Very long time Apple user here…Hello BH,
The day has come when I need to purchase an Apple product. We've always been with Windows/Android except for a refurbished iPhone 12 we bought for our student.
I hope that you can help me with suggestions/advice after I share some info about the college and ask a few questions because Googling various info about Apple products made me feel OVERWHELMED.
Buying an iPad is urgent as we are driving to a mandatory student orientation in less than 2 weeks. We'll buy a MacBook at the beginning of August.
My rising freshman wants to pursue biomedical studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. The university supports Apple and Lenovo products (you can use other brands as well, but if any IT help is needed with them, it will be very minimal). Hopefully Microsoft Office for Apple will be downloaded on campus or we’ll need to buy this SW as well because of Excel.
What generation iPad should I consider buying? One current UNC-CH student advised to get an iPad compatible with 2nd Gen Pencil and I think he also said any 10th Gen iPad which is the latest I’m guessing??
What memory size? Should we subscribe to a larger iCloud account (currently 5GB and contains a lot of pictures) and buy a 64GB iPad or should we spend more and go for 256GB?
I’ve seen some iPads saying Wi-Fi and others “Wi-Fi & Cellular.” When is Cellular needed? I surmise it’s not necessary when a student is taking notes during lectures and when those notes are moved to iCloud or MacBook in the dorm, right?
What’s so special about the 2nd Gen Pencil vs. the previous one? Any tricks/advice not to lose it since it’s not attached to the iPad?
Should I buy a refurbished iPad or new?
Any advice on what kind of case and screen protection to purchase?
I think the above questions would also apply to a MacBook if you don’t mind sharing some advice. I just know that our preference would be a laptop with a 15” screen.
Thanks so much!
Maybe I’m missing something: why do you need both an iPad and a MacBook? I’d suggest your student only needs a MacBook and for that I’d concur with others and buy a MacBook Air. (I have an M2 Air and it’s excellent).
These days your student likely won’t need or use Office - just use google docs / sheets / drive / slides. All great and essentially free. But yes Office can be purchased separately and student bundle for Mac is reasonably priced.
Statistics: Posted by fogalog — Mon Jun 03, 2024 12:44 am — Replies 8 — Views 481