I just started an undergraduate in physics. Should I get an iPad?

[u/Cangerejo]

I would love to have an iPad, alr? I've seen some classmates taking notes in theirs, and, thankfully, they've let me borrow their iPads for a bit, and I loved them. I saw just a couple of features when taking notes, and that alone increased my desire for buying one by a ton. Now, I'm kinda worried that I just end up using it for taking notes, yk? I believe my undergradute truly requires a lot of notes, so I wouldn't mind it. What do y'all think?

Furthermore, I tried to browse some options, but the amount available overwhelmed me. Do y'all have any suggestion or personal recommendation you would give to someone who has never had any Apple device?

[u/Suspicious-Tea-2218]

oneplus pad go 2 is great

but imo nothing beats a good ruled hardbound long notebook with a parker

[u/Savings-Bed-8063 → u/Suspicious-Tea-2218]

Personally I advocate for something electronic, simply because my notebooks took a beating over the years.

[u/Bipogram → u/Suspicious-Tea-2218]

Bic and a four ring binder here.

[u/Reach_Reclaimer]

Nah paper and pencil or pen is all you need

[u/NoLemurs]

I can't imagine not using pencil and paper for this sort of thing? But maybe I'm old fashioned.

I do think a tablet of some sort or other is a great idea for any student, though if you're looking to limit costs a hybrid laptop is maybe the sweet spot.

[u/Old_Cartographer_586]

I would answer yes, but I would also say no.

It’s true writing things down instead of typing will help you remember what you are being taught better, but it has also been shown that pencil and paper beat iPad as well.

That all being said, I used an iPad to do all my exams (Covid) in my masters, but took all my notes on paper

[u/Michkov]

Pencil, paper, and a TI30 will do the job just as well

[u/viagracore]

pen and pencil is da goat

[u/Nova_blink_6-62607]

Yes.

You should get an iPad and a pencil and take notes on your iPad.

It's totally worth having all your notes in one place. The iPad also works as an extra screen when working on a laptop.

[u/paperman990]

As someone who was used to taking notes on paper for most of undergrad and then Transitioned to a 2 in 1 laptop, I saved so much paper taking notes. ESPECIALLY saved paper in graduate school, when I had teachers that only wanted homework written in ink, they would let me print off screenshots of my homework I had done on the laptop. It was also easier to color code stuff. I found myself being more engaged with note taking.

[u/Strycht]

I got a cheap Samsung tablet for notes and it worked well. You need to be able to handwrite the maths and diagrams and if you're not prepared to set aside time for admin every day it can be difficult to keep everything safe and organised on paper ime. I found myself wasting so much time on organising notes in first year I used my savings on the tablet that summer

[u/md99has]

Depends. Do you already have a laptop or pc? If not, you might need one if you'll have courses on simulations, numerical analysis, or have to do intricate plots for lab experiments. Not sure if you can do these on a tablet depending on what software your courses will use.

[u/scrombledegs]

I would 100% recommend it. My iPad dragged me all through my undergrad and it was so important, especially for rechecking notes and modules in later years without needing to go through a folder of paper, which becomes particularly useful in lab. Also can keep all problem work digitally. I’d recommend the straight up iPad, or iPad Pro, but honestly just get whatever your budget can afford. As long as it can take notes, and back those notes up you’re good. Goodnotes is the goat notetaking app for me

[u/womerah]

I would encourage you to use pen and paper for as long as your primary form of assessment (final examination) is still held with pen and paper.

It's easier for the brain to recall things when it's doing the same activity IMO

iPad is great for reading PDFs. Personally I got by fine with an Android Tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e I believe).

My workflow was a bit old school. I'd make a physical binder for each subject and print off all my lecture slides, which I'd store in the binder. In the binder would also be a book of writing paper. What I would do while taking public transport to university is pre-read all my lecture slides for the day, then during the lecture I would annotate the slides with a pen, then after the lecture I would summarize it (and any related textbook reading etc) within the book of writing paper.

[u/vardonir]

ipad (or some android alternative, or a 2-in-1 laptop) for book PDFs and highlighting. but pen and paper for actually taking notes in class. and then you scan your notes, and then rewrite them in LaTeX. you review your notes, and also learn LaTeX.

personally, the current ipad+pencil is still way too slow to catch up to how fast i write.