Is an iPad worth 400+ for College/ University Work? What apps would you recommend?

[Deleted User]

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver wrote: »

Mission Critical Learning Activities.

That phrase cracks me up; do you work in the civil service/NHS now?

xxJudexx

goater78 wrote: »

I was at uni 97-2000. All essays had to be typed, iPads didn't exist and laptops were very rare. I coped as did all my friends. Laptops and iPads are luxuries. They make life easier but there is no way that they are essential. To be essential there has to be no other alternative. If the computer rooms are so busy that only goes to show alot of students are coping without their own private laptop as they are using the computer room.

If you can afford a laptop or iPad fair play I have no problems with that, but trying to make out you cannot survive at uni without them is just a blatant lie!

As other people have said laptops are necessary if you are doing a science degree. I have statistics programmes loaded onto my laptop which I needed for my degree.

You said you were at uni from 97-2000, that is over ten years ago. Things have changed since then. There are a lot more people going to uni these days and there are not enough computers to go around. That is a fact. You also have to consider that the internet is used a lot more now. All our timetables were posted online, and all our correspondence with our tutors was done via email.

I worked hard to save for a laptop. Anyone who gets a job over the summer before starting uni could save up for a laptop. It's not a class thing as someone else said. My parents couldn't afford to give me anything and I still managed to get myself a laptop and all the books I needed. I suppose it is all a matter of opinion but in my opinion I wouldn't have managed to get the degree I did without my laptop.

System

xxJudexx wrote: »

As other people have said laptops are necessary if you are doing a science degree. I have statistics programmes loaded onto my laptop which I needed for my degree.

You said you were at uni from 97-2000, that is over ten years ago. Things have changed since then. There are a lot more people going to uni these days and there are not enough computers to go around. That is a fact. You also have to consider that the internet is used a lot more now. All our timetables were posted online, and all our correspondence with our tutors was done via email.

I worked hard to save for a laptop. Anyone who gets a job over the summer before starting uni could save up for a laptop. It's not a class thing as someone else said. My parents couldn't afford to give me anything and I still managed to get myself a laptop and all the books I needed. I suppose it is all a matter of opinion but in my opinion I wouldn't have managed to get the degree I did without my laptop.

But your whole argument falls down by the fact that computer rooms are busy at University. The reason why they are busy is that people are using them. If a laptop was essential then the computer rooms would be empty as people would use their own laptop and not have to use the computer room.

Also I question your phrase "anyone who works in the summer before uni can afford to get a laptop". Some people have to work to live e.g. pay bills, rent, food etc. To those people buying a laptop would be a luxury they could do without!

[Deleted User]

goater78 wrote: »

But your whole argument falls down by the fact that computer rooms are busy at University. The reason why they are busy is that people are using them. If a laptop was essential then the computer rooms would be empty as people would use their own laptop and not have to use the computer room.

Also I question your phrase "anyone who works in the summer before uni can afford to get a laptop". Some people have to work to live e.g. pay bills, rent, food etc. To those people buying a laptop would be a luxury they could do without!

Probably because most students with a laptop won't lug it around from lecture to lecture. It'll stay in their digs, and they'll use the uni computers when studying.

Now, in a sense, this is where I can actually see a use case for an iPad. The very long battery life combined with light weight would be perfect for popping in your bag and using as an alternative to the 'uni PCs'

However, it would be a far better use of £400 to go and buy a laptop when you start uni.

xxJudexx

goater78 wrote: »

But your whole argument falls down by the fact that computer rooms are busy at University. The reason why they are busy is that people are using them. If a laptop was essential then the computer rooms would be empty as people would use their own laptop and not have to use the computer room.

Also I question your phrase "anyone who works in the summer before uni can afford to get a laptop". Some people have to work to live e.g. pay bills, rent, food etc. To those people buying a laptop would be a luxury they could do without!

I'm sorry but I don't know many 18 year olds who are living on their own and have to pay out for rent/bills/food etc. If you are going to uni the main way to get there is after your A-Levels. That is how the majority of people get to uni. These people will be living at home, so they would have little/no costs depending on if their parents ask them for rent. So it is very likely that they would be able to afford a laptop after a summer of working. Or, like myself, they could have been working since sixteen and have saved that way.

I owned a laptop at uni and I also used the computer rooms. I would 'lug' my laptop around with me. That was the whole reason I bought a laptop and not a PC. Sometimes it was necessary to use a uni computer, and sometimes it was necessary to use my laptop. I wouldn't have been able to complete my degree without my laptop. I used it for my dissertation where I took it into schools and did my study on children. Without a laptop I would not have been able to do that. In my experience I don't know anyone who went through uni without a laptop. That is the people who graduated in 2010 like me, it will be different for people who graduated over ten years ago as things change. Maybe in ten years time all the graduates will be saying they didn't know anyone without a tablet, I doubt that though.

[Deleted User]

xxJudexx wrote: »

I'm sorry but I don't know many 18 year olds who are living on their own and have to pay out for rent/bills/food etc.

So, you don't know those people who aren't in a fortunate position prior to going to uni? Oh, they obviously don't exist then, do they?

Oh no, poor people don't go to uni. Poor students who's 'summer income' would go towards household bills/debt payments

System

Obviously you come from quite a nice sheltered background. Some people aren't as lucky as you and have to work from 14 to help support their family. To some people going to uni is a financial struggle and they wouldn't be able to afford to pay for a laptop or Ipad.

You could have done your study on children using paper and a pen, then write it up later on a computer.

Nothing you have said has led me to believe that you can't get a good degree without having a laptop. I accept they are useful, in fact I will say they are very useful. However you can survive without one!

[Deleted User]

Brought to you by the generation who also 'must have a car for uni'

Oh dear, i've become jaded after watching Fresh meat

xxJudexx

goater78 wrote: »

Obviously you come from quite a nice sheltered background. Some people aren't as lucky as you and have to work from 14 to help support their family. To some people going to uni is a financial struggle and they wouldn't be able to afford to pay for a laptop or Ipad.

You could have done your study on children using paper and a pen, then write it up later on a computer.

Nothing you have said has led me to believe that you can't get a good degree without having a laptop. I accept they are useful, in fact I will say they are very useful. However you can survive without one!

So because I was able to do my a levels and live at home I come from a sheltered background? My family work hard and have instilled a good work ethic in me so if I want something I keep that goal in mind and save hard for it. If you have to go to work at 14 to pay for your family then how can you suddenly afford to go to uni for three years? And the work you are legally allowed to do at 14 wouldn't give you much of an income anyway.

Like I said MOST people who go to uni have done their A Levels and gone straight on. From the 300 on my course there were less than 5% who were mature students or who had taken a couple of years out before going to uni.
ringo_24601 I said I don't know MANY not any. Of course they exist but they are also given much more financial help from the government so I'm afraid I can't see where you are coming from. The poorer students also get bursaries that do not need to be paid back, so they are actually better off at uni than others. My friends who were eligible for bursaries didn't need to send that money back for their family, it was spent on sporting equipment and other non necessities. The less well off your family is the higher maintence grant you get so if you have to send money home it is there.

Obviously I can only speak from experience, that is all anyone can do. Are you saying you had to work from 14 and then went to uni or are you just saying that to provoke a reaction from me? Anyone can create random scenarios but unless you have done it yourself how are you going to know what it is like. I studied a Psychology degree where my laptop was a necessity and I budgeted for this necessity.

Who says uni wasn't a financial struggle for me. No my family don't rely on benefits but that in no way makes them rich. My parents can only just manage to pay for their mortgage so everything I did at and for uni was by myself. I wasn't given anything from the bank of mum and dad.


And no I couldn't have done my study with paper and pen. There was a paper and pen element but I also had to make a program for the computer so it generated random pictures, I also had to keep it anonymous but also with the ability to track each individual persons answers in case they wanted to withdraw. These answers were then inputted into another program in which I gathered the results. This sort of study could not and was not done before computers, so no I couldn't do without my laptop. An ipad on the other hand would not have been capable of doing any of these things.

System

we're getting off topic a bit now. There's still nothing on your thread that makes me think that owning a laptop is essential at university. You say you needed a laptop for your study but I would be very surprised if that was the only study option you had. I am sure there are other studies you could have done that would not require a laptop. Can you honestly say that every single psychology student at every university in the UK owns a laptop?

Psychology degrees have been around for years. I find it very unlikely that the course has changed recently so that only people with laptops can do it.