Hey everyone! I’m trying to decide between getting a MacBook Air or an iPad with a keyboard for school.
I’ll mostly be using it for notes and essays.
For anyone who’s used both — which one do you think is better overall for students?
I frequently use both a MacBook Air M4 and an iPad Pro for note-taking. iPads are more suitable for this purpose, especially with Apple Pencil or a stylus. However, if you prefer typing, the MacBook is a viable option. The MacBook easily outperforms the iPad in battery life, with an impressive 18 hours of usage on the MBA compared to the iPad Pro’s 10 hours.
Welcome!
This is a hard question to answer here. Variables includes the university, the major, the coursework, and even the professor. You should always ask the department, not your counselor about computer needs. Even that may not always work.
Our son started Engineering school with a Macbook Pro after being told by the department that it would be fine with a few workarounds, line using Terminal for coding. All was fine until his senior year when a new prof was brought in. Profs choose what books they want to use...AND what software.
The new prof's entire curriculum was built around a Windows-only software package. It was not possible to set up a Windows emulator on the old Macbook Pro so, once again, the First National Bank of Mom & Dad had the privilege of buying a Windows laptop for our son to finish his coursework.
I have used Windows, Lenox, Android, and iOS devices for notes and studying. By far Windows is the best. It keeps you out of the screwed up Apple ecosystem and most devices are far easier to use than an iPad or MacBook.
Should i get an updated macbook or ipad for college?
