Should I get an iPad?

[Zarraya]

Hey,
I am a high school senior about to enter college for mechanical engineering. I currently have a wide screen HP laptop but i was wondering if an ipad would be able to handle most of my day to day activities. I plan on getting the entire iWork suite and the external keyboard along with the camera connection kit for any USB options that open up.

I have done research and can not find a thing other than the CD drive that i would need for college; i can email all of my documets to a school computer and the school computers can handle any software the professors may give. I also plan on waiting for the update on the iPad in January.

Thank you.

 

[Kestrel452]

EDIT: Forgive me I've had a couple beers and somehow missed the part where you said you already had a laptop.

The iPad is an interesting device because it's utility level is all over the board. Some people could really benefit from having it, while for others it could possibly hinder their productivity. Best advice anyone can give you to this question is the following: look at Apple's website and see what it does. If the iPad does things that are of good use to you while on campus so you dont have to lug around a heavier laptop, then buy it if you have the $$$. If not, you've just bought a $700 toy (which is fine as long as you realize that going into it).

 

[Don Kosak]

Well, the update for the iPad will probably be announced in March and ship shortly thereafter (maybe April).

Still, that's plenty of time if your college term starts in August/September.

I take loads of notes, and have a lot of reference material and books on my iPad. Pages and Numbers are great. I know there is a TeX editor App that let's you do math formulas etc. That would be handy for a Mech E.

 

[MrWillie]

Well, the update for the iPad will probably be announced in March and ship shortly thereafter (maybe April).

Still, that's plenty of time if your college term starts in August/September.

I take loads of notes, and have a lot of reference material and books on my iPad. Pages and Numbers are great. I know there is a TeX editor App that let's you do math formulas etc. That would be handy for a Mech E.

Numbers doesn't do cell merge. When you open an Excel spreadsheet (what most of the world uses) you get gibberish. Other iPad office programs will cell merge, but will not handle an image insertion. The ones that handle images, (Numbers is one), don't cell merge.

Now books and PDF files are another story. I love the way the iPad handles PDFs.

 

[zhenya]

Yep, I'm finding that the iPad is great for reading - web, books, pdf's, magazines, etc. And its great for some types of notes - primarily handwritten ones with a stylus if you need to write equations or do other writing that is difficult on a normal computer. Overall though I'm much faster typing in OneNote - for power use the iPad cant compete.

 

[tripjammer]

The Ipad is totally awesome...new apps are coming out everyday.

iOS 4.2 is almost here...it really needs this iOS...the Ipad is so light and so well put together...and never gets hot...and will go up to 12 hours on a charge...nothing comes close!

You will love it...but if you are waiting then wait till April for the Ipad 2! Can we say facetime?

 

[karlwig]

OP: If you want it and need it, go for it.

Myself, I would have waited. It's been a while, and version 2 will be announced in a couple of months. I would have waited to see what it brings, and if it's nothing special, buy a used 1st gen -- or if iPad 2 is awesome, buy it right away while it's new.

That said, you cannot chase technology too much or you'll go insane and/or go broke!

 

[1969cj5]

If you can afford it get it