iPad - Word processing/pdf

[macman4789]

Hi guys,

I'm in the process of starting a thesis which will require a lot of typing! I currently have a 24" iMac for any large screen usages.

I'm trying to decide whether a 13" MBP or an iPad will suit my needs. I will need to be able to download/view/annotate pdf's and switch between pdf's and word processing app (I presume pages). I will then upload any work I do onto my iMac/mobile me idisk. I've heard the new iOS for iPad may have improved folder support/pdf support.

For those of you who use your iPad for this, how is it? Do you wish you had the function of a laptop? I'm choosing between these two products because of portability but wonder whether the iPad will be possible to do this.

Thanks for any advice

 

[peapody]

I would get a laptop. It will make your life infinitely easier for writing.

I use my ipad for annotations and word processing, and it is just fine...but with a thesis there is going to be a lot of editing, so I wouldn't even look at an ipad for that.

 

[Blakeco123]

1.you can view and download PDFs to ibooks on the iPad
2.you can switch between ibooks and pages
3. there is a idisk app for the iPad
4.the folder are to hold apps not files. but the new version of ibooks has support for PDFs.

truthfully if your going to type a thesis I would suggest the macbook pro because of the real keyboard, and its a computer that has a full os on it(so it does more intensive stuff). just asking but why don't you save the money and just type it on the 24 inch?

 

[Full of Win]

Laptop.

There is nothing about the iPad that will increase your efficiency in a significant way.

If there was a way to convert scientific papers to ePub, I'd say the iPad. However, the papers I read, microbiology, are for the most part in a double column format. The current programs (as of today) used for converting the PDF to ePub does not take thins into account, and hops between the left and right columns when doing the conversion.

Now, if this little issue was taken care of, then the iPad would be AWESOME for research work.

 

[peapody]

Laptop.

There is nothing about the iPad that will increase your efficiency in a significant way.

If there was a way to convert scientific papers to ePub, I'd say the iPad. However, the papers I read, microbiology, are for the most part in a double column format. The current programs (as of today) used for converting the PDF to ePub does not take thins into account, and hops between the left and right columns when doing the conversion.

Now, if this little issue was taken care of, then the iPad would be AWESOME for research work.

Why would you want these papers in epub? Pdf works just fine for me for these journals. Just curious.

 

[macman4789]

just asking but why don't you save the money and just type it on the 24 inch?

I need portability to be able to work on my thesis during the day when I'm out etc and so that's why I'm looking for portability in the iPad or 13" MBP.

 

[Full of Win]

Why would you want these papers in epub? Pdf works just fine for me for these journals. Just curious.

For the same reason many people buy books in ePub and not PDF. Because using PDF requires a lot of pinching and zooming to see the text on the Ipad screen. If they raise the ppi higher with the next version, then sure it might work better. However, for the current system, epub is the way to go for me.


This is not to say that reading them in PDF is bad or impossible, I keep my articles in Papers on the iPad, but it's not superior to what you can do with a laptop in my opinion.

 

[peapody]

For the same reason many people buy books in ePub and not PDF. Because using PDF requires a lot of pinching and zooming to see the text on the Ipad screen. If they raise the ppi higher with the next version, then sure it might work better. However, for the current system, epub is the way to go for me.


This is not to say that reading them in PDF is bad or impossible, I keep my articles in Papers on the iPad, but it's not superior to what you can do with a laptop in my opinion.

Hmm interesting. I have never heard of this thought before. Would like to see one of these epub formats in action one of these days. Pdfs have been just fine for me, and the ease of just downloading them from medline and other databases to a folder that wirelessly syncs with my ipad..has made my ipad a great device for reading journals.

 

[Plisar]

For the same reason many people buy books in ePub and not PDF. Because using PDF requires a lot of pinching and zooming to see the text on the Ipad screen. If they raise the ppi higher with the next version, then sure it might work better. However, for the current system, epub is the way to go for me.


This is not to say that reading them in PDF is bad or impossible, I keep my articles in Papers on the iPad, but it's not superior to what you can do with a laptop in my opinion.

I personally love reading on my iPad using iAnnotate and Papers. I find it has increased my productivity, and I am able to get much more comfortable reading on the ipad than I ever was reading off my MacBook.

 

[Full of Win]

Hmm interesting. I have never heard of this thought before. Would like to see one of these epub formats in action one of these days. Pdfs have been just fine for me, and the ease of just downloading them from medline and other databases to a folder that wirelessly syncs with my ipad..has made my ipad a great device for reading journals.

The original question was to compare a laptop and iPad. To me, PDF on the iPad is no better than PDF on the laptop. This is not to say I don't use it, I have my papers and large catalog of manufacturer protocols (e.g. Qiagen, Promega, Invitrogen, ect...) on it as well in PDF. But, if you compare PDF on the computer to epub on the iPad, in my opinion the iPad comes out on top. I don't think that PDF's on the iPad are bad; its just not a killer app for scientific journals.

Every once in a while you have one of those moments in technology where you say 'this is the future'. When I got my first Wi-Fi router in 2002, a Netgear mr314, I had one of those moments.

Recently I had another one of those feelings with the iPad and ePub format for scientific readings. The last ASM meeting in San Diego, provided the abstract book in epub format as well as PDF. After trying it a few minutes, I was hooked for using this format for scientific reading. Don't know a word? Simple, do a google search by holding down the word. It just felt so right to read the abstracts in this way.