Is an iPad enough for college students these days?
I'm normally the tech guy in my social circles and can make good recommendations but its been a few years since I was a collage student so when one of my associates who is about to start her college journey as a dental student asked me for my recommendation, I wasn't sure exactly what to recommend.
My first thought was an iPad paired with an Apple Pencil and a Logitech portfolio case. This was because she mentioned lots of note taking and drawing. I figured that option gave her the most bang for the buck and versatility to accomplish any tasks necessary while also having longevity to get her threw the next few years. As for what model, I haven't really figured out just yet.
My main drawbacks here are that iPads still don't fully replace a Mac or PC. I don't know what software her college will require and while many schools are modernizing some are still not quite there yet and may require specific software that can't be run on iPads.
Of course the solution to that problem is to purchase a MacBook as well. That should handle most any applications and maybe make longer essays and research papers easier to get through. Ideally that would be option number one, but obviously that's very expensive, and while I do not know what her and her families fiscal background is like, I think its safe to assume that in this economy, even with educational discounts, that's not the most feasible option for most students.
On the other hand just purchasing a MacBook instead of an iPad would work but not be as versatile since apple has yet to produce a 2in1 like the Microsoft Surface. Speaking of 2in1's I thought about the Microsoft Surface and even some Samsung 2in1's with their s-pen equivalent, but longevity has never really been Windows or Chromes OS's strongpoint. Not to mention I really am not a fan of Chrome OS and its many limitations. I know there is a lot of schools that use them, but they also tend to end up unfixable and unsupported.
Again... its been a minute since I was a student, so maybe there are things that I am not thinking about or realizing. I told her I would think about it and come back with some recommendations so I figured I'd ask here for some real life experience while I do some research on the subject.
EDIT
- Her major is dentistry
- She curranty has an iPhone
- I'll ask her to check her schools requirements
- I'll reply to everyone soon, I just wanted to make those things known for everyone.
- Thanks for all the input so far!
I told myself this before I blew a mint on a MacBook Pro going into university.
Then 2 years later the entire thing was fried when the motherboard decided to up and die after several rounds of Mac OS X updates. The benefit of a Windows machine is that you'll be able to do parts replacements yourself in many cases, or even upgrades if you wish; Apple on the other hand does everything they can to keep you from opening their machines, solders everything together that they can, and make repairs/upgrades a major headache if they're possible at all (in my case it wasn't; I had to buy an entirely new laptop, and went with an ASUS which also rid me of the OS X compatibility nightmares I had dealt with... but that aspect may really depend on what your associate needs to run).
All this said my experience was 10 years ago, not with the M1 Macs etc. But they've since gone even harder in the direction I described, and I personally wouldn't ever buy another Mac product.
My wife uses a MacBook and iPhone and while the cooperation between devices is nice there are a lot of hardware headaches to deal with.
Anecdotally I have MBP that is 8+ years old with no major issues. My company provisions Mac laptops as well and the average age compared to the Windows laptops is consistently higher. They seem to last longer. YMMV
I think if price is your #1 buying concern then Mac may not be a great choice, if it’s lower on the list then it probably is a great choice.
Every single laptop I've ever had, and I've had quite a few (including Macbook Pros, high-end Dells, etc.), has had a catastrophic failure within a few years. This has previously always required buying a new laptop, even when the only thing that failed was a stick of RAM, because most failure-prone components are welded to the motherboard.
Computer components fail. That doesn't mean that every single one will definitely fail, but the chances are very high that at least one will fail. No company on this earth — not Apple, not anyone — can guarantee that their computer components won't fail. And so the more components you have welded to the motherboard, the more you are putting all your eggs in one basket.
Meanwhile, every single desktop I or my family have ever owned still works (and that's back to the late 80s; I'd estimate that's 15-20 desktops all told, which we have kept around for sentimental reasons), excluding my 2004 iMac that had a motherboard failure (a real motherboard failure, not just something welded to it).
When I bought my current laptop, I specifically sought one with replaceable components. Yes, I had to pay more for it and I had to get a thicker laptop, but it was 1000% worth it for me because I use it professionally. When it had its own failure a couple years ago, I just got the bad part replaced, as if it were a desktop.
I will never again buy any laptop (or desktop) where the components are welded together. I would strongly urge anyone who cares about longevity—especially someone like a student who can't necessarily buy a new laptop the next day if/when theirs dies—to avoid the laptop market altogether unless they can afford to get one with swappable components. (That rules out all Apple laptops, unfortunately.)
Sorry for the late reply. Are you interested in the new Framework devices or planning to purchase one? I want one pretty badly, but we have a lot of travel/medical commitments at the moment and I just need to make sure we get through that responsibly.
I am very interested! I am not in the market for a new laptop right now, but my next one may be well be a Framework. A lot of people I know are buying them now, so I'll hopefully have a better sense of what they're like by the time I'm thinking about getting one (probably at least a couple years away).
If you get one, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it.
I'd certainly hope so because they cost significantly more. But unfortunately for me my MBP was the most expensive computer I've ever purchased (I've built my own desktops since then but I don't think the sum of their parts exceeded its price) and it didn't last nearly as long as any other. The model I had was a 2008 MBP with several upgrades that took it over $2000; this was after they'd ditched PowerPC, but before they moved to the black-bezeled MacBooks.
The ASUS laptop I bought afterwards lasted me 4 years of everyday use, and it was still perfectly fine after that, I just no longer needed a laptop anymore. I gave it to a friend who used it for a few years after that.
When my MBP went boom, Apple told me they could fix it for me... for $1600. At that point I could buy a new MBP for I believe $1300 with better specs, but of course I didn't.
I personally think Mac has more value for those who don't know what they're doing. Not to say power users can't use them either and I know they're popular with devs solely bc of iOS development access, but I always thought they had more value when it came to avoiding viruses and vulnerabilities, simply bc their low market share meant they were not a target... but in recent years Windows security has improved drastically. Then Linux is for the real power users who know their shit (i.e. not me... maybe someday).
This is a misconception in my opinion. Mac has more value for professionals who are not as cost sensitive.
If by “know what they are doing” you mean people that can build their own PC then that probably disqualified an overwhelming majority of the population.
I agree that many of the MacBook models do cost a lot compared to similarly powerful devices from other manufacturers, but one thing I've been pointing out to people (especially those who can get student/educator pricing) is that at ~$750 (if you can get that pricing) the base-ish M1 MacBook Air is a pretty great deal. Compared to most PCs I've used in that price range and even the $1k range, the build quality is amazing, and the M1 is a great chip.
Little secret, anyone can get that pricing. They don't verify that you are a student.
Just to add my anecdote to this story: I bought a MacBook Pro in 2015 and it still runs great for simple tasks like word processing and browsing the internet. I did upgrade for work purposes to another MacBook Pro in 2022 because I needed more processing power (and that M2 chip was calling to me). However, my husband still uses my old 2015 Pro for school with no issues. I will say that it can no longer get OS updates because of its age, it was supported up to Catalina. I still feel it has great longevity for the cost…I paid nearly as much for my iPhones, which consistently stop performing well between 2-3 years. IMO—Pro is worth it and I’m sucked into the Apple ecosystem in a bad way.
Having said that the 2014/15 MBPs were some of the best laptops ever made.
My 2014 MBP was still running, albeit clunkily, and I have managed to install Ubuntu OS on it since its going to run out of OSX security updates. That seems to be doing fine for the basic stuff I need it for.
Since people feel the need to say "my Mac for 2000 still works great", I'll add that I bought my wife an air in 2019 and it's a slow piece of shit she hates but I guess the motherboard didn't explode.
That was poor timing for an Air. The M1 Air is night and day better in performance. Intel chips simply can’t cut it in such a thermally constrained environment.
Sadly the same is true of chromebooks as well as Microsoft’s computers and most thin and light laptops, so this kind of thing isn’t unique to Apple. If you want a repairable computer you should buy a Framework, but then they aren’t terribly thin and light (though I wouldn’t say they’re painfully thick and heavy either).
Most laptops are still miiiles ahead of Apple in this regard. Apple is the worst I've experienced. Not to say the others (MS devices and Chromebooks) are setting a high bar exactly bc they aren't. It's just very very difficult to do worse than Apple.
The Framework looks very very cool, I'm not in the market for a laptop these days but if I was I'd certainly consider one.
If you want a repairable laptop, go get a Framework. You can get replacement parts and upgrades for literally everything.
As for your MBP experiences. I'm still daily driving my 2015 MBP with zero issues. I've got 3 or 4 different company MBPs during that time, all with no issues.
Your fried motherboard is definitely not a normal experience.
Unfortunately it sounds like your outcome was dependent on where you’re living. In Australia we have really strong consumer protection laws. If I spent $2000 on a laptop that went out like that in just a few years, I’d be pretty frustrated! I’d definitely be going back to the retailer and demanding a solution, whether it would be a repair or replacement or refund.
I'm in Canada. The warranty at the time was 2 years, and lucky me, my laptop died after 2 years and 1 month. Worked fine other than a minor fan issue right up until it went completely kaput. Their regular warranty is only 1 year now. I think it was then as well and I paid extra for 2 years.
It was completely unsalvageable and we don't have any kind of consumer protections here that would go beyond a manufacturer warranty.
That sucks and I’m sorry you went through that. I know I’ve always heard that Australian consumer law is good, but I didn’t realise just how generous it was (even by first world standards) until fairly recently.
In Australia, if a laptop with a third of the price of a MacBook can justify 24 months warranty, then the expectation is that the much more expensive MacBook must have a more significant reputation and therefore longer implied warranty — even if the paperwork in the box says it’s only 12 months.
Here's another personal experience:
I bought an Acer Chromebook back in 2017, and it's still running daily. I installed Linux on it a couple of years ago and since then I have had very few problems with it.
Instructor here—check on the institution’s website to see if they have recommended devices. I work for a university that extensively uses courseware from different publishers and they all have different requirements and mobile experiences. iPads are not recommended where I teach for this reason. EdTech, while making strides, is still far behind in terms of compatibility. Also, many learning management systems have poor mobile experiences as well. If she has to submit anything via an LMS, it’s going to be a struggle on just an iPad.
This is my recommendation. I work at a university and see this discussed frequently. Different departments will have different tech recommendations due to different software requirements and usage expectations. And going to a computer lab is doable, but not ideal when folks want to study together in a library or lounge instead of a lab.
I'd ask them to check those requirements/strong suggestions and then you can make a more informed recommendation if they're still not confident afterwards.
I'm quite surprised, the LMS (D2L Brightspace) I used in High School and University has an Android and iOS app for several years now.
If it is a website only, by default Safari on the iPad now requests desktop sites (since 2019 I think?), it may still be a hassle if the UI doesn't like touch input but it does avoid a crappy mobile interface being stretched onto a massive canvas.
Regardless, I still overall agree with you, there is too much software that one may need in university that requires a true laptop operating system and will not work on iPadOS. For example, Zotero is indispensable for me and the iPad experience is quite lackluster. I also find remote lab access to be much better with the dedicated Windows / Mac / Linux app rather than the website.
Yes and no.
Particularly some proctoring software may not work on an iPad so they may not be able to use it for tests. If they're doing things that need specialized software that also puts a kibosh on that idea. There are also a lot of publisher-provided software that barely work on desktop browsers that might not work on an iPad properly.
On the other hand, the school undoubtedly has a computer lab they can use for the rare occasions when they need those features, so it's not like it would be the end of the world.
If they know they'll need specific software, it would probably be best to go with a macbook, since portability and battery life are going to be an important consideration. There are some Windows laptops that can work, but they're not quite as good overall, IMHO. Plus if they also have an iPhone they can scan their paper notes into the notes app and have it sync with the computer. There are other apps that give you similar functionality if you don't go the all-apple route.
Strictly speaking, they might not need a computer or iPad at all, but having one of those options will definitely make things easier. There's no one best option; it depends on the person, and an iPad is certainly a good option.
Maybe wait a few weeks after school starts so they can get a better idea of what will help them out?
Edit: I just remembered that my community college actually had remote access VMs available to all of their students, and their images had the programs that were required for all of their courses upon request. I don't know how common this practice is, but if the school in question has this kind of thing in place, it makes an iPad a lot more tenable.
My school also had this but there are some caveats that are worth mentioning. While the web client for remote access worked, the desktop client (windows, linux, macOS) was more featureful particularly if you wanted to share folders on your local device with the server. Remote access VMs also do not solve the proctoring problem, as you still need a personal device to use for proctoring. Although in the case of my University some of those proctoring softwares were banned and most exams are in person at this point anyways.
These days it's surprising if any given remote access solution didn't have some way to use an iOS and Android client in some way (and if you were using the web version on Safari I could only imagine how bad it would be).
The proctoring software is another story, though it's not so big of a deal if you're regularly on campus anyways. I agree with your University that it should be banned, too; they're huge breaches of privacy.
From a compute perspective, I think it would be fine. But from a software compatibility perspective only the department can answer that.
I think what would really keep me from recommending just an iPad is the ergonomics. An iPad keyboard is fine for doing a bit at a coffee shop, but even a laptop is going to become tedious for the hours of reading and writing in college. A student needs a full size monitor, mouse, and keyboard. I'm not sure about the iPad pro, but even if you hook a normal iPad up to a large monitor the interface is tedious at that size with peripherals.
For that reason I would not recommend an iPad as a main computer for a college student. They're mainly for media consumption, with some capabilities for creative use, but just not suited for grueling WORK.
Through my time in university (only a few years ago), very few students had a full size monitor, mouse, and keyboard... and most of them were for gaming. I really don't see it as necessary at all. Not to deny your experience at all -- it's fine if you personally prefer that and don't feel comfortable using a laptop. But I think having anything more than a laptop (and maybe a bluetooth mouse if you prefer it) is excessive for most students.
It's not so much the size of the monitor/laptop screen as it is the positioning. A display should be high enough up that your head is facing straight forward to see it. Obviously if you put a laptop in this position you can no longer easily reach the keyboard, so an external keyboard and mouse become necessary. On the other hand you could use an external monitor, the laptop keyboard, and a mouse.
Workplace injury around computer usage is getting real. Most medium or large companies will invest in a consultant to make sure their ass is covered in case an employee develops an issue.
Traditionally aged college students are pretty spry. But college is a great place to start a lifetime of bad habits hunched over a laptop, and that's something I simply wouldn't recommend. Granted, the question was about someone who might be on her feet more in a dental career.
A dental student probably wouldn't need to be running any complex software, right? So I think an Ipad might actually be fine if she's ok with it.
Personally I had a cheap but decently large monitor as well as a laptop, so that when I was in my dorm I could use the larger screen and real mouse/keyboard for a proper computer experience, but I still had a laptop to take to classes. Maybe if you're used to a laptop/iPad those provide a fine experience, but personally I just really like having a monitor and a separate mouse/keyboard.
She should also be able to ask her university what they recommend as a minimum, I know my department had that, although because I was studying engineering they had some fairly high recommendations for running things like Nastran/Patran/SOLIDWORKS. If her department doesn't have a minimum computer they recommend that's another sign that the bare minimum will be enough.
UK based here so no direct correlation to college but I lived with a dental student at uni (many, many, many years ago) and there was a hell of a lot of work required both in and out of school for dentistry.
As such I am not sure that an iPad is the right approach, simply because it’s not as good at creating reams of documentation, and I say that as an owner and fan of the iPad Pro.
It might be sufficient with an external keyboard and display at home for long form documents but by the time you’ve got an iPad, case, pencil, external display, keyboard, mouse, dock blah blah you won’t be far off the price of an air.
More recently, my son went to uni and they gave him a recommendation for computer equipment that he would need. Does the college not offer similar?
I've been rocking a 2020 iPad pro since it came out and haven't felt the need to upgrade. Now mind you I do have a ThinkPad that I use as well but I bought I second hand and it's for coding but I learned how to code off my iPad as well. I haven't needed much more.
When I was in school the iPad was more than enough. I wrote notes in good notes before transferring over to notability as it was easier to have endless pages for lectures. There was the added benefit of being able to audio record my lectures and have my notes sync up with them. It also had math conversions available if I so choose. It was an added cost but if you're not good at math it's an option. Most of the things that I needed to submit for school we're done through some type of web portal whether it be MyMathLab canvas, etc. And I didn't really have much need for much else. I had all my textbooks on the iPad and highlighted them with the pencil. I was able to send screenshots to my friends it was a very smooth workflow. Eventually I added a second brain solution originally being Notion and then to Obsidian for all my notes taking needs as being able to reference my notes and connect them to other notes was unrivaled. Also you can add hand written notes to Obsidian and they are still referenceable with a plugin
Microsoft 365 has a functioning app which gives you access to the entire office 365 suite and it works well enough.
There is something to be said about the apple ecosystem but for me it was never an issue, I used my girlfriends Mac to see if I'd ever view my notes on there since notability has a desktop version and I never did, my ipad stayed a work device, I saved pdf versions of my notebooks as backups and iCloud stored them before I realized I could use my one drive which came with my office subscription.
Id highly recommend the iPad air M1 with the second tier storage. The iPad does not have enough going for it to utilize the M2 chip. I have the Pro with 128gbs and am able to mange it cause I setup a nas with a raspberry pi. But when I do more intensive things like photo edit with affinity photo or draw with procreate I sometimes wish I had more space but again I've learned to manage it very well and Ive never actually hit full. PS the Air is the cheapest model you can get that supports the gen 2 pencil, and to me that's worth it.
If you need a Mac get a MacBook Air M1 used or refurbished. The performance from the M2 refresh isnt substantial enough to warrent the price. But uses those saving to get more storage cause unlike my ThinkPad with it's upgraded 1tb drive, storage is not upgradable. And desktop apps take up more space. 512gb minimum.
Broadly with you on that last part, but I’d really prioritise RAM over storage. Base models still come with 8GB, which was borderline inadequate 5 years ago, let alone today - if it comes to it and you’re stuck with 256GB storage you can offload files to the cloud, or add a thunderbolt SSD that’ll perform pretty close to the internal one. Too little RAM and you’ve got a frustratingly sluggish machine with nothing you can do about it.
I've been teaching at a university in America, for about 15 years now, and these days, at least 1/3rd of my students are using some sort of tablet and pencil combo. Most are iPads, but a few do have a Surface or Samsung tablet. The notes apps these days are quite, quite good, they allow copy/pasting of handwritten text, undo/redo, moving items, integrating pictures easily (many will snap a picture with their iPhone, then it syncs right away to the notes app in the tablet -- I think that is a GoodNotes feature? not 100% sure). Also lets you multitask easily, which was not really the case with tablets until just a few years ago.
The main downside to tablets has already been mentioned by several other posters -- if you need specific software, it's often available for PC and/or Mac and/or Linux, but less often on tablets. Sometimes, just not as often. That aside, though, which is fairly field-specific, tablets are definitely a great notetaking/study tool these days, and I would 100% use one if I was a student again!
Sophomore mechanical engineering student here. IMO, it depends on the major. My current setup is a Dell XPS 15 and iPad Pro 12.9" with Apple Pencil. I also have a monitor in my dorm room for my laptop so I have 2 screens. The laptop is a must-have for my use case, while the iPad is nonessential but very convenient. Basically, I do anything that needs heavy processing power or typing on the laptop, and anything handwritten on the iPad. However, anything I use the iPad for could be replaced with pen and paper; it's just the convenience of having all my note and homework files stored in a single app, instead of spread out over many notebooks and loose papers.
On the laptop, I do typed assignments, Zoom calls, Solidworks (Windows-exclusive computer-aided design software), entertainment, coding, and display homework problems. On the iPad, I take notes in class, store digital textbooks, do homework, and store my sheet music library (I play the violin). If I had to get rid of one, it would be the iPad, since all of the stuff I do on there can either be done on paper or my laptop instead.
In the CS intro class I took last semester, having a personal laptop was required. Judging by what I've seen and heard from other students, this is the same in higher level CS classes as well- so keep this in mind if they are planning on doing any CS at all.
In the end, ask what their main use cases will be. Without knowing a major, I can't recommend one over the other, but overall I'd say having a laptop is more versatile than an iPad due to the software limitations of iPadOS. If they are in a more technical/STEM major, having the software compatibility and processing power of a laptop would be better, while an iPad + keyboard case would be enough for humanities.
Also, a bit of advice on software and operating systems. Going into my freshman year, I actually had a Macbook from my high school days, but I quickly found out that it wouldn't work with Solidworks. I tried running a VM (M1 doesn't have native Windows support unfortunately), which worked but was very laggy. Within a few weeks, I was asking my dad to buy a Windows laptop and bring it when he visited over fall break. I recognize that many families can't afford this kind of mid-semester tech purchase, so please, take your time and do plenty of research into required software for the major before leaving. Fortunately for my old Macbook, my younger brother is now using it for high school :)
Don't get a Chromebook for college. My school explicitly recommends against ChromeOS due to its limitations, so your options are basically just Windows or MacOS. (My school also supports Linux, but don't go that route unless you really know what you're doing.) If you're fine with MacOS (personally I hated it) and it supports the software needed for your major, a M1 or M2 Macbook Air is a good choice for college. While my Dell XPS has enough battery for a day of use, my old Macbook certainly beats it in terms of battery life. Otherwise, you're swimming through the sea of Windows laptops. Personally, I'm a fan of what Framework is doing and if my laptop were to die, they would be my first choice. Whatever you do, go for at least 16GB of ram and 512GB SSD.
The main concern that I would have is if the university uses Examsoft or similar exam-proctoring software; also, Microsoft Office may or may not be fully-supported or -featured. Probably fine for a fair amount of uses, but I wouldn't want to use that for an actual research paper. Also, OneNote's desktop version is better than the mobile OS or web version (I had to use a Chromebook when my old laptop died, and it was a bit clunky).
Also, my university uses a Windows print server for printing, which is not compatible with Android/ChromeOS, iPads, or Linux (only MacOS and Windows work).
Thank you all so much for your conttributions to this topic. We both appreciate it very much! I was going to reply to everyone individually but I figured it would be easier to just respond to everyone at once.
The end result was a surface pro. Its a Jack of all trades type of system and it gives the ease of knowing that it should run just about anything they require. She was able to get a good deal on it too with the pen and keyboard included.
Probably a good choice, but if there's still a shadow of doubt, I'd encourage looking at a Lenovo Yoga X1 laptop. It has a full keyboard that retracts when you put it in stylus mode, but is still a laptop when you fold it back out.
Truly a miracle machine and cheaper/better battery life than a surface.
A Windows PC running 11. I would go as far as to recommend a Surface they can afford if they want a tablet. Most schools use Windows, likely with Microsoft 365, so it'll integrate well, and you won't have to worry about compatibility.
I was an Information Systems student and had Mac classmates. Mac users buy them because they're "easier," but being less technical and concerned about the world they use technology in, they then stress out when they realize that they'll have to learn more complicated systems, like RDPing into a computer lab for Windows-only software, setting up Parallels, or Bootcamp if WINE doesn't work.
That’s a fairly broad generalisation - off the top of my head I can think of battery life, ecosystem integration, OS design, privacy, unix-like environment, and good old familiarity as very strong reasons a given person might prefer a Mac. Hell, I’m sure aesthetics and some level of Apple being a status symbol are driving a lot of decisions too if we’re honest about it.
Your points about integration with primarily Windows based campus IT are good ones, I just think you might be surprised how many Mac users would make the same decision based on one or more of those other factors even if they went in with their eyes open to the drawbacks.
These are valid reasons to buy a Mac, but in my experience at community college and university, these were not the reasons people I'd talked to had theirs. Generally it was "Somebody else recommended it/said it was good, I don't know computers." I'm not saying this is the only reason people buy Macs, because it isn't, but across two schools I attended, this was generally why people had them. My brother, who studied chemical engineering, had classmates who had Macs for similar reasons, with similar problems.
Anybody I talked to with one also complained about dealing with issues of OS compatibility with the software the school used. I knew of one person who bought a netbook for programming because the tools for the class weren't Mac-compatible. If you didn't have Windows you had to connect to the virtual computer lab. It wasn't horrible, but it was slower than my Surface Go.
I don't have anything against the platform, but I've seen a lot of people get burned in this specific context.
I have to agree with @Greg. I'm not entirely sure it's necessary to make this distinction as though they're somehow foolish by comparison for opting to use Mac. They're used plenty in professional settings, and certainly for reasons other than status and simplicity. This is anecdotal, of course, but every job I've ever had thus far has provided MacBooks for development.
With respect to the topic at hand, I would agree that if you're an outlier using one type of system in a course in which the software side of things is heavily geared towards Windows, then perhaps consider as such, but otherwise I don't think there should be a stigma for opting to use one system over another, and I am not about to generalise on the intelligence of those that do.
I think you misunderstood what I was saying, I meant it more that they were just classmates with Macs, who had hardships from using a different platform than the course was designed for.
Apologies, perhaps I was reading too much into the statement that followed, but it read to me as somewhat of a sweeping generalisation of Mac users. That is to say, the less technically inclined opt for them, and that is the only reason for doing so. I can see now that's not how you meant it.
Part of my point was that less technically savvy people tend to go for them, at least in the context of the students I went to school with. They wanted a good computer, were told it's good, and that was it. The lack of knowledge/interest on the tech side made it harder to complete already difficult coursework.
If you're apologizing I want to make sure I actually deserve it, lol. I was worried it was taken as insulting, which was not my goal, as I don't generally think less of people for knowing less. Especially if that lack of knowledge made their life difficult in any way.
I agree that people who aren't tech savvy will gravitate towards the path of least resistance. I should have worded that part better, but in essence I thought you thought of them as simpletons lol.
I was also applying what you said on a grander scale than the context was outlining. In other words, I can see plainly now that you were not, in fact, condeming your former classmates for the heatheness act of using Mac!
That might also be university/system dependent. My university (7+ years ago) were all using macs and Apple devices. EDIT: forgot to add that the university itself was the main user of apple products, not just the students.
I started there with a PC and struggled for a while because I 1. Couldn't afford apple products even with the student discount and 2. Didn't have the same applications as my peers in my major (or minor).
Eventually, I got an iPad, and that's what I used to take notes on until I finished school (well before apple pencils were a thing, I used a jot pro). Then I received a MacBook Air for my last year of college, and it was a game changer for me. Everything synced and everything was the same as all of my peers.
I'm sure that for most things, though, an ipad (with at least 256 gigabytes) and an apple pencil or some other Microsoft surface with a stylus would be good.
As an aside, I currently use my iPad Pro with apple pencil 2 as my main computer. If I need a bigger screen and a mouse, I connect it via USB-C to a monitor and my mouse is bluetooth enabled. I also have a case that turns the ipad into a laptop for when I need simple stuff, like browsing. I mostly use it for art anyway so I usually just have my ipad with apple pencil around and draw.
It's probably university and/or system dependent. I believe Cal State, which I attended, is tightly ingrained in Microsoft's ecosystem, but even my community college partnered with them when I was on my way out.
Something not mentioned yet is how fun iPad note-taking can be. I got to use an iPad for the last few years of school and it dramatically increased my desire to pay attention. Of course this is super subjective, but there was something really appealing about handwriting in a digital space. Switching colors without carrying a pile of ink pens around… drag and dropping sections of text to rearrange the page… smart shape drawing to get really satisfying diagrams… plus all your digital notes are usually text-searchable so studying is that much easier. I signed up to submit my notes for students that couldn’t take their own, and that plus the iPad really helped me take high quality notes.
I did also have a MacBook (the bad ones with the butterfly keyboard), so I definitely still had access to a real file system and keyboard when necessary. Those are important for writing papers and code. But non-essay classes, like math or basic sciences or introductory courses, were 100% iPad.
Honestly if you have the budget and your friend is comfortable with Apple, I’d say get the base model M1 MacBook Air (used from Swappa or refurbished from Apple) and the iPad Air (used or refurbished) & Logitech Crayon. Could also do a used base model iPad but the lightning connector and Apple Pencil 1 support is gross. Could probably squeeze that under $1.2k with good shopping and they’ll last through college. Only downside would be storage space, but iCloud storage or others is an option.
Whatever you do, don’t buy new. The Apple used market is really good (Swappa) and you can save a ton.
This mirrors my experience as well. I actually prefer writing notes with pencil on paper but the advantages of digital notes are insane. Re-arranging things without constant erasing, being able to search through handwritten notes, and having all my notes synced to my phone and computer so I could access them anytime are three features that changed my life.
Multiple studies have shown that handwriting notes helps many people retain the knowledge better than typing them, so an iPad offers the best of both worlds, in a way.
My specific tool of choice was GoodNotes.
I can't imagine trying to type up an entire paper on an iPad keyboard.
Use an actual keyboard, Bluetooth preffered. It's essentially a 10-12inch screen.
Depends on what keyboard app you use. Some can type at similar speeds, especially if you get proficient at swiping the letters.
I'm sure our situations differ vastly, but as a 30something thinking of returning to college to finish my degree, I think I'll probably be carrying a laptop and an iPad.
The two devices are good at different things, and though an iPad can do laptop-like things the tradeoffs required for it to fill laptop use cases (where it can) is too great. Similarly, 2-in-1 laptops have tradeoffs of their own large enough that if I can, I'd rather use a dedicated laptop or tablet.
Like for typing, nothing can beat a little 12"-13" laptop. They can be pulled out of a bag effortlessly and can flip open and be ready for work without fumbling around with a keyboard-case-thing. Depending on the laptop, it probably has a vastly better keyboard than can be found on a tablet keyboard to boot. There's also a better chance a laptop is going to be able to connect to projectors and such without problems.
That said, I can type a lot more quickly than I can write, which is not true for everybody. I didn't have a laptop in college the first time around (and tablets weren't yet a thing, unless you had one of those terrible XP/Vista tablets) but I wish I did because I was perpetually paragraphs behind the professor when taking notes by hand.
iPad is probably fine. It’s pretty common to rock just an iPad now, so universities have adapted. Most university software is now online as a webapp.
Could probably get by just fine with an iPad for dentistry. Otherwise, a Surface Pro could be a good option if specific software needs to be run. The drawing experience on an iPad is much better though.
I did the whole notetaking on a digital device with a touch screen with a stylus..........on a Lenovo Windows laptop that was convertible between tablet & laptop mode. Used OneNote. This was 2009-2013.
I definitely do not think you need a true tablet to digitally note-take, a convertible device is fine, and then everything (papers, other typed work) & tablet stuff, is all in the same place. And I had perfectly fine ergonomics on the device i used that was purchased almost 15 years ago.
One device is plenty, get a convertible laptop.
Depends.
Back in 2010 when I was studying History, I had a really cheap (£350) laptop for note taking in seminars and lectures. Others opted for netbooks or just hand-writing notes. Often I didn't bother to use it because I'd hand-write notes and type them up afterwards as a form of revision.
If your associate does buy an iPad Pro, ask her to consider whether she would work faster writing up her notes with the Apple Pencil or whether to just type up her notes with a bluetooth keyboard. If it's the latter, maybe a $500 Chromebook would suit her better. I would 100% not recommend any ultra cheap model with a Celeron processor because those run like shit and really degrade in performance after a few months.
Another thing to consider, Apple hardware depreciates quickly. Her iPad may not be so useful in three, maybe five years time.
If it was something like a Computer Science or Accountancy degree (especially if it involves lots of programming or high volume Excel/database tasks), I'd say nothing short of a MacBook Pro, Microsoft Surface or good spec Lenovo Thinkpad laptop would suffice.
I just wanted to note that these days you don’t need a Pro to take notes on iPad. Even the base model can use the Pencil.
Most of my friends in med school have done most of their work on surface pros or iPads, but I think they all still have a laptops as well, but they primarily use their tablets for day to day use.
I have owned and used multiple Surface Pros now. I can't honestly fault them and find them a pleasure to use. The only reason I've ever had to replace one is because I damaged it myself.
As a professional in the tech industry my only gripe is that I can't upgrade anything on it to extend its life. But that is a non-starter for the most of population and no real distinction to an iPad.
For myself, its the best of both worlds. Light, small form factor, note taking with a pen in meetings (I'm big on physically writting things to slow myself down and take things a bit more) and the ability to utilise any windows supported application. Although the pen is a little on the thick side for me, I rarely notice when I'm using it. They have been my recommendation for professional settings for a good while now.
I can't speak to the requirements of dentistry school, but I finished an engineering undergrad and the first couple years of my grad program on a Surface Pro and it was a good set up for me. I didn't make a ton of use of the pen/drawing capabilities but they were there when I needed them, and installing the (many, many) different software requirements for different classes was straightforward. I did have a keyboard, mouse and monitor in my room because the screen isn't all that big for more detailed work (also my vision is shit) but for all of the portable needs I had, the surface was great.
It's probably possible, but the OS is pretty clearly designed for entertainment and content consumption rather than productivity. Basic things like multitasking and file management feel like an annoyingly complex afterthought- for any kind of real work in the same price range I'd imagine most people are much better off getting an inexpensive laptop running Windows or Linux.
For drawing specifically the iPad kicks the crap out of the surface, at least last time I compared them a few years ago. If she goes this route the bigger one is better IMO just for better drawing experience but that's maybe just me... I used an iPad pro as a laptop replacement for a few years, pairing it with a Logitech keyboard.. avoid keyboard cases because they suck and then you always have a keyboard.
Ignoring drawing and looking at laptops she needs to weight repairability, reliability, typing experience, portability, and cost. The MB Air is a really good laptop but you don't have to be tied to a Mac just because she has an iPhone and maybe will get an iPad.
Look into the Framework laptop for a repairable option.
I used to walk around with a desktop replacement laptop in my backpack. Years back I sprained my ankle really bad on a business trip to NYC and certainly having a laptop with a big laptop, and a tablet, and a phone, and a game console, several books, etc was a contributing cause.
I got into a "pack light" habit but got gradually got back into the overpacking habit when my commute entailed a bus ride and then a walk through a small arcology (maybe 6 connected buildings) to the office every day,
Today my "go kit" is an iPad with a cheap bluetooth mouse and a larger-than-ideal bluetooth keyboard, mostly I use it to browse the web including to use YOShInOn, my RSS reader and intelligent agent. I frequently use RDP to log into my big computer at home. Back in the day I would go to hackathons with an Amazon Fire tablet and do basically the same thing using SSH, VNC or RDP to log into a cloud computer which gave me a much sleeker and fashionable looking kit than all the people who brought MacBooks that looked clunky in comparison.
That's legendary!
Based on what you said her use case is and her course, I'd say a 2nd hand iPad will do just fine if on a budget. Windows laptop otherwise.
2nd hand iPad because for the past 2-3 iterations of the iPad Pro they have been using overpowered processors already.. there is no point to get the latest and greatest. The 2020 iPad Pro still works wonders for me.
But Windows laptop otherwise because all the Windows equivalents to the MacBook ranges will be cheaper. From MB Air to MBP. And yes Windows machines can slow down if they're not well cared for over time (viruses, malware, far too many apps running on startup etc), but hardware as someone else said is just drawing the short straw. There will always be bad eggs, there will always be failures. Doesn't mean ALL Windows machines suck. I've had my HP laptop for 7 years now, apart from replacing the battery, everything else is all fine.