Only if you want to take notes with a pen and prefer digital over paper. For me that's terrible, but some kids swear by it. I think if I grew up on it, it'd be different.

Homework for things like algebra and later calculus definitely is interesting to do on an iPad, as the ratio of time spent thinking:writing is high while you're learning.

But pure notetaking where the thinking:writing ratio is very low? I'd much prefer to type than write on a screen.

Grad student here. The paper-reading experience on an iPad is vastly superior to a laptop, and I've got an aging iPad Gen 8 that doesn't have enough storage to upgrade. I run the Zotero iOS app and it's absolutely perfect for annotating papers and keeping my bibliography organized.

In undergrad my iPad was far and away my favorite note-taking device. Digital pen-and-"paper" beats laptop for 99% of note taking.

iPads are pretty common in education for the drawing capabilities. You can take notes by typing for most things, but when you get diagram/math heavy, you just cannot beat the pencil. I think it's probably pretty poor value of the small ability you gain to cost, relative to other things you could do (I like paper/pencil personally) but I see the use case, if limited.

> Why would you want an iPad?

At this point, there are more people taking notes on an iPad + Apple Pencil than on physical notebooks in my lectures

The pen. 95% of the way our son does assignments now.

He’s off to university in Fall ‘26, and I’m waffling between getting him an Air and keeping his current iPad, or getting a neo and new iPad. Probably go the former because of the long term cost effectiveness of the Air.

The iPad is vastly better for reading and highlighting (with Pencil) class materials.

Reading whole books on a laptop tends to produce a ton of neck strain.

> The Neo can run iPad apps

In theory yes, but in reality barely any developer (at least the mainstream ones) make their app available on MacOS, and nobody enjoys interacting with a touch-screen optimized app with mouse/trackpad

Many students nowadays may say "why would you need anything other than an iPad?" :-)

I used to use both...laptop for quick typing, and then the iPad for hand-written notes or annotation.

The OneNote app sync is quick enough that I could type lecture notes on the laptop, and then quickly switch to the same document on my iPad to sketch out a diagram. It was overkill for sure, but very useful

>Why would you want an iPad?

Talk to Gen Z some time. They prefer tablet devices to laptops.

I have spent most of my life in a lazy couch posture and a laptop and keyboard doesn’t fit that lifestyle choice. I need to make more apps for people with my lifestyle choice, like IPad IDEs for development.

iPad + voice, this seems like my new lifestyle choice and it looks like it’s going to work out too.

I think human beings need to move away from sitting at the typewriter like it’s 1930. We’re more than this.