I agree. The thing that annoys me is that there really isn't a good stylus for the current iPads but the pencil might change that
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iPad Pro iPad Pro as the e-Textbook Solution?
- Thread starter chasonstone
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I definitely am leaning towards the mini 4, it just seems like it would be much more comfy to use.
As an owner of the original mini I do have to say the appeal of the mini is how comfortable is is to use casually. In bed reading things in iBooks is perfect on the mini. When I try to use it for textbooks though I just simply couldn't get into it. Nearly all my PDF's had to be zoomed then panned to see information adequately. And my textbooks were the same, I just want to be able to see the entire page on the screen without having to zoom/pan or anything. But with that said, I'm glad Apple does offer choice here and I hope your future mini 4 suits you well! As for me, with the help of users in this thread, I think I'm either going to try to get a good deal on an Air 2, or forgo until they update the 9.7 inch size. The cost is a big factor and the iPad pro would be likely overkill anyway. But I'll have my degree in spring 2017. So I'd like to get one sooner rather than later if I'm going to use it for textbooks.
Thats how I feel. Its a good casual device, but the way textbooks get formatted makes it hard to read. Plus making notes in it takes more time than on paper or a keyboard.
Well actually for me I do almost all my readi while zoomed in and panning across the pages, so it wouldn't be really that different on the mini vs the air.
I still use an ipad 3 for reading scientific papers. The retina screen makes a big difference--you can essentially read an entire three column page of *Nature*, without having to zoom in and out. I'm not sure that the readability would be that improved by having something the size of normal college spiral bound notebook-- though it might make split screen a little more usable.
Grad school is long behind me, but the pencil would have been useful in math classes. You can't really type in all the equations in--(latex handles some of it, but matrices in latex can be a right pain), and yet it's really important to write legibly. A stylus could be a real advantage here.
I'm 90% certain that I will buy a Pro for PDF reading. My hobby is table top role playing games and these days I almost exclusively buy them as PDFs. The physical books are generally A4 / US Legal or slightly bigger so reading them on an Air 1 is, whilst do-able, a bit tricky and contributes to eye strain for me personally. A Pro should be able to display the page at roughly 100% with no cropping or panning required.
I use GoodReader at present and whilst the cropping is very good it is detrimental to large images, and RPG books often have double-page spread images, so cropping the margins ruins those. It's a small thing but it reduces the enjoyment of the books.
One thing to keep in mind about weight - with a smaller device you generally want to move it closer to your face so it is easier to read. With the Pro you shouldn't need to do this so it can rest on your lap like a physical book would.
I use GoodReader at present and whilst the cropping is very good it is detrimental to large images, and RPG books often have double-page spread images, so cropping the margins ruins those. It's a small thing but it reduces the enjoyment of the books.
One thing to keep in mind about weight - with a smaller device you generally want to move it closer to your face so it is easier to read. With the Pro you shouldn't need to do this so it can rest on your lap like a physical book would.
This is actually a pretty good point, with the pro I could rest it further away without having to pick it up at all. I could definitely see the benefit there. I guess I just need to weigh cost over screen size/ergonomics. Cost will likely win, I've already been on the lookout for good air 2 deals and I'll likely be more comfortable in that price range than 800-900+ anyway.
Keep a look out on eBay for open box iPad Pros. After a month the price really falls and you don't have to pay tax
Will do! I'm hoping to get whichever I decide on before mid-January though ideally. That'll be the start of a new semester and a good chance to jump on the e-textbook wagon. I've been looking at the iPad Air 2, just casually, and I saw some open box like new ones for 350 on eBay. And I'm sure there are other deals too, I just haven't gotten too serious about it yet since I'm curious about hearing the feedback and consensus on the pro.
I'll be getting one release day so if you have questions about it or want me to test something for you just remember to pm me.
I think it'll make a huge difference having the pro. We've been using ipads for a few years for textbooks -- an ipad2 is no good as the screen resolution just isn't up to the job. My son uses my old ipad3 and I use an Air. Both are usable for reading all textbooks (he's half-way through university and hasn't had to buy a book yet). Both are (just) usable for annotating with a jot or similar. But the huge increase in screen size will make an enormous difference to the readability of small text in a textbook, and the pencil will (we hope) make annotations and writing answers a completely different experience.
The only bummer is that he's going to want to take my new Pro into school with all the associated risks!
The only bummer is that he's going to want to take my new Pro into school with all the associated risks!
Chason, a usecase you might not be considering (yet)...I am a Doctoral learner, the pen is perfect for annotating notes on research PDFs in EndNote, and marking up research (survey interviews, ect.) which can then be imported into NVivo Qualitative Analysis software directly for surveys, without transcribing the data. Just a thought as I am not sure where you're headed academically beyond law school. That's my intended use for the Pro.
I feel that it will be better for reading textbook. It may not be good for reading novels, but pdf file textbooks are just different.
I can definitely see the benefit of the Apple Pencil for this use case, which makes the pro that much more appealing. It's just gearing up to be an expensive combo of iPad and accessories I would want with it. I'm thinking in the meantime I might go the iPad Air 2 route, mainly as a textbook reader and a second screen when writing papers, etc. that require multitasking with different sources. Any serious heavy annotating, or note taking will be delegated to print and a good old fashioned pencil until the pro and pencil combo is A) cheaper or B) my uses for these become more intense.