ipad for university

[danBrown]

I won some money at the TAB and thought I'd buy myself an iPad. I cannot decide if getting the ipad air 2 is worth it.

The current prices where I am (Australia) are 

iPad Air - $469   32gb version

iPad Air 2 - $739  64gb version

 

I've never owned an iPad before and I am unsure how much space apps will take up. Im just going off my phone which is 16gb and I haven't filled it yet after putting a bunch of music / apps over 3 years on it. 

 

I'm not sure if it is worth spending the extra $270 on to get the ipad air 2. 

 

I plan to use it to read notes / take notes / watch a movie on the train (travelling to uni) / listen to music and the occasional gaming app.

 

Any suggestions on what to do would be great.

 

Thankyou.

[Kyuubixchidori]

holy expensive! that could get you one nice laptop here. 

 

if you have the money, go for the ipad air 2. my buddy has one, and its super nice. I love it.

 

heads up, you will get a lot of apple hate

[Oshino Shinobu]

Not sure if you plan on getting a keyboard for it or not, but taking notes on a tablet is going to be hard (unless you have lightning fingers). 

 

Not much advise on whether you should buy it or not, but just an idea. If you're allowed, I would advise using it to record your lectures and just use pen and paper to note key things. It's what I do with my lectures, as writing/typing throughout the lecture makes it harder to pay attention. 

 

EDIT: Also, if you're planning on having movies on it, you may want to look into a tablet that supports micro SD expansion. 64GB will go quickly. 

[jkraghify]

Hey, I use my iPad in classes all the time to take notes. I use the iPad 2 (non-air, on it right now)

It's great to get PDFs of your books and put them in iBooks. Really convenient. I wouldn't get the latest really because my iPad 2 is still doing just fine. Also I'm using 16 GB. Probably go up to 32 or 64 so you can store your books

[Swndlr]

i cant fully recommend an ipad tbh, BUT i will admit that i did use my ipad 3 for an entire school year and after a few long sessions of notetaking, my fingers began to be one with the ipad and i was typing so fucking fast omg it was nuts.

 

sooooo yeh if you trust yourself to become a super speed typer with it like i did, then go for it

[danBrown]

Not sure if you plan on getting a keyboard for it or not, but taking notes on a tablet is going to be hard (unless you have lightning fingers). 

 

Not much advise on whether you should buy it or not, but just an idea. If you're allowed, I would advise using it to record your lectures and just use pen and paper to note key things. It's what I do with my lectures, as writing/typing throughout the lecture makes it harder to pay attention. 

 

EDIT: Also, if you're planning on having movies on it, you may want to look into a tablet that supports micro SD expansion. 64GB will go quickly. 

 

sorry i should have clarified. ill be important lecture notes from pdf and writing over them, or using a magic pen thingo to write on the screen with an app (no idea what they are called.. simplenotes maybe). also the movie thing. i only put on 2 episodes of something at any given time to restrict myself. 1 hour trip to uni, 1 hour trip home. a little self restraint i suppose. 

edit: the lecture recording is already taken care of, they have to record them now. But thats for putting that in

 

Eh i don't really care if i get apple hate. It is mainly for the battery life and I don't want to buy a laptop with windows. I absolutely refuse to purchase a macbook if that helps... 

[Ryou-kun]

I won some money at the TAB and thought I'd buy myself an iPad. I cannot decide if getting the ipad air 2 is worth it.

The current prices where I am (Australia) are 

iPad Air - $469   32gb version

iPad Air 2 - $739  64gb version

 

I've never owned an iPad before and I am unsure how much space apps will take up. Im just going off my phone which is 16gb and I haven't filled it yet after putting a bunch of music / apps over 3 years on it. 

 

I'm not sure if it is worth spending the extra $270 on to get the ipad air 2. 

 

I plan to use it to read notes / take notes / watch a movie on the train (travelling to uni) / listen to music and the occasional gaming app.

 

Any suggestions on what to do would be great.

 

Thankyou.

 

Go for iPad Air 64GB or 128GB.

32GB is a bit too little IMO.

 

I have an iPad Air 32GB - Space Gray. It may sound like I don't need a big storage, but I do have a lot of apps some of them are education related apps, media consumption apps, few games, Office Suite (Google and Microsoft), Cloud Apps, eTextbooks/eBooks apps and one of my favorite note taking app, GoodNotes. It will take up a lot of storage sooner or later, so I would advise you plan ahead and grab 64GB or 128GB from iPad Air.

 

iPad Air 2 is neat and all, but is up to you whether or not it is worth the cost for iPad Air 2 64GB (700ish) compare to iPad Air 64GB/128GB that is less than $600 dollar.

 

I have use an iPad Air 32GB for my community college. Although my school doesn't focus much on technologies, I did use majority of my time on it, and it is pretty good especially how iPad manage its battery life. For me, battery life is my main factor here without it I would be sitting by the wall and charging my device.

I use Adonit Jot Touch with Pixelpoint stylus with a combination of Goodnotes (Paid), and it is an amazing combination to take notes for class.

You get a similar experience as paper and pencil except you are going green and have all of your notes store IN CLOUD and can access it anywhere as pdf. Well, you have to set it up as a .pdf on the settings.

[Ryou-kun]

sorry i should have clarified. ill be important lecture notes from pdf and writing over them, or using a magic pen thingo to write on the screen with an app (no idea what they are called.. simplenotes maybe). also the movie thing. i only put on 2 episodes of something at any given time to restrict myself. 1 hour trip to uni, 1 hour trip home. a little self restraint i suppose. 

edit: the lecture recording is already taken care of, they have to record them now. But thats for putting that in

 

Eh i don't really care if i get apple hate. It is mainly for the battery life and I don't want to buy a laptop with windows. I absolutely refuse to purchase a macbook if that helps... 

Then I answered your question.

[danBrown]

 

to be honest I didn't know that there was a 64gb version of the ipad air. the Austrlian ipad site only shows 32gb versions for the ipad air. Kogan and Officeworks have it for roughly $610 for the 64gb version. This looks like the best deal so far. 

[Ryou-kun]

to be honest I didn't know that there was a 64gb version of the ipad air. the Austrlian ipad site only shows 32gb versions for the ipad air. Kogan and Officeworks have it for roughly $610 for the 64gb version. This looks like the best deal so far. 

 

Ah, you were buying it form Australia. I thought you were buying it from US, lol. Should have clarify that.

 

Anyway, if you can find a good deal for a bigger storage for iPad Air 1st gen then by all means for it.

The only difference between iPad Air 1 and 2 is that Air 2 is slimmer (half a pencil thick), better CPU/GPU, 2GB RAM and slightly smaller battery. Then again, I doubt it would make a difference compare to iPad Air 1 in term of battery life or any of iPad battery life.

 

It is up to you whether or not if better CPU/GPU and 2GB RAM justify the cost for it. For me, it is too expensive especially the $700 dollar part. If you can manage to find iPad Air 2 64GB for under $700 or $650 then you got a sweet deal otherwise it is overpriced.

<.< I'm not Apple's fanboy either, but I just prefer iPad due to its battery life.

 

If you want handwritten note taking try out Adonit Jot Touch with Pixelpoint AND Goodnotes to take good notes.

I used it for couple of months, and it is pretty good.  

[dadasmithywinkle]

I won some money at the TAB and thought I'd buy myself an iPad. I cannot decide if getting the ipad air 2 is worth it.

The current prices where I am (Australia) are 

iPad Air - $469   32gb version

iPad Air 2 - $739  64gb version

 

I've never owned an iPad before and I am unsure how much space apps will take up. Im just going off my phone which is 16gb and I haven't filled it yet after putting a bunch of music / apps over 3 years on it. 

 

I'm not sure if it is worth spending the extra $270 on to get the ipad air 2. 

 

I plan to use it to read notes / take notes / watch a movie on the train (travelling to uni) / listen to music and the occasional gaming app.

 

Any suggestions on what to do would be great.

 

Thankyou.

I use the Gold 16GB Air 2 for classes at my college and it works great .

[vembutech]

Go for iPad Air 2. 

[Aniallation]

sorry i should have clarified. ill be important lecture notes from pdf and writing over them, or using a magic pen thingo to write on the screen with an app (no idea what they are called.. simplenotes maybe). also the movie thing. i only put on 2 episodes of something at any given time to restrict myself. 1 hour trip to uni, 1 hour trip home. a little self restraint i suppose. 

edit: the lecture recording is already taken care of, they have to record them now. But thats for putting that in

 

Eh i don't really care if i get apple hate. It is mainly for the battery life and I don't want to buy a laptop with windows. I absolutely refuse to purchase a macbook if that helps... 

 

You don't have to buy a laptop explicitly. Even for just document handling you'll save yourself a lot of headaches with a Windows device. 

 

Why not take a look at something like the Asus Transformer Book T100? Full X86 Windows that comes with a physical keyboard and almost 11 hours of real-world battery life (source)

[Daveeede]

I say save your money and get the iPad Air, not the 2. Most of what you'll be doing is reading/annotating PDFs on it. I do the exact same thing on my iPad 3 (First retina model). I use the Notability app with an Adonit Jot stylus and it works great. Microsoft office apps also run really smoothly and almost all of my files sync directly to dropbox, which is super convenient.

 

Take that 270 bucks and buy yourself a good stylus, keyboard case, and quality screen protector. You can even get applecare+ and still come in below the price of the ipad air 2.

[Ryou-kun]

I say save your money and get the iPad Air, not the 2. Most of what you'll be doing is reading/annotating PDFs on it. I do the exact same thing on my iPad 3 (First retina model). I use the Notability app with an Adonit Jot stylus and it works great. Microsoft office apps also run really smoothly and almost all of my files sync directly to dropbox, which is super convenient.

 

Take that 270 bucks and buy yourself a good stylus, keyboard case, and quality screen protector. You can even get applecare+ and still come in below the price of the ipad air 2.

 

Yep, what you said.

 

Also which Adonit Jot Stylus you were using?

Was it the Adonit Jot Touch with Pixelpoint?

[Daveeede]

Yep, what you said.

 

Also which Adonit Jot Stylus you were using?

Was it the Adonit Jot Touch with Pixelpoint?

 

I'm actually using the Jot Flip (I think that's what it's called ). Its a Jot Pro with a pen on the other end. It's not the best one, but I got it well before they got popular and has worked well for me so far! Eventually I'll upgrade to one of the newer models

[jayctech]

Are there any styluses that aren't those blob types designed to mimic a finger for the iPad yet? Can't see it remotely be useful for note taking without an actual pen type with a thin point.

[Ryou-kun]

Are there any styluses that aren't those blob types designed to mimic a finger for the iPad yet? Can't see it remotely be useful for note taking without an actual pen type with a thin point.

 

There are several and I haven't used them just the Adonit Jot Touch with Pixelpoints. It is my favorite because it is rechargeable, has a hard tip plastic (makes a lot of noise when writing compare to rubber tip like other "several" stylus), it uses bluetooth and it is rechargeable. It support one of the best note taking app IMO which is Goodnotes (Paid).

 

Adonit Jot Touch with Pixelpoint

 

Adonit Jot Script 

 

Adonit Jot Pro Fine Point

 

Wacoom Bamboo Stylus fineline

 

Joy Factory Pinpoint

 

Precision Touch Dart Stylus

 

Lynktec Rechargeable Apex Fine Point

 

Lynktec Apex Fine Point Stylus

 

Lynktec Apex Plus Fine Point

 

That is all I could think of. I am pretty sure there are few left that I forgot.

 

Like I have mention, I prefer Adonit Jot Touch with Pixelpoint due to the fact that I don't have to buy extra accessories to allow me to use it.

Such as some of them NEED a replacement tips and/or battery in order to work. I am not going to spend every time I need to replace my tips or batteries in order to work that is why I go for Adonit Jot Touch with Pixelpoint because it is rechargeable and only need one accessory and that is the unique charger, however, it isn't a standard micro-usb to usb cable rather a USB little magnetic stand dock.

 

But you are feel free to try it out and see.

[jrfox87]

Go for the iPad Air 2. It's lighter, no longer has a gap between the screen and glass, and most importantly it has 2GB of RAM instead of just 1GB.