microcenter is having a good sale on the new iPad Pros, I was going to grab a 12.9”. My use case is as such:

-Access to the school LMS. There is an iOS app for this as well. This will also be my access for text books when that’s enacted.

-I will need to run Microsoft Office, including Access for a semester. I will have office 2016 free from school, that doesn’t include Access, but am willing to pay for office 365 which will give me Access and Office on iOS, if I am reading correctly.

-I would like to be able to keep notes with the iPad via pencil, keyboard or both so everything is in one place.

The price point would be near if not exceed a MBA when all is said and done. I like the thought of being to have a dedicated device just for textbooks and even can use to extend my Mac’s monitor if I want.

Is there a better option for me than this? I’m open to other products, but I’m heavily invested in Apple’s ecosystem and loathe the thought, but am not closed to the possibility, of having a Windows machine I won’t likely use after school is over.

Call your department and ask them what they recommend. Many have specific recommendations. If they don't, ask them what most people use. iPads and Macs have different use-cases and there's no reason to guess on this. If you can't get what you need by phone, wait until the end of your first week -- you'll probably know without a doubt at that point.

 

[swarlos]

Sounds like me! I'm going back to school in the spring also! I attempted the fall semester but changed my major haha so had to completely change my class schedule for spring. I have a 2016 MBP and just recently bought a 10.5" pro that came with the pencil and smart keyboard folio for $515 so I'm all set!

The ipad sounds like it could be a good fit especially since you have a Mini at home. Too bad you couldn't test it out during the holiday return period to see if it would be doable.

Also if you don't mind me asking what are you going back to school for? It's been a 9 year absence for me :/

 

[NickPhamUK]

For the price of MacBook Air 256 GB you could get an iPad Pro plus a cheap Dell/HP/ASUS.

 

[gixxerfool]

Sounds like me! I'm going back to school in the spring also! I attempted the fall semester but changed my major haha so had to completely change my class schedule for spring. I have a 2016 MBP and just recently bought a 10.5" pro that came with the pencil and smart keyboard folio for $515 so I'm all set!

The ipad sounds like it could be a good fit especially since you have a Mini at home. Too bad you couldn't test it out during the holiday return period to see if it would be doable.

Also if you don't mind me asking what are you going back to school for? It's been a 9 year absence for me :/

I’ve been out of school for 22 years so I had to start studying for the entrance exam. Never took the SATs. It was a recent decision didn’t leave me a lot of time before the semester started. I’m going back for computer information systems.

 

[Shanghaichica]

If you already have a Mac at home I would go for the iPad Pro. It’s more portable but more importantly it’s going to be infinitely better for digital textbooks. You don’t want to be trying to scroll around those books on a MacBook.

 

[Totally]

I would get the macbook air. For double the weight, you get some much more. You get a real operating system. You can download any program rather just the apps in the app store. This portability argument is nonsense. The macbook air is so light already. I personally don't like digital textbooks, so I mean whatever floats your boat. But it is much more convenient to have a physical text book that you can write it in and actually flip through pages, especially when you don't know which page has the answer you are looking for.

 

[Macintoshrumors]

I would get the macbook air. For double the weight, you get some much more. You get a real operating system. You can download any program rather just the apps in the app store. This portability argument is nonsense. The macbook air is so light already. I personally don't like digital textbooks, so I mean whatever floats your boat. But it is much more convenient to have a physical text book that you can write it in and actually flip through pages, especially when you don't know which page has the answer you are looking for.

your biased showed in that post, fyi: ios is a real operating system too for the device it supports

 

[swarlos]

I’ve been out of school for 22 years so I had to start studying for the entrance exam. Never took the SATs. It was a recent decision didn’t leave me a lot of time before the semester started. I’m going back for computer information systems.

Cool that’s what I’m doing!!!

 

[alecgold]

If you spend some money and install the Jump Desktop app, you are also able to login into the Mac Mini when your at uni. Not the most convenient thing, but sometimes it saves the day.

I’m 44 and again in uni, now in my third year of law school and had the same setup for the first years: macmini at home, iPad 12.9 for uni. Reading lots of badly scanned PDF’s is much easier on an iPad especially the 12.9.
When I dropped the 12.9 on a corner (both case and screen damage) and the 2011 Mac Mini started to boot every 30-60 seconds I really needed something new. Not wanting to buy a brand new Mac Mini from 2014 ánd a 12.9, I bought a MacBook Pro.
When my budget was a bit better, I also bought a 11”, ASK2 and pencil2 and this combo works really nice as well.

 

[gixxerfool]

If you spend some money and install the Jump Desktop app, you are also able to login into the Mac Mini when your at uni. Not the most convenient thing, but sometimes it saves the day.

I’m 44 and again in uni, now in my third year of law school and had the same setup for the first years: macmini at home, iPad 12.9 for uni. Reading lots of badly scanned PDF’s is much easier on an iPad especially the 12.9.
When I dropped the 12.9 on a corner (both case and screen damage) and the 2011 Mac Mini started to boot every 30-60 seconds I really needed something new. Not wanting to buy a brand new Mac Mini from 2014 ánd a 12.9, I bought a MacBook Pro.
When my budget was a bit better, I also bought a 11”, ASK2 and pencil2 and this combo works really nice as well.

I’ll look into Jump Desktop for sure. Thank you. I had log me in years ago. The interface wasn’t the best, but it came in handy from time to time. Thanks for the input.

 

[The Samurai]

You're asking on an iPad forum, you're going to get responses from people who will obviously say go with iPad. Likewise, if you ask on the MBA forum, you will get people telling you to go for the MBA.

As someone who went through university, I personally couldn't ever just by getting through my course with just an iPad. Its madness even when I think back. It would be a good additional device that I could use in lectures but thats where it would end. When i was in the library, I was doing intense work which the iPad can not handle - opening multiple documents, referencing and Microsoft Office is still very basic on the iPad. For example, for nearly all my reports I had to use table of contents which the iPad version doesn't have and it also required me to have various tabs and files open up so I could reference accordingly.

Depending on how serious you want to take the course, you need to consider your options carefully. I know what I would do in your case: sell the mac mini, get a Macbook Air and a basic iPad (not the pro - you don't need it).

 

[Enclavean]

Finally a topic I have experience with.

I will honestly say I need both, I cant replace my laptop with my iPad and I cant replace my iPad with my laptop. I dont have any online courses though so my use case might be different, but I use my iPad to take notes during class and record lectures using Notability Now if i drift off in class, I know i got the recording to go back to. It's like an extra safety net. (Anatomy at 8 in the morning is a pain)

That said, I do not feel comfortable at all using office on the iPad for anything except drawing spider-diagrams. Its just so much easier on a MacBook with mouse support and full office. Granted it's probably possible to do most on the iPad, but with a lot of compromises.

Seeing as you said you were willing to spend "a couple of hundred dollars more", Id just get the baseline MacBook Air and the 9.7" iPad if I was you. The best of both worlds.

Unless you know you're gonna be home most of the time, in which case you could use the Mac Mini and only rely on the iPad for outside stuff.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I’ll look into Jump Desktop for sure. Thank you. I had log me in years ago. The interface wasn’t the best, but it came in handy from time to time. Thanks for the input.

I don’t see the need for that desktop mirror apps now as with iCloud Drive I can access all the files on my Mac on my iPhone or iPad.

 

[Totally]

your biased showed in that post, fyi: ios is a real operating system too for the device it supports

Of course I would look biased to someone posting in the iPad forum. I'm probably the only person in the thread up to my post who was advocating not getting the iPad. It's an iPad forum. Go against the hivemind, be accused of being biased. Whatever.

iOS is not a "real" operating system. It's a highly sandboxed mobile operating system. You can't install anything you want onto it. Only what apple lets you.

I would have never been able to do my undergraduate degree with an iPad and no real computer with a real operating system. You can nitpick my use of real all you want, but it doesn't change anything.

 

[flur]

Of course I would look biased to someone posting in the iPad forum. I'm probably the only person in the thread up to my post who was advocating not getting the iPad. It's an iPad forum. Go against the hivemind, be accused of being biased. Whatever.

iOS is not a "real" operating system. It's a highly sandboxed mobile operating system. You can't install anything you want onto it. Only what apple lets you.

I would have never been able to do my undergraduate degree with an iPad and no real computer with a real operating system. You can nitpick my use of real all you want, but it doesn't change anything.

So mobile operating systems are imaginary?

 

[Totally]

So mobile operating systems are imaginary?

Just like your trolling ability.


Anyways, I should have known better about giving an honest answer that goes against the built in biases of this sub forum.

 

[flur]

Just like your trolling ability.


Anyways, I should have known better about giving an honest answer that goes against the built in biases of this sub forum.

iOS is a real operating system. You don’t have to like it, but just because you don’t like something doesn’t stop it from being real to the rest of the world. You should work on giving your opinion without pretending it’s the only right one. The rest of us said our piece without being arrogant and derogatory. You could have chosen that as well.

You say you couldn’t have gotten through undergrad with an iPad (and, I assume, a Mac Mini, since the OP would have both). When did you graduate? I finished my masters in January and would have been great with this setup. I did all my lecture notes on my iPad and did my work at home on my laptop (but a Mac Mini would have worked just as well) and on the go on my iPad. I have an MFA in Writing.

I did my undergrad before the iPad existed, back when laptops were fairly new, and would have loved an iPad to compliment my computer back in my dorm. It would have been much better to carry an iPad to class instead of all those books.

 

[Shanghaichica]

iOS is a real operating system. You don’t have to like it, but just because you don’t like something doesn’t stop it from being real to the rest of the world. You should work on giving your opinion without pretending it’s the only right one. The rest of us said our piece without being arrogant and derogatory. You could have chosen that as well.

You say you couldn’t have gotten through undergrad with an iPad (and, I assume, a Mac Mini, since the OP would have both). When did you graduate? I finished my masters in January and would have been great with this setup. I did all my lecture notes on my iPad and did my work at home on my laptop (but a Mac Mini would have worked just as well) and on the go on my iPad. I have an MFA in Writing.

I did my undergrad before the iPad existed, back when laptops were fairly new, and would have loved an iPad to compliment my computer back in my dorm. It would have been much better to carry an iPad to class instead of all those books.

It depends on what you study. My first degree was in molecular biology and genetics my masters in functional genomics. There’s no way I could have done either with just an iPad. I needed a computer.

I’ve since retrained as a nurse. For that degree I could have got by with just an iPad.

 

[Totally]

I could not have done my degrees in engineering and physics with only a desktop pc at home and an ipad on the go. Well I mean I could have, but the inconvenience factor would have been massive. An iPad doesn't work if you have to do any kind of technical computing. If you have a project with a team and your computer is at home and it's your only way to do any kind of technical computing, well then I guess everyone is just going to have meet at your house. Whereas with a laptop, I can quickly whip up what I need to wherever you meet. Furthermore, most people in college at least where I went didn't do all their work at home in their room.

Sure it works if all you have to do is take notes, write papers, and read books, you can get away with this setup and you might even like it. But for the fraction of us that use our computers for more than that, an iPad doesn't work.

 

[flur]

It depends on what you study. My first degree was in molecular biology and genetics my masters in functional genomics. There’s no way I could have done either with just an iPad. I needed a computer.

I’ve since retrained as a nurse. For that degree I could have got by with just an iPad.

The OP has a Mac Mini, and I referenced using both an iPad and a computer (either laptop or desktop). I suspect the number of degrees you can get where you won’t need anything but an iPad is very few. The number you can complete with a Mac Mini and an iPad and no laptop is significantly larger.

 

[Hurley82989]

if you have the money for either an ipad or a macbook air, i would go with the macbook air.

a macbook air can do everything an ipad can do. an ipad can't do everything a macbook air can do, especially when it comes to doing real work.

 

[charlituna]

iPad is only a computer replacement for people that only do web browsing, facebook, personal photos, and maybe some movie/netflix streaming....... and honestly that's probably like 80% or more of the USA population, at least for a personal computer.

and drawing. and word processing. and for me it's a digital camera monitor on set for 14 hours a day 6 days a week. our script supervisor does all her notes with an iPad. most of our actors get their script pages, call sheets etc on iPads. or AD has the payment vouchers for the background on an iPad. our wardrobe department uses an iPad for signing out costume pieces to the same background. our props department the same.

but you are more or less correct that over half the population probably doesn't really need a 'real computer' (whatever the heck that's supposed to mean) for the stuff they do.

 

[muzzy996]

I feel you @flur . . . It is interesting how some threads fill up with opinions of what an OP should do that miss the mark in terms of their intended workflow. People are posting from their past or current study workflows in college talking about taking laptops to school and study groups while OP has stated that their coarse of study is 100% online. Oh well.

 

[alecgold]

if you have the money for either an ipad or a macbook air, i would go with the macbook air.

a macbook air can do everything an ipad can do. an ipad can't do everything a macbook air can do, especially when it comes to doing real work.

Always the assumption that work is only real if you type, work on spreadsheets and do difficult things.
For me work is also reading a lot of stuff, annotating PDF’s, making handwritten notes, often in locations where their is no thrust worthy WiFi. There the MBA is not suited for real work: no touch, stupid horizontal screen, no LTE/4G built in, hard to use when sitting down in a comfortable chair, big and unwieldy on a small table.
Likewise the MBA is really not suited for doing large renderings/autocad/solid work.

So the conclusion is simple, the MacBook Air is a lousy machine...

Of course not, it is brilliant at some things good at a lot of other things and in the Apple range it is rather good priced.
But horses for courses and my iPad won’t replace my MacBook Pro with a brilliant 5k 27” display anytime soon and yet I use my iPad more hours per day.