Is the new Ipad Pro good enough for school?

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westsidestoryz

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I am looking into buying the 12.9 in Ipad Pro with 64 gb of storage with the pencil (big selling point for me) and the keyboard.

Will this be good enough for school for the first 2 years?
I have read reviews online stating that the Ipad is just that: an Ipad. It is not a laptop replacement as it cannot accept external HDs...yet.

So is it worth spending $1500 for the whole package or should I just stick with the traditional laptop?
 
I am looking into buying the 12.9 in Ipad Pro with 64 gb of storage with the pencil (big selling point for me) and the keyboard.

Will this be good enough for school for the first 2 years?
I have read reviews online stating that the Ipad is just that: an Ipad. It is not a laptop replacement as it cannot accept external HDs...yet.

So is it worth spending $1500 for the whole package or should I just stick with the traditional laptop?

Not a medical student...I'm a biology grad student, and I use an iPad pro w/ keyboard and pencil. If I were going to drop $1500 on a new setup, I'd go for a macbook pro so I could do more. I use my iPad to take notes in class using the keyboard and pencil, record lectures, and to do light tasks like email, typing papers, anki, etc.

But I often end up choosing to do work on a traditional desktop with a dual monitor setup, just out of personal preference.
 
For $1500 why not get a Macbook pro? Unless you really enjoy writing notes on a touch screen.
 
No. Get a real laptop.
 
I am looking into buying the 12.9 in Ipad Pro with 64 gb of storage with the pencil (big selling point for me) and the keyboard.

Will this be good enough for school for the first 2 years?
I have read reviews online stating that the Ipad is just that: an Ipad. It is not a laptop replacement as it cannot accept external HDs...yet.

So is it worth spending $1500 for the whole package or should I just stick with the traditional laptop?
100% yes. Download PowerPoints to your iPad, write on them directly, watch sketchy and cover the screenshots w your notes, hand write anki cards, list goes on but the iPad is a game changer.

Use Dropbox to organize your files & you’ve got a root folder system in an iPad

That being said, you’ll 100% need a laptop to have something to watch lectures on, cause you’re not planning to go to class, right?

Have an iPad Pro & MBP and use the iPad Pro way more.
 
i plan on getting an ipad pro too, i will prob get or use a very cheap laptop just in case, but i plan on my ipad being my "main device" I used one during undergrad science calsses and cannot imagine life without it. With just a little more software tweaks, it seems like the ipad was tailor made for uses in this field of study.

edit: TLDR - get the new 12.9 (949 on education discount) with pencil (119 with disocunt) and keyboard (199) and that comes out to roughly 1200
 
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I have classmates that exclusively used their Ipad Pros and no laptop.

First two years i used my Ipad Pro a lot more than my old MBP but still used the MBP for written assignments (i only have the 9.7” display, so bigger keyboard is mostly why)
 
Ah, and when you get a laptop I'd seriously look at Macs, the best (by far) note taking app is Notability which only works in Apple environments
 
If the pen is a big deal for you, you should get a Microsoft Surface. Has the features you like in the iPad with the full features of a laptop.
 
Been there done that, lasted only one semester. Sold the thing and got a laptop instead. Save yourself the frustration and get a macbook.

Edit: Not that it is particularly bad, but by no means should an Ipad Pro be your primary device.

1. My Ipad Pro did not sustain 5-6 hours of battery life on retina display. Perhaps you may get 8 hours max, but this is incredibly inconvenient especially given how slow it charges. It takes a whole night to get it to 100%. Using Apple Pencil requires Bluetooth usage, which also drains battery even quicker.

2. There are some cool things I could do on it, as the previous poster mentioned writing on Anki, or annotating scientific articles, I even read music from it for my piano class! However, creating powerpoints, editing word documents, saving pdf files, printing documents and so forth was incredibly difficult for me. For the first few months I was amazed, but it quickly turned into frustration.

3. Being forced to use mobile versions of all sites was frustrating as many websites for my classes were outdated and could barely support it! I remember yelling at it when it had crashed on me for the 5th time trying to do my Organic Chemistry homework.

4. Typing is not comfortable. The keyboard is nice but its not quite there.

My 2 cents.
 
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I almost exclusively use my iPad Pro with pencil for school. I got a cheap full-size Bluetooth keyboard for home use to make typing easier. I also don’t have problems with battery life but do charge it overnight every day. I can’t recommend highly enough, though I will say I have a laptop for when I need to do coding and data management as the iPad Pro is not really designed for this.


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I am looking into buying the 12.9 in Ipad Pro with 64 gb of storage with the pencil (big selling point for me) and the keyboard.

Will this be good enough for school for the first 2 years?
I have read reviews online stating that the Ipad is just that: an Ipad. It is not a laptop replacement as it cannot accept external HDs...yet.

So is it worth spending $1500 for the whole package or should I just stick with the traditional laptop?

Yeah, that's not enough especially for $1500. Get a Razer Blade, or an Dell XPS15 instead.
 
I would check if your school provides you with a device with your tuition before you make a purchase. Some schools might provide iPads or Microsoft Surface Books. I was provided an iPad and I purchased the Apple Pencil and I pretty much do everything on it. And I got a Bluetooth keyboard with it.
 
I was leaning towards getting the new Air but the reviews were not amazing.

Planning to wait till Black Friday to either purchase the XPS 13 (as Dell will have $400 off for a 16 gb ram laptop) or see what kind of deals Apple will have.

Depending how well I fare with the XPS, I will hold off on the pro for now. From a rational POV, purchasing a $1000 tablet just for the writing portion seems ridiculous....more of a Want than a Need. But DAMN, is that machine beautiful...
 
I am looking into buying the 12.9 in Ipad Pro with 64 gb of storage with the pencil (big selling point for me) and the keyboard.

Will this be good enough for school for the first 2 years?
I have read reviews online stating that the Ipad is just that: an Ipad. It is not a laptop replacement as it cannot accept external HDs...yet.

So is it worth spending $1500 for the whole package or should I just stick with the traditional laptop?
Honestly, the Surface Pro is so much more better. Way more apps, One Note, and free Anki software. What more can you ask for
 
Get the $300 iPad 2018. It's great for writing. Get a $200-300 laptop.
 
Current M1. I only use my laptop to take our weekly tests and make PowerPoints occasionally. I use my iPad Pro for everything else. I’d estimate 75% or more of my class (200 students) uses an iPad or similar tablet.
 
Look at the surface Pro. You don’t have to compromise or own multiple devices.
 
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