<p>"With summer coming slowly to a close, that means back-to-school shopping is in full swing. Your college-bound child is probably in the midst of asking for more and more money to buy the 'essentials' theyll need for class and dorm life. And its very likely that theyve also mentioned needing a device called the 'iPad,' a little-touted tablet computer manufactured by a small, independent company called Apple. You then may be wondering if, in this day-and-age, the iPad should be considered instead of a laptop for kids heading off to school.</p>
<p>These crafty kids think they found a perfect time to strike! They'll come at you with all sorts of 'reasons' why the iPad is a 'valuable tool' for 'learning.' Are you prepared to fight back? Are you armed with the knowledge you need to protect your dollars? You better be, because as we'll show you the iPad just isn't worth the money for a student.</p>
<p>Interesting article; d2’s hs had a pilot program this past year and gave iPads to a group of kids to use for the year. When the year was over, the students were given the option to buy them. We gave our d the option for grad present; she declined. Said she thought it was a waste of money if you have a Mac already. And she didn’t love using it. Called it a glorified ipod</p>
<p>As an ipad owner for a year now, I completely agree that it would be a pain to use it as a laptop substitute. The absence of both a USB port and Flash alone would make me crazy. That said, here are my 10 reasons why I love mine, superficial as they are. </p>
<ol>
<li> It’s fun to quickly check the weather in our daughter’s college town, and the weather where other families are. It’s also great for quick forecasts and planning in my neighborhood.<br></li>
<li> Until I had an ipad, I was somewhat stuck in my selection of personal music - I don’t listen to a lot of radio as I find they play the same songs over and over. Pandora is a marvel, and keeps me on top of what music my kids are liking. Fun to play at parties, fun to discover new artists with my kids.<br></li>
<li> Fabulous to take traveling instead of a laptop. Instead of 4 books on the city, two novels for pleasure reading, and a book on the college we were visiting, I brought one laptop that I tucked in my purse for the airplane or car ride. </li>
<li> We have discovered great new restaurants, shops, and parks from surfing on yelp. Yes, I could have done this on my computer, but who has time?</li>
<li> Much nicer for your spouse to read in bed using an Ipad than a book - no need for a light. You can turn the brightness all the way down, and still read just fine. An additional benefit is that if you have to get up to let the dog out, you can direct the screen to the floor and it functions as a mild flashlight.<br></li>
<li> Ibooks is awesome - I often lose interest in teh first 30 pages, so don’t pay for the book. Conversely, if I finish a book and can’t wait to read something else by the same author, they are only a button away.</li>
<li> There are some fun interactive and art games that we play as a pair. Great to have these handy at the dentist, etc. Not embarrassing for a kid to be seen using with their mom.</li>
</ol>
<p>Yes, it is a status symbol, yes I am drinking the Apple koolade. However, I would and have picked an ipad over a fancy car or many other status symbols. A fancy car just…takes me to the grocery store. I bought it to reward myself as a business owner for reaching and surpassing a personal goal, and I am proud whenever I use it of that achievement.</p>
<p>Whoops - I hit reply with only 7 reasons. I guess the only other important one is that it separates my business life (in my office) from my personal life. I never do work on my Ipad, and I try now not to surf on my pc. Probably increases my productivity, and is plain old fun.</p>
<p>DeborahT: some of my d’s classmates ‘act’ like they r in kindergarten if that’s what u mean. </p>
<p>Btw, I actually just got an iPad for myself so learning how to use it: but I don’t have a Mac and like others really got it for travel, FaceTime, etc.</p>
<p>Rodney, I’m woefully behind the times. No iPad, no iPhone. I have jury duty coming up next month (again!), and I imagine it would be really nice to bring an iPad to use during those hours w-a-i-t-i-n-g to find out if I’ve been assigned to a trial. Yep, none of that aloneness the day after kiddo heads back to school for me this year. Jury duty. Sigh.</p>
<p>If I were doing jury duty, and I had the cash, I would absolutely get an Ipad. Load up ibooks (they take about 2 minutes to load) some movies from itunes (they take an hour or more to load) and some how to apps for ipads and have fun! By the time jury duty is over, you will be a convert! (The two accessories I use the most are a small set of popup speakers (not a lot of volume on the unit) and headphones. If you want a dose of brainiac fun, watch videos in your area of expertise on ted.com OR load up my new favorite ZITE, which is basically a magaizne that presents amazingly interesting and useful articles on topics of your choice. Every time you open up an article, the program “learns” what you like and gives you more of that type of content. I have only had for a few days, and i absolutely LOVE it.</p>
<p>Yep and that’s why I bought it. The iPod was just too small for my eyes and fingers!</p>
<p>For me, the iPad is an entertainment center…great for using to show off photos of your kids/dog, watch Netflix, TV shows that I buy on iTunes, listen to music, check email, go on CC, play my sudoku and backgammon games, etc.</p>
<p>Also, when I am on a trip and want to take along reviews or other documents, I put them in pdf form and load them into iBooks (CC poster showed me how to do it). </p>
<p>I wouldn’t want to use it for my only computer at college. I would love to be able to watch TV shows online that require flash and having to jump through hoops to load something on the iPad is annoying (thumb drive capacity would be so much easier to deal with).</p>
<p>In all seriousness, however, there are good reasons to use a tablet like the iPad (I would use an Android variant) in an educational setting. I can only speak to the medical side of things, but several med schools (UCI and Stanford immediately come to mind) are already “giving” (i.e. incorporating into the tuition) iPads to incoming students for both pre-clinical (electronic syllabi, etc.) and clinical years. There is a huge push to include technology in the medical curriclum given the shift to electronic medical records and the increasing importance of imaging. Several EMR companies have apps for the iPad (including the one used at my school’s main training hospital). There are also plenty of medical reference apps that are invaluble to students on clerkships. Physicians/students can also look at imaging (CT/X-ray/MRI/US/etc) studies, etc etc. </p>
<p>That being said, some argue that the portability benefit is outweighed by the massive proliferation of computers in hospitals (there is a full desktop setup at basically every bedside and plenty more at nurses/doctors stations in our training hospital, as well as in every exam room at may community practices). It really all comes down to a personal decision.</p>
<p>I love my iPad (am on it now) but it’s a toy, not necessity. Only if the family really had money to burn. It’s obviously not a laptop substitute in the least.</p>
<p>We just came back from a long family vaca in Europe and it was great convenience to have the iPad in those hotels where we did get free wifi access – we could check out events, weather, answer emails, etc. Plus, I didn’t bring a single book – had all my books on the iPad, which saved a lot of lugging.</p>
<p>Agree with ellemelope - when I use my husband’s Iphone after doing the same task on my Ipad, I feel like I am the Jolly Green Giant! Hard to manipulate using that tiny screen! And Pizzagirl, I totally agree with you on traveling - the reduction in luggage and the convenience of having it in my room can’t be beat. The airports that we travel through all have free wifi access now, and most hotels won’t charge you if you join their “rewards” program, which is easy if you have an ipad in the room! Now that I know about Zite, I won’t need to buy magazines at the airport either!!! </p>
<p>Ellenmenope, another way you can do that is to use Dropbox - my nephew takes his to court and always stores his documents on there. It is hard to go without a keyboard, and I am not willing to add the weight of a case that includes one - waiting for someone to come out with a lighter version!</p>
<p>I can see if you already owned an iPod touch or an iPhone, iPad can seem like an overkill. But since I purchased my toys judiciously (still own the 1st gen nano), the iPad has been great fun for all the reasons already stated. Interestingly, I thought my D will be more into the iPad, but she so far prefers her laptop and especially her droid phone more. The phone seems to be the one essential thing that kids can’t do without, my middle aged eyesight needs the larger font and screen!</p>
<p>DS also had a pilot program in his hs with the ipads. He said he didn’t like it and would rather use his netbook and pc. I would think for college though, he’ll need a laptop.</p>
<p>Pizza, did you leave all laptops at home? I also returned from a work/vacation trip in Europe, and had the opposite experience. I used the wifi access (not often free) but used it for the iPhone and laptop. I only used the iPad when waiting for flights in the airport lounges. Fwiw, a negative was that I was worried about the potential theft, and had to make sure to leave it in the hotel safe, or with the concierge. I realize that the laptop was equally at risk, but without the wow and novelty factor that still goes with the iPad and iPhones. </p>
<p>As far as using the iPad on CC, I can tell when I used it on some posts. Invariably, I will have missed words and strange characters in my posts. </p>
<p>By the way, I find the explanation of having been bought as a large iPod the best I ever read. I have also called the iPhone a glorified iPod, but that was in a pejorative way. I now will change that in a positive way as I have finally discovered one thing the iPad can do better than another device, and that is being a tad bigger and making time wasting a more pleasant experience. </p>
<p>As far as using in at school, that is a total no-brainer.</p>
<p>Pandora is available on any computer. I listen to it all the time at home on my regular lap top. It certainly is not an IPad “feature”. In addition to the regular internet stream, there are Pandora apps for iphone & android.</p>
<p>My local public school district also uses Ipads with special needs learners with reported good results. I wonder if these programs in the schools and universities are initiated and promoted by Apple or the educational institutions.</p>
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