No More Backpack: Getting through school with just an iPad
Hi Everyone,
About the time iPad 2s came out I wondered if the iPad could be a complete solution to the issue of lugging a huge backpack to school. I also wanted to find a way to deal with all of the textbooks and paperwork once I completed a class. At the time, two years ago, I was finishing up at Michigan Tech and knew that I would be starting my Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at GVSU in the fall. I figured this fresh start would give me an excellent opportunity to see if the iPad could be a complete solution to my issues.
Brief summary of the pros and cons:
Pros
-I only have to carry a 1.33 pound iPad to school with me. That’s it. No huge backpack. No more back killing treks to class:) No more overflowing broken folders. No more pens exploding all over my work.
-I have all of my old school work with me, all the time. A huge issue from my undergrad is 30 large textbooks and STACKS of notebooks/notes that I had taken. With the iPad, it’s all organized and with me all the time. I don’t have to go to my huge bookshelf and begin the search….
-You can search for text in your textbook. Forget using the index in the back, just click the search button, type is “6-11” and boom, you’re looking at Figure/Table 6-11. It’s a really nice advanced feature.
-This could just be me, but I actually find taking notes on the iPad to be easier on my hand. You only have to apply a very small amount of pressure and you’ll still be taking notes with the stylus (i.e. iPad pencil). See Appendix A-Writing with a Stylus.
-You have an unlimited selection of pencils, pens, markers, and highlights with you all the time. Do you like to color-code EVERYTHING? Then you’ll love this!
-If the professor goes too fast, you can just quick take a picture of the board. I’ve done that a couple times. I’ve also taken pictures of my textbook figures when reading before class. This way I don’t have to waste time recreating an important figure and can spend more time annotating it.
Cons
-The cost. The final cost is $382 plus tax, but I think it is well worth it. See Appendix B-Cost Breakdown.
-Some people just like physical papers and that could be a deal breaker for you. I, on the other hand, don’t mind the digital notes and reading from a tablet. It really doesn’t hurt my eyes.
-You could drop the iPad and ruin it. While this is a con, it is mitigated by making sure all relevant data is automatically backed up to an alternate location (more on this later).
-What happens if the iPad runs out of battery in the middle of class? This is an issue, but fortunately 1) iPads last for 9-10 hours normally on each charge 2) Most class rooms have or are putting in charging plugs for laptops and tablets and 3) You can always buy a portable USB charging device if you felt it necessary (I don’t have one). I have had no issues with this thus far, but I have had to plan for it.
-You can’t lay everything out in front of you. Some people love to find the largest table in the library and spread out basically their entire life’s work. Using the iPad, although the info will still technically be “right in front of you,” will not be the same.
Okay so you want to know more. Well here is how I do it:
To start, why the iPad? Why not an ASUS Transformer? Or a Windows Surface? Nexus? Galaxy? At the time I was making the decision it was really only the Transformer and iPad that had enough computing power. The Transformer had the added bonus of having an attachable keyboard. Yet at the end of the day I had no choice but to go with the iPad. The reason? iPad, by far, had (and still has from what I can tell) the best note taking app developers. There are many apps (which I will discuss later) that can achieve the requirements of being a total solution to traditional note taking and Android/Windows developers are struggling to match iOS developers.
Okay, so I needed to get an iPad. How much is that going to cost? Well at the time I bought the brand new 16GB iPad 3, which was $500 plus tax. After having it and doing more research, I wish I would have just purchased a 16GB iPad 2. You can buy one today from Apple Refurbished store for $320 or from Amazon for $407. What is awesome about Apple’s refurbished products are that they have the same 1 year warranty that new products have and it covers basically everything accept for you breaking it. In general there is large debate whether you should buy a new iPad, an old one, or a refurbished one, but ultimately that decision is up to you. Google has a wealth of comments on the subject. My thoughts: if you are just planning on using your iPad for school, get a 16GB iPad2 from the refurb Apple Store. If you want to do more then just class stuff, post in the comments your requirements (i.e. How you plan to use it) and I’ll give you some feedback about what you’ll want to have and why.
My iPad arrived sometime around April, 2012. I was scheduled to start my business classes in August. So I began my implementation. This included three main parts: 1) deciding which note taking app to use 2) deciding which textbook reading/highlighting app to use 3) making sure everything could be backed up to an alternate location (ideally Dropbox for me).
1) Deciding which note taking app to use
When I first started looking into these apps, I started where I usually do…with free apps. There were some there that were okay, but they didn’t really meet all of my criteria:
-Writing with a stylus (i.e. pencil for the iPad) had to be easy
-I had to be able to import files from the internet (specifically Blackboard) into the app so I could write on files my professor posted. Things like power points or word documents.
-The app had to be able to backup my data (ideally automatically)
-The app needed to have good support/developers who I knew would not just stop updating it in a year.
At the time (almost two years ago now), there were no free apps that successfully met this criteria. Now I hear that there is a cheaper paid app called Notability($3) that works well, but I have never used it. The app I have used and truly recommend is Notes Plus($7). It easily lets you organize your notes, the writing ability with a stylus is awesome (see Appendix A below), it has a great auto backup to Dropbox feature, and I have emailed their support/developers many times and think they are great. The app is $7 and well worth it! The only issue I have experienced with Notes Plus is that it will only work with (i.e. import) .pdf , .doc, and .docx files as of now. So if my professor gives me a powerpoint file (.ppt) I have to use this free converting app to convert the .ppt to a .pdf. Overall, not a huge issue for me. Here are a four summary screen shots:
1: Taking normal notes on white paper using different colors
2: Writing using the auto scroll-while-you-write feature. Note: I did this with my finger, so its pretty sloppy
3: Taking notes on a power point
4: Showing how the files are organized into folders for each class
2) Deciding which textbook reading/highlighting app to use
The iPad is pretty well known for being an e-reader like the Kindle or Nook and because of that it has a built in free app from Apple called iBooks, but I didn’t really like it for my textbooks. I found its book organizational structure to be difficult and its highlighting and search functions to work, but not really be what I would hope for.
So after much research, GoodReader easily stuck out. It’s a very very popular reader (actually the most downloaded non-Apple app out there) because it works will basically any file format, it integrates backups to pretty much anything (Dropbox, FTP, SMB,…), and it is also really well known for working well with large files. Textbooks, as you can assume, can have large files. Well GoodReader handles this quite well and all for only $5. Another great deal I highly recommend. Here are screen shots to get a feel for the app:
1: Reading a page with highlighted text
2: Another view reading with GoodReader, but with the iPad’s colors inverted
3: Using the scanning feature to find specific text within a textbook
4: A view of how the textbooks and other files can be organized into folders
3) Making sure everything can be backed up to an alternate location
Backups, backups, backups. I can’t push this enough. Right now, think of all the devices you have (desktops, laptops, tablets, phones…), if they were to die right now. Would you lose anything important? Your photos, your contacts, your class notes? This is where backups come in handy. For large devices like your computers, I suggest an external hard drive. You can pick up a big external on Amazon for $70 that will do what you need. Then just make sure you write down in your calendar reminders to do your backups. For your phone or tablet, I suggest “Cloud” backup systems. Now don’t be put off by the word cloud. Just think of it like a hard drive located somewhere else that you can use applications (apps) like Dropbox or Box to access. For my iPad, I use Dropbox to backup my Notes Plus files and my GoodReader textbooks. For my photos, I use Google Plus (Google+). For my contacts I also use Google, because I have an android phone. If you have an iPhone, I suggest downloading Easy Contacts Backup. It’s free, but you need to remember to back up your contacts occasionally and email them to yourself. Overall, with these main categories of data backed up, if my iPad died right now, I wouldn’t lose anything important. I could always redownload the other apps I would lose. If setting up the cloud backups is a concern you for, you can always physically plug your iPad into your computer occasionally and do a backup through iTunes. Regardless, make sure you are backing up your computer too 🙂
Conclusions:
Honestly now I still have a backpack, but it doesn’t really have anything in it. My iPad, one folder to hold the physical hand outs that my professors don’t offer electronic versions of, my stylus, my lunch, and on the rare occasion a textbook, but this is only if the used copy of the textbook is significantly cheaper than the digital version. Again because I want to be able to access this textbook for the years to come and not have to go towards that bookshelf again….
The total cost is $320 for the iPad, $12 for the apps (Notes Plus & GoodReader), $15 for the stylus, $30 for the Smart Cover, and $5 for the case. Grand total = $382 plus tax. See Appendix B for a cost break down.
So what do you think? Would you be willing just use an iPad for class? Do you have any other concerns/questions? There is a lot of information that could be mentioned here, but I didn’t want to force too much here. I know how much everyone LOVES essays and I applaud your willingness to get this far! If you have anything you would like me to elaborate on, please comment and I will do my best to explain my thought process.
In general though, comment and let me know what you think about the post, if you are using your iPad for school, or if there are other ideas you have for my blog. Thanks!
-Troy
www.TroyBouman.com
P.s. I wrote this whole post on my iPad too!
Appendix A: Writing with the Stylus
Honestly writing with the stylus does take some practice, but it only took me about a week using it five hours a day until I was very comfortable with it. Normally my handwriting is awful so I didn’t really have high expectations with the iPad writing. If you have great hand writing, you may find the adjustment more difficult than I.
Why not just type? Why continue to write by hand? This is a fair question and one that was recently brought up to me. The answer will be different for some. For me, I don’t like typing with the iPad and I even have a bluetooth keyboard for my iPad, but I only use that when I am typing a paper. Why though? For two main reasons 1) I remember things better that I write them down. There is even research supporting this theory (check out a summary here). So although I am writing digitally on the iPad, I still remember better than typing. 2) I love to annotate power points, draw arrows to connect things, and recreate figures from the whiteboard. This just can’t be done effectively (I think) with typing.
Appendix B: Cost Breakdown
–iPad-$320: As mentioned in the post, I recommend a refurbished iPad 2-16GB. This is the bare minimum of what you would want. You can get more storage, you can get 3/4G connectivity, but that would be extra and only needed if you wanted it for other purposes besides school.
–App-Notes Plus-$7: As mentioned in the post, you could also look at Notability ($3), but I have never used it and have been completely delighted with Notes Plus.
–App-GoodReader-$5: You could use the free iBooks app for this function, but GoodReader has better organization of books, better highlighting functionality, better search functionality, and better backup integration, which are really worth the $5.
–Stylus-$15: There is a lot to be said about which stylus to choose. Google it if you want to hear the chatter. I read for many hours and ultimately the Bamboo Stylus was the best at the time and it still is today. It had a solid build (i.e. it feels like a pen) and it doesn’t hurt my hand after writing a lot.
–Smart Cover: As with all tablets/phones, there are a lot of options for the cover/case as well. Apple even now makes an integrated Smart Cover and case (aka the Smart Case) for $50. I personally went with the Smart Cover and recommend it (or the Smart Case) because it allows you to protect the screen in transport and be a stand while taking notes.
–iPad Case-$5: Similar to the cover, the case be be anything. I just went with a sturdy plastic case from Amazon with good reviews.
-Additional-Screen protector: I do NOT use a screen protector. The gorilla glass on iPads is strong and as long as you are careful, you wont have any issues. I don’t have one scratch (knock on wood) and I’ve been using mine for two years. Now that being said, if you feel you should get a screen protector, then please do. Screen replacements on iPads will easily run you over $100+ and wont be covered on any warranty if you cause the damage (i.e. if the damage is not a result of manufacturing or component error). So invest is a $1 screen protector if you need!
-Other important thoughts: Now-a-days you can even find textbooks for free online. I have saved well over $500 by finding free electronic versions of textbooks. So if you’re looking for ways to justify the cost besides the benefits already discussed, there are direct positive financial impacts as well and I feel that books will become more electronic in the future it will only get easier to find textbooks free or cheaper online.