I already have a laptop, but it's too heavy to carry to school every day.
So I've decided to buy an IPad Air with a bluetooth keyboard and one of those stylus-like pens.
But is it really useful in normal classroom settings when you're taking notes?
If I buy it, I'm only gonna be using it for taking notes on PDF or powerpoint files.

I'd honestly put the money towards a thinner computer. I have an ipad and to be honest I see some people using it a lot but I feel there are to many restrictions on what its able to do. Thus I prefer a laptop anyday. It becomes a lot easier to multitask and do homework on a laptop rather than a Ipad. It's really your preference and what works best for you but, getting a thinner laptop would be probably be more benfiical for you. I actually have every Ipad as well (my parents are huge techies) and to be honest theres nothing that wowed me from the change from the Ipad 2 to the Ipad air so if you are going to purchase an Ipad and want to save some money go with the Ipad 2.

I have an android tablet and use it mainly for one thing: textbooks. Barely bought a single textbook since getting the tablet. I had a really nice keyboard too. But I never really used it much for notes...and android is far superior to apple in terms of productivity apps. (Note: you will likely run into trouble with syncing and reading pirated textbooks on Apple's locked ecosystem although its certainly doable)

You have 3 options:

1) iPad (better apps in general, thinner and lighter, excellent battery life, expensive, you pay for nearly everything)

2) Android Tablet (good apps, multiple sizes and form factors, usually cheaper, can add eternal pirated content for free, far better and free productivity apps) -> See lenovo and the Samsung Note for tablets with built in digitizer (actual pen)

3) Windows ultrabook including the Microsoft Surface Pro . The surface pro is a heavy tablet with full active digitizer, windows 8.1, corei5 processor etc. Its a real computer, not a tablet.
The OLD version of the surface pro (basically just poor battery life) can currently be had at the microsoft student deal site for the same price as the ipad air
http://www.microsoftstore.co m/stor...ctID.283431300

Note for students i think you also get the keyboard free.


Whats the difference between a stylus (iPad, most other tablets) and an active digitizer (surface pro, samsung note tab 10.1, lenovo)?? A stylus is basically crap. It has a single sensitivity, the thickness of a finger, and will blocked out if your hand rests on the rest of the tablet while writing. You will get extremely frustrated and stop using it pretty quickly.

A digitizer as hundreds of levels of sensitivity, pin point precision, additional button(s), an eraser mode, and will block out all input except for the pen when the pen is used (so you can rest your hand on the tablet like you would paper). Basically it mimics paper and pen to great effect. Combine with Office OneNote and you have by far the most powerful note taking / student solution available at any price.

Personally, I didn't like it. I bought one for the same reason and ended up giving it to my younger brother. I bought a wireless keyboard and pen also. Didn't find it any much more useful. I like my notes neat and organized. That was difficult to achieve on an ipad. In addition, there was no good apps for notes. It's more for entertainment purposes. I would recommend the macbook air 11inch or netbooks if you just want something light to carry to school.

I'm in a same situation as you. My laptop is heavy to carry around and almost broken so I decided to buy an iPad. It was useful to me because it was lightweight and carrying it along with other things won't cause me a back problem someday. I use an app called Evernote to take lecture notes for my classes and PDF Master for PDF annotation stuff. I also bought a stylus and a Bluetooth keyboard.

Evernote is an awesome app for taking notes because it syncs your notes to different devices so you always have access on any devices as long as you have the app installed. You can also access it in the actual website with your login.

Of course, this is my preference. I also use my ipad for textbooks too since some textbooks are available in PDF form. It saved me a ton of money from buying textbooks.

i had bought an android tablet for the purposes of note taking and all so i would not have to carry my laptop around. but i have not used it for that purpose at all. I tried but I got frustrated due to the limitations. i would say my tablet is good for reviewing things (like i would email my self the pdf file and i could read off my tablet and write on the pdf) but not for actually making the notes.

i would also recommend getting an android over an ipad. however i do know someone who takes all her notes on the ipad and she loves it.

just got an ipad mini (with retina) for xmas for this purpose! too excited to see how it works out but I've been playing around with it and even though it is smaller than the Ipad Air, i'd say its even BETTER. its big enough that you can still get it with a keyboard and type fine on it! but small enough that it is super portable and the perfect size.

Originally Posted by onedayy

I already have a laptop, but it's too heavy to carry to school every day.
So I've decided to buy an IPad Air with a bluetooth keyboard and one of those stylus-like pens.
But is it really useful in normal classroom settings when you're taking notes?
If I buy it, I'm only gonna be using it for taking notes on PDF or powerpoint files.

I've always found the iPad to be a great device to help aid personal note taking, and to do work. If you have both the iPad and a Laptop, they compliment each other well especially when doing work like research papers. But in regards to your question, the iPad air is most likely NOT suited for compiling work such as notes or a document, at least on it's own. The iPad's strength is media consumption, and portability, however it is not to say they can't do this. There are some apps for both iOS and Android that can generate documents but to a lesser extent than a full-fledge Windows, Mac, or Linux system can. Those apps include, Web-Based Google Docs, Quick Office, Onenote, Evernote, Kingsoft Office, and iOS iWork suite.

Price to performance/feature wise, it might be wiser to invest in a lighter laptop, such as an ultraportable/book that has the features of a laptop, but has a built in keyboard. A Detachable tablet might work, as it can perform both tablet and pseudo-laptop operations. The Asus Transformer Book/Pad lines are an example of this. This is assuming your budget allows it.

Here's an article for tablets: http://www.digitaltrends.com /mobil...chool-tablets/

Ultimately however, I feel that "either/or", iPad, light laptop, or even simple pen and paper will do you fine. Most people worry whether a particular device will suite them or complain that the iPad *can't* do things a laptop can. I feel however it is ultimately *you* the user whom determines whether a task can and can not be accomplished, and the device that you use is not the limiting factor. In other words, the "user" is the greatest bottleneck, and not the tool which you use. I hope that helps.

"It's not the sword that is important, it's the warrior who wield's it."

Source: 4 Years Computer Technical experience, Systems Administrator, Computer Enthusiast, and Owner of 24 computers

If you or anyone needs anymore help, feel free to message me, I love helping others and talking tech. Cheers.

Originally Posted by qwerty91

I have an android tablet and use it mainly for one thing: textbooks. Barely bought a single textbook since getting the tablet. I had a really nice keyboard too. But I never really used it much for notes...and android is far superior to apple in terms of productivity apps. (Note: you will likely run into trouble with syncing and reading pirated textbooks on Apple's locked ecosystem although its certainly doable)

You have 3 options:

1) iPad (better apps in general, thinner and lighter, excellent battery life, expensive, you pay for nearly everything)

2) Android Tablet (good apps, multiple sizes and form factors, usually cheaper, can add eternal pirated content for free, far better and free productivity apps) -> See lenovo and the Samsung Note for tablets with built in digitizer (actual pen)

3) Windows ultrabook including the Microsoft Surface Pro . The surface pro is a heavy tablet with full active digitizer, windows 8.1, corei5 processor etc. Its a real computer, not a tablet.
The OLD version of the surface pro (basically just poor battery life) can currently be had at the microsoft student deal site for the same price as the ipad air
http://www.microsoftstore.co m/stor...ctID.283431300

Note for students i think you also get the keyboard free.


Whats the difference between a stylus (iPad, most other tablets) and an active digitizer (surface pro, samsung note tab 10.1, lenovo)?? A stylus is basically crap. It has a single sensitivity, the thickness of a finger, and will blocked out if your hand rests on the rest of the tablet while writing. You will get extremely frustrated and stop using it pretty quickly.

A digitizer as hundreds of levels of sensitivity, pin point precision, additional button(s), an eraser mode, and will block out all input except for the pen when the pen is used (so you can rest your hand on the tablet like you would paper). Basically it mimics paper and pen to great effect. Combine with Office OneNote and you have by far the most powerful note taking / student solution available at any price.

I'd just like to add, I've used Onenote before on my old Tx2 and Tx-2600 convertable tablets with activate digitizers, and I can confirm this. For pure "digital" note-taking I highly recommend a windows based, onenote-taking system with a digitizer, preferably wacom based.

I've seen wireless stylus's for the iPad that use Bluetooth to send the pressure and sensitivity information of an actual digitizer to sort of act as a pseudo replacement but they're not as a good I don't think. Work in progress most likely.

Galaxy Note 8 inch is the way to go, built in digital stylus makes annotating lecture PDFs like writing on paper. Android tablets beat iPads in price and functionality, they have more customization and app selection, as well as being more fairly priced. There's a slight learning curve for android, but once you get to know how to use it you won't want to pick up an iPad ever. There is an app called "Lecture Notes" that lets you import PDF lecture slides so that you can write on it with a stylus or type text on it. Best app eva

My nexus 7 (older version) just died a few days ago... RIP :(
I bought it for school originally but I didn't end up using it very often for reading textbooks. A bigger screen would be better if you actually want to read pdf textbooks. I mostly used it for playing games, watching videos, internet, apps, etc. But it was useful on the days where I didn't feel like lugging around my laptop with me and I did use it to study and do homework problems.

I've seen people with windows tablets that have a detachable keyboard and a digitizer who use it for reading and note taking and everything. It's awesome but they're usually quite pricey. There are a few android 10 inch tablets with a digitizer like the samsung galaxy note 10.1 (there's a 2014 edition that looks awesome!!!). I think windows would be more useful for school purposes but if you already have a good laptop then I would go for an android. It has a lot more options in terms of apps that would be good for studying and entertainment. For example if you print your lecture notes to onenote you could take notes on the side with your stylus. Also, if you want to use your tablet for note taking don't be fooled into thinking any cheap stylus is gonna be like a real pen. Unless it's a wacom or something it's gonna be disappointing.
I don't recommend going for an ipad. I know everyone loves ipads but I think it's just annoying to have to use itunes for everything. And once you go android, you don't go back. lol

I wish I had some extra cash to spend on a new tablet. Or at least someone to fix my old one :(

I say a tablet is useful for reading pdf/textbooks /browsing if that is all you are doing. If you are pairing it with a laptop/desktop they are excellent since you have an extra screen to work with. Screen size and resolution are important.

I am leaning towards a Nexus 7 - 2013(32 GB) ( the value to buck ratio is pretty much 1:1 unlike the price for ipad and the restrictions compared to stock android)
only concern for me is that like *spark* and others have mention before, 7 inch is kinda small even if its 1080p. .... if only there was like an 8 inch option D:

I may have a slight bias because of my time at Apple but, the iPad has been an incredible note-taking tool for me.

NOTE THOUGH - that the iPad is ONLY a solid solution if you have a computer at home already. It should only be used to collect the notes in class and to reduce weight load when carrying around campus.

That disclaimer aside, I take my notes on Apple's "Pages" app. I back them up twice, externally and on a Macbook Pro. I use a Logitech keyboard case, which has served me incredibly well as I almost put 100,000 words into it last semester. There are plenty of iPad apps that allow you to edit the PDF notes you are given on Avenue as well.

Also, I found the stylus from the campus store quite accurate and I use it to create diagrams that I later send back to the Pages app to insert into my notes.

Another advantage is that, used optimally, the iPad outlasts a laptop by A LONG SHOT in battery life.
Brightness half, limit amount of apps open at a time, and use full cycle charges and you will likely only have to charge once, twice max a week.

Hope this input helped!

Get a chromebook!