iPad Pro For Graduation Gift ?

[Murphy Slaw]

My daughter has an Apple phone, but a windows laptop.

She will be starting college this fall with music as her major. I love my little iPad mini, use if for my crappy videos and multi-tracking in Garageband.

She is more into opera, theater and classical stuff.

I just don't know if tablets are the best tool for college kids, or if they drag laptops around or use the Chromebooks.

I can't ask her because that would blow the surprise ()

Enlighten me.....

[leew3]

Murph,
First off, good job Dad with a generous graduation gift idea! I would think that combined with the Apple pen the functions of the iPad Pro could be ideal for her. However, this is just speculation on my part.

Maybe you could contact the Music department at the college she plans to attend and ask them this question.

[Silurian]

Depending on what courses she's taking, if she'll be writing essays, etc, something with a proper keyboard and a big screen would probably be best.

Proper laptop gets my vote.

[Parlorman]

Great gift idea. Personally, I prefer the "old" 9.7" iPad. They're compatible with the Apple Pencil and Bluetooth keyboards and MUCH less expensive. However, it's not the money that informs my recommendation, it's the size. I like the smaller and lighter format. That may be a consideration for her.

My son is an Android fan and has a Galaxy Tab S3. Even though I'm an Apple guy, it's an impressive device. The available keyboard/case is great.

[PorkPieGuy]

I may be old school, but if you are actually wanting her to use it for college work, I'd suggest getting her a Macbook, and go ahead and pay for MS Word to put on it too.

I'm pretty sure that Google will be putting the MS Office suite out of business within the next 5 years with their free Docs, Pages, etc., but for now, MS Word is still king, and a lot of professors still prefer the old MS Word documents. I know I do (I teach English at a small college).

I don't know of any students who enjoy typing papers on a tablet, and I know I hate reading them on tablets.

Just my $.02.

[Long Jon]

I don’t think you can go too far wrong with the new iPad Pro, that would make a great gift.
I am using an iPad mini which I keep in an add-on folio case with a keyboard (Not made by Apple, it’s a “Logitech”).
Looks great, protects the iPad and works just like a tiny laptop , I also hate typing on a screen.

However, you are all grown ups there, I think you should give her it but get it from somewhere with a good return policy and keep all the packing and receipts.
Make it clear to her that if it is not the right computer for her then she is welcome to exchange it for one that is ,
(heck, you’ll even be happy to shell out the dif for a macbook if that’s what she wants ! Haha!)
no hurt feelings, no harm no foul.

Congratulations to her !

[Shoreline Music]

My youngest is in high school, and she uses an iPad Pro exclusively. She paid for it with her own money, although we did pitch in for the keyboard. She uses the highly functional Apple pen for drawing—it's her favorite leisure time activity—and the nifty Apple keyboard is also a must; that thing is water resistant (it has already resisted at least one cup of coffee, unlike the keyboard on my last laptop!). For my purposes, I currently rely heavily on legacy apps on my laptop for photo and video editing, but when this thing finally dies, I'm strongly considering making the leap to the iPad pro myself. This would complement ditching my smartphone for a Lightphone 2 rather nicely, I think.

I have two in college and one in high school, and no one uses Microsoft Word anymore, even if they have full-featured laptops (as my older ones do). Google Docs gives them access on any device in any location, with easy collaboration and editing, and nearly all assignments are turned in electronically these days.

All this to say, I think that would be an awesome gift. You can get a Macbook Air for around the same price, but if your daughter is anything like mine, she'll be happier with the iPad Pro.

[Dirk Hofman]

Keyboard and Google Docs. Kids are on Google school apps from 3rd grade now.

[buzzardwhiskey]

Congratulations on launching a college student!

Although I really like tablets and use my iPad a lot, it can not yet help that much in many college classes where reading and editing materials and occasionally running programs supplied by the prof and elsewhere are a necessity.

Having both a laptop and tablet would be ideal, but if money were an issue I'd go with the laptop only.

[Imbler]

Don't know what kind of music she is majoring in, but Ipad pro with the ForScore app and a bluetooth pedal for changing pages is really convenient for sheet music,

[Gitfiddlemann]

First off, congrats to your daughter, and to the parents!
Secondly, you can't go wrong with that choice. I'm sure your daughter would enjoy having that model iPad very much.
But if it were me, and since she already has an iPhone, I would try to find a little extra and spring for a 13.3 screen MacBook Air, or possibly a MacBook.
She would have all the scholastic bases well covered with those two items.
But in any case, she'll be a happy camper, or schooler!

[IBKuz]

I have the new 9.7" iPad w/ a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard/case that I use for work/personal use (I have a laptop for work as well). For travelling to site and needing access to the internet this is a good option as it has a wireless connection as well as wifi. For the wireless connection, this only costs me $10/month on my family plan (Canada). The Pro version would give you the option of using a pen. This size is excellent for when you are on the go, as it is large enough to edit Word and Excel documents and you can easily access PDF documents. Anything larger than this and you lose the portability aspect and are getting into the 13" laptop size. At a minimum, she will need a keyboard with her iPad for any serious document work, it's just so much more easier and convenient for inputting data/text.

If your daughter is going to need to prepare extensive papers and documents at school, then I find there is the need to be able to attach a mouse. As good as my iPad is, for serious documents/editing, I still like a mouse for this type of work (and full sized keyboard). This is where having a smaller laptop may be more versatile (you can also get a touch screen laptop as well, but this increases cost). She can take it to class and work anywhere. At home, she can plug into a larger monitor with a full keyboard and mouse as needed. The difference here is that there is no wireless option (though I have not looked recently into this aspect). Likely at school and friends places, there will be wifi, so this will not be a big deal (she can also use her phone as a wifi hotstop connection for wifi if needed).

So what might be the deciding factor here is, if portability is the key factor, then an iPad and keyboard combination might be the answer. If it was me, I would go with a smaller laptop plus monitor (as noted above her phone can provide a wifi connection in a pinch). Ergonomics is also a factor, if you have to work on documents for hours at a time (i.e. Term papers and such), as large a screen as possible is important in my book, therefore a minimum of 13.5" -14.5" would be my choice. Eye strain and seating position are important, just look up issues in the workplace due to computer use. I have always looked at the extra cost of a larger monitor at a base station as a good investment, considering how much time we sit in front of one.

All your choices will be a compromise of some sort, in this case the extra power of a laptop, may come in handy.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Murphy Slaw

My daughter has an Apple phone, but a windows laptop.

She will be starting college this fall with music as her major. I love my little iPad mini, use if for my crappy videos and multi-tracking in Garageband.

She is more into opera, theater and classical stuff.

I just don't know if tablets are the best tool for college kids, or if they drag laptops around or use the Chromebooks.

I can't ask her because that would blow the surprise ()

Enlighten me.....

First point of enlightenment is use the student discounts available. That goes for hardware and software.

You don't need the Pro for pencil use. The Pro is kind of love or meh depending on your use. Remember that tablets are not general purpose computers.

My work has owning, using or provisioning just about all of this. I happen to think the unsung hero if you're getting toward iPad Pro pricing is the 12 inch MacBooks. I've used mine far more than I ever expected. It's a Windows and Mac general purpose computer about as fat as my iPad. I like it's keyboard WAY more than the iPad and Microsoft Surface keyboards.

As much as the iPad Pro has the coated glass, not having it has not been a bother with the new basic iPad I use often.

Most summers Apple has a promo between graduation watch for that.

[seannx]

My youngest son (20) is a music major at UCSD, and has a 13” MacBook Pro. He uses it for all his regular courses, plus his creative ones with Logic, Ableton, and the Adobe programs. An iPad would be nice for taking notes and streaming, and works well with a keyboard, but I agree that a laptop with a bigger screen and full performance, is a better option. And having the integration with her iPhone is a huge plus.

[Long Road Home]

My son is off to college in September (for a double major in jazz music and theater) and I've been going through the same decision process, with him as a full participant (I'm not dealing with the surprise factor here).

He gives his school-provided Chromebook back in a month when he graduates, and wants to move into the Mac world. I've been Mac-based since I bought a Mac SE back in the late '80s (back when I wondered how in the world anyone could possibly fill up a 20mb hard drive ).

After talking it over with some friends who are a year ahead of him at the same college, he has decided that he wants a Macbook Air, and says that he doesn't need more than the minimum configuration ($849, with the education discount... the same price as a refurb from the Apple store). So that's what we'll get for him.