<p>Hello everyone, </p>
<p>Really hoping for help from someone who has a kid in college currently. Son's laptop is dying. He will be a freshman in the fall. which is more useful to a music major. A laptop or a IPad/tablet type of unit? </p>
<p>Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>Laptop. Tablets are useful as an auxiliary, but the laptop allows you to keep open multiple tabs and switch more easily between applications. You can do a lot with a tablet, but a lot more with a laptop.</p>
<p>D says hardly anyone has a tablet. Everyone has a laptop. However, an iphone or similar fancy phone is quite useful to have.</p>
<p>I’d suggest checking with his likely schools, because some have requirements for which machine to purchase.</p>
<p>If it’s one or the other, then of course there is no question. He needs a laptop.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean tablets are worthless. They are useful too as an additional accessory - in college classes that do lots of article reading, they’re nice to have and are more intuitive for highlighting. Also, for a music major, they are handy to have to display PDFs of scores. Sometimes musicians can even play off a tablet at rehearsal or practice; it’s much quicker to turn pages by swiping than by flipping a real page.</p>
<p>But of course, a tablet will not replace a laptop for a college student. Most college students would prefer to have a computer in their room and not have to depend on a library, etc., for typing papers and such.</p>
<p>Try to have him limp along for a year.
<p>My two kids, one boy and one girl, at two different schools, both have laptops. My son’s school/major required a Macbook, but my daughter’s school had no requirement. In addition to a laptop, my daughter has a tablet (no smartphone) which is no way required, but very helpful for checking emails and scheduling practices on the fly…my son uses a smartphone. (Girls can carry an extra device in their pocketbook, so two devices work…for my phone one device for email, calls/texts, calendar and quick internet look up was needed.) I really wish we could have gotten away with only one device for each of them, but watching how they operate at school I am glad the each have both.</p>
<p>If you can wait for the first shakeout there are some interesting convertibles coming out with the new Windows 8. Lenovo and Dell both have promising ones annouced this month and I am sure there will be others. Combination ultrabook and tablet.</p>
<p>I’m also an advocate of limping along for a year or two, as computers are always getting faster and cheaper. My D3, now a junior, is still using a now-5-year-old Macbook at her conservatory. Not sure how much longer it will last, but as long as it’s working, she’ll stick with it.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. Looks like going with a laptop. His current laptop is on it’s very last legs and fading fast.</p>
<p>A laptop works for my S who is a music major.</p>
<p>But I’d love to get him one of these:</p>
<p>[Convertible</a> Laptop, Ultrabook and Tablet PCs with Windows 8 | Yoga, Twist and Lynx (US)](<a href=“Lenovo Official US Site | Laptops, PCs, Tablets & Data Center | Lenovo US”>Lenovo Official US Site | Laptops, PCs, Tablets & Data Center | Lenovo US)</p>
<p>My musician friends make great use of tablets, Last time I saw a friend’s gig I noticed he has an ipad holder that attaches to his mic stand for lyrics, music, whatever. Pretty cool :)</p>