<p>I've been saving up some money to buy myself a new laptop but my parents have offered to take care of that for me as a college gift, so I've been looking into investing in an ipad...I do like to read articles and webzines/blogs a lot and my workplace requires me to take a lot of notes (I use regular notepads but I always misplace them or unconsiously start to doodle). I also watch videos a lot, too. </p>
<p>How worthwhile would the ipad be for me? How functional/uncomfortable is the touchscreen keyboard?</p>
<p>I’d go more for a nice smartphone. It’s more portable and does essentially the same things. I don’t really think you’d need an iPad and a laptop and a phone. It might be nice to have, but I think it’s a bit of overkill.</p>
<p>A guy in two of my classes this past semester took notes on his iPad. If you think you’ll be able to type well enough on it to take excellent notes (on par with what you currently do with pen and paper), then it can be worth it. He never had to print handouts and whatnot for class because he could access blackboard from the iPad. Otherwise, get a smartphone.</p>
<p>An iPad in addition to a laptop computer could be very useful. I was printing ~200 pages of assigned readings and class notes each week last semester. If I had an iPad, I would have done my readings on that instead of printing them.</p>
<p>An iPad instead of a laptop computer sounds like a terribly bad idea. I would not want to write papers on an iPad or use it for computing-intensive applications. I also wouldn’t want to rely on a computer that does not support Flash.</p>
<p>It would probably be nicer to either save the money or use that money with your parent’s money to by a nicer computer. An ipad is nice and all, but a computer is pretty much the same.</p>
<p>When I can, I use my computer to type. It’s a lot faster than writing notes by hand and you don’t have the temptation to doodle. At least with me, I physically need to feel the keyboard to type. I just feel off when I use an ipad because it is a touch screen. </p>
<p>If you want something good to take notes with, digital recorders are awesome! You can get them at Staples for $40 or $50. Some of the nicer ones can upload the files to your computer.</p>
<p>“An iPad in addition to a laptop computer could be very useful. I was printing ~200 pages of assigned readings and class notes each week last semester. If I had an iPad, I would have done my readings on that instead of printing them.”</p>
<p>Couldn’t you just read them on your computer?</p>
<p>I am anti-iPad, so I say no. It would be a waste of money.</p>
<p>If you want to write notes, just get a notebook with a tablet.</p>