

IPad in college for EE or CS degree? - kersny
http://www.ohscope.com/2010/05/ipad-for-school.html

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ewoodh2o
As an EE or CS major, an iPad isn't going to cut it as your portable device.
Like others have said, you're going to want something that can run IDEs or
hardware interfaces in labs or at group project meetings.

YMMV, but don't obsess over being able to take notes on it in class. In my
experience (Computer Engineering degree from Georgia Tech three years ago),
professors will move so fast that you'll find a keyboard limiting. Engineering
degrees especially are all about diagrams and graphs, and it's just not easy
to get those into a computer quickly enough in class. This is less important
in CS classes, but you'll shuffle through the same core Calc and Physics
classes and run into the same problem.

Also, if you go the EE route, you're going to have to run Windows
occasionally. Lots of the specialized lab software, board design tools,
circuit simulators, etc just aren't available for OS X. Don't get me wrong - I
love my MBP and finished out my degree on the first gen Core 2 Duo MBP running
Parallels. But make sure you get something beefy enough to do that, and I'm
not sure the 13" MBP is going to be future-resistant enough in that respect.

My advice - figure out how to afford a 15" i5 MBP, even if it means adding
$500 or so to your loans.

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jmtulloss
Having recently graduated with a computer engineering degree, I absolutely
agree with this. Buy a small, powerful laptop that can run both Linux and
windows, and you should be happy. Personally, I would also recommend the Mac,
but Linux and windows are the two you need to be able to run.

Of course, every major university has labs that will have the equipment and
software you need, so you can probably get away with whatever you prefer. I
was more a software guy than a hardware guy, so I ran Mac exclusively and just
used the lab machines when I needed to use Windows software.

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brk
Worry about it the month before you actually go to school, but I would
recommend a good laptop. I don't think the iPad will have decent electronics
sim programs and the like by that time. That stuff is handy in labs.

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mdolon
Labs can definitely be an important factor - I know I had to use make use of
my USB ports in several of my labs (something the iPad lacks). Also, many
universities require laptops that meet a certain criteria - I would also look
into that for your school before purchasing one.

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matwood
Get a nice laptop. An iPad will not be enough for CS/EE degree. I would argue
it's not enough for any degree, but that's off topic. Get an iPad later if you
want to simply because it's a cool device that seems like a good
ereader/entertainment system.

My rationale is this. In undergrad and then graduate school many times I would
sit with my laptop with the professor going over various problems. Impossible
to do with an iPad. Many classes required X that wouldn't work on an iPad. For
example, embedded systems required usb connection to the external HW device
and then software support. Linux was required for many classes since the code
is available to learn from.

In the end my optimal solution was a 17" MBP with linux and windows VMs.

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geoffpado
Cross-posting my comment from the blog so the HN'ers can reply to it:

Mike's wrong on the "content creation" comment regarding the iPad. There are
plenty of good apps for notetaking, drawing, even writing. I've switched from
my MacBook Pro to the iPad for those tasks as it's _much_ lighter. The soft
keyboard takes some getting used to, but it's the same size (in landscape) as
the external Apple keyboards, and it's plenty easy to type on after getting
used to not having physical feedback. (I've already typed a 3-page paper on
it.)

For a CS degree, though, there are a few downsides. The iPad doesn't have any
good coding software yet, and you'll be doing _a lot_ of that. Labs aren't a
great solution, either. Do you really want to have to leave the comfort of
your own room to do homework? My school (University of Missouri) has a Unix
account for every student, and I've been able to SSH in to accounts there to
do some coding, but it's nowhere near as good as having a GUI editor,
especially if you aren't used to vi or a similar editor. You'll definitely
want something with a traditional OS on it for coding purposes, at least for
now. Who knows, in the future, someone may make a decent IDE for the iPad, and
the point will be moot. For now, it's not a great option.

The "power combo" is an interesting idea, and it's pretty much what I'm doing
now, but with a MacBook Pro in place of the Mac mini, as I've stopped taking
my MBP to most classes, opting for the iPad instead. The only downside to this
is that you're stuck without a laptop in the case that you have to meet with a
group to work on an assignment outside of class. I don't know what college
you're planning on going to, but the labs at my college fill up fast and most
people usually end up meeting in a generic "commons" area and using laptops to
work on projects. Like I said, though, you'll be fine with the iPad for
anything except coding.

Depending on the way your school acts, an iPad may be just fine. I don't know
the number of group projects you'll be doing and the order your classes will
go in. In my freshman year, we had a ton of "fluff" classes early on, where I
wasn't doing any coding. The iPad will be fine for those courses. Of your
options, I'd definitely lean towards the "power combo", but if it's an option,
I'd start the semester with _just_ the iPad. Give it a few weeks, see if it's
working out for you. If you've got too much going on, and you find yourself
hitting the labs more than you'd like, add the mini. The reason for going
without is to allow yourself to make sure you're using the full potential of
the iPad, and that you aren't relying too heavily on the other computer as a
crutch. If you end up needing that crutch, I'd stick with your current, busted
laptop before giving in and buying the mini. Ubuntu's going to be a great for
the early classes (assuming that your school will start with Java, like most
do), and you may be able to eke a few more years out of the hardware. Trust
me, the early years are not going to require a huge amount of processing power
or memory. 1.6GHz will be more than enough to compile 20 lines of Java. :P

Conclusion: Start with the iPad. Use your busted laptop if you need to. Only
if those two options combined are a problem, go for the mini. If you can hold
out through your freshman year with just the iPad and laptop, I'm sure someone
will have released an iPad IDE by then, and you'll be golden. People have
started releasing web "IDEs" already, so it's only a matter of time.

No matter what, have fun at college. It's a great time.

~~~
jluxenberg
_Labs aren't a great solution, either. Do you really want to have to leave the
comfort of your own room to do homework?_

When I was in school, the lab was a great place to do homework because you
could bounce ideas off your peers.

Our labs might have been different thought; we had a Linux cluster where the
CS students hung out. The fact that the computers ran Linux was enough to keep
most non-CS majors away, so you could ask anyone in the cluster something
about CS and be pretty sure they'd be able to help.

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geoffpado
Ah. That'd be nice to have, but our CS labs (also running Linux) tend to be
full of people who don't like to talk to each other, unless they're in a group
together. Guess it depends on the people working there.

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mbateman
Intensive document creation, like writing papers, is not well handled by an
iPad at present. It syncs horribly, is not good for copying/pasting from other
documents or websites (due to poor multitasking support), etc.

On syncing:
[http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/file_sharing_with_an_...](http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/file_sharing_with_an_ipad_ugh/)

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ianium
Forget about taking notes in class with a laptop.

For some EE classes there is absolutely no way you are going to be able to
take notes with all of the integrals, subscripts, superscripts, greek letters
and strange symbols (but don't let that all scare you). The best way to get
this all down is to write it down on paper, but I have seen some students do
decently with a tablet computer (the kind that have a rotating/folding
screen).

The other problem with a laptop (as another poster has mentioned, but I just
wanted to emphasize) is that you will end up distracted. All it takes is for
the lecture to slow down or someone to ask a silly question and the next thing
you know is that the lecture is over and you're in the middle of some article
about the next Apple product.

Base your decision on what you will be using your computer for outside of
class: programming, maths simulation, circuit simulation, and lab reports. All
of those can be done from within a Windows VM.

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ericz
I am in college. The people who bring laptops browse Facebook. The people who
take notes use pencil and paper. An iPad is a cool gadget but I think it will
only be a distraction in class, not to mention I don't see why the iPad will
be particularly good for a EE/CS major. Better to get a crappy old tablet so
you can play with the innards.

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hugh3
How about no laptop? In my day (which was less than a decade ago) we got
through undergrad just fine without having laptops. Pah!

Seriously though:

a) Take notes with pencil and paper

b) Give presentations sans powerpoint (your audience will probably be
grateful), and

c) Work on your projects at home.

You can be "that weird computerless guy". I foresee problems only if there are
group assignments.

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proee
How about a rock and a chisel? A computer is the tool of choice for a EE or CS
major. If you're a EE, you will need a computer quite often for doing SPICE
simulations, code development, matlab homework problems, schematic capture,
pcb layout etc.

The computer for a EE or CS student is a third arm. Learn to use it as
efficiently as possible. Computers are amazing tools!

~~~
kelnos
I went through an EE program (took a bunch of CS courses too), and graduated
in 2003. I didn't have a laptop through the entire thing.

A computer, sure. I had one in my dorm room. Laptops were nice, but not
essential. I certainly hope that hasn't changed in the past seven years... it
would be pretty sad if so.

(Then again, I also didn't have a cell phone during college, and now I have no
idea how I got along without one.)

edit: To my recollection, when I was in college, the people who had laptops in
class did email, wasted time on Slashdot, or played games. Seems like it was
more of a distraction than it was useful.

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mcantelon
Get a notebook. If you have to do presentations you might want to demo code in
which case an iPad isn't going to be much good.

~~~
brianobush
or a netbook, which would be cheaper and very portable. and if doing the CS/EE
route, you can run a cool OS like the rest of the crowd: Linux

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finin
Get a laptop and fun unix on it -- linux or mac os x.

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jsz0
How about a PC laptop + Mac Mini?

