iPad(2) versus PC

dumble99 · 5 months

Laptop for sure, has all the functionality of an ipad plus more!

kcvv · 5 months

You can do lot more with a cheaper netbook / laptop than with ipad for school work.

_tweaks · 5 months

I'd expect anything that can be viewed / downloaded onto an iPad can be viewed on a laptop. You could ask what format they are in we could probably help further - but safe to assume you can view them on the laptop somehow.

Some of the students might be able to advise better, but I can't imagine an iPad as a primary school device. Nice for lectures and the like, but for a lot of work (especially a lot of typing) the laptop is a much more useful tool.

lantay77 · 5 months

I would recommend getting her a laptop or a netbook. I go to a university and use my netbook in class more often than my iPad. A netbook is lighter than a laptop so it is not a burden to carry, and the keyboard makes it easier to take lecture notes than an iPad. Also, it can do anything a full sized laptop or desktop can do.

While an it can be easier to read an ebook on an iPad, you can still read textbooks on a laptop/netbook. Also, imo, it is easier to obtain ebooks for a laptop/netbook. Some services for ebook textbooks such as coursesmart, which I had to use to get a textbook for a class because it wasn't available anywhere else, work better on a laptop/netbook than the Ipad when it comes to changing pages. Coursesmart has more textbooks than you can get in .pdf form or on amazon for example. The downside is that you can't download the actual book file, it streams from their servers, which is why it works better on a laptop/netbook.

I would either get her a laptop that isn't too heavy, or a good netbook. I would only recommend people an iPad if they already have a decent laptop or desktop, it isn't really a supplement.

Jeebster · 5 months

I used to work at the Apple Store. Do not get the iPad. It's not a reasonable replacement for an actual PC. It should be considered more of a peripheral than as a primary machine.

With an iPad you're far more limited

AnarchistPrick · 5 months

Forget about downloading books. Most of the time it's more expensive then the used version of the book.

Additionally, you can't sell it back.

jmnugent · 5 months

Using an ebook for a textbook is a bad idea if it's something that you would need to use as a reference. Flipping back and forth quickly and skimming is something that is not easy to do with an ebook.

guy_threepwood · 5 months

I've used my iPad 2 for notes all term so far, and I feel that it's a lot easier than using a laptop.

I'm doing an engineering degree though, so I generally follow along and make brief notes; if she's going to be writing a lot then it's probably best to either use a laptop (as others have suggested) or even just paper.

Being able to browse textbooks on the iPad is awesome, though. I do that too.

jmnugent · 5 months

The amount of disinformation & misinformation in this thread is pretty outstanding.

"Her boyfriend said that he knows someone who was able to download all of the textbooks they needed at a much cheaper rate on their iPad."

We're going to need more information about how they did that before we could answer if the iPad could do the same. (Example: if the textbook download service they used is something isolated (only runs on PCs).. then it obviously wouldn't work on iPads. If the "source" was some PDF archive or getting PDF textbooks from Bittorrent,.. then those PDF's would work just fine on the iPad)

The textbook/etext question is not easy to answer with out knowing more information. What classes is she taking? What textbooks does she need. Is getting the textbooks in PDF enough?.. or does she need a different format? (.epub, .mobi, ??) There are an almost infinite # of Apps for iPads,.. but no way to know if any of them will work without more specific answers about your friends setup/needs.

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