Device for college and university - iPad Pro, MacBook Air, laptop?

November 29, 2021 3:07 AM

My niece is hoping to go to university next year to do biochemistry. She would like some advice on which device would be best to take. Ideally she would like to ask for an iPad Pro and pencil this Christmas so that she can also use it to take notes and draw diagrams during her current A level course (the college won't let students take notes by typing, only by using a pen or digital equivalent). She's not sure if an iPad will meet the requirements of her degree course. Can anyone advise?

She doesn't know which university yet or would ask them. She has looked on the various university websites and can't find an answer, though can see that some courses use ChemDraw which looks like it would work on the iPad and MacBook as well as a laptop.

posted by paduasoy to Technology (21 answers total)

Not knowing the specific programs required will make this difficult, but an iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard should handle everything needed.

I've used convertible laptops (3-in-1 laptops like the Lenovo Yoga), and they are no comparison to a dedicated tablet. I haven't used the Magic Keyboard, but it should be more than sufficient for her needs if it works as intended.
posted by wile e at 3:25 AM on November 29, 2021

If she knows which specific programs she’s interested in, I’d recommend contacting the individual departments directly to ask about what software is required in their courses. (There’s a possibility she might need something like Maple or Mathematica for her calculus courses, for example, but this can vary a lot by university. Individual departments know the details better than general admissions folks. Be sure to ask the biochem departments about software in all required courses, else they might just think about their own department’s requirements. If there is a biochem students group, they would be excellent folks to ask.)
posted by eviemath at 3:58 AM on November 29, 2021 [10 favorites]

So I can't speak specifically re biochemistry nor UK universities, but my concern is that not everything can be easily run from the browser or ipad specific app these days. For instance, writing and executing code is possible on an ipad, although the process can be kludgy and isn't always strictly parallel to what her classmates might be doing on laptops. In addition, expensive applications often have free or greatly reduced cost versions for students, so university is the time to learn how to use all the expensive computer applications.

If finances permit, I think there is value having an ipad + laptop setup, especially with the amount of textbooks available as ebooks. It can be nice to have the textbook open on one device, leaving the other one free.
posted by oceano at 4:17 AM on November 29, 2021 [16 favorites]

I teach physics at the college level, which is a bit more computation-intensive than biochemistry but not significantly so. I agree with eviemath that there's a fair chance that there will be software in one or more of her classes that will require a laptop OS; in addition to Maple and/or Mathematica, there are several statistics packages (I'm thinking of SPSS and R, primarily) that don't have iPad versions so far as I know.

One of my advisees has been using a Chromebook since he got here, and software access has been a problem for him. I can't imagine that an iPad would be any easier in this regard.
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:35 AM on November 29, 2021 [6 favorites]

I think this question comes up a lot on studentroom, it was asked 3 months ago, and the lone recommendation was for a laptop. A quick perusal suggests that if you like taking handwritten electronic notes then iPad + laptop combo is considered ideal, with an alternative being a laptop + drawing tablet. Otherwise a plain laptop seems to be more frequently recommended than a tablet in the sciences.
posted by plonkee at 4:47 AM on November 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

If she really wants something to only take notes and draw diagrams, look into the Remarkable2 tablet. It’s eink, has great battery life, and (for better or worse) has no apps or other functions to distract from note taking.

I love using mine at work (not science related) and wish it had existed when I was in school.

https://remarkable.com/

I would pair this with a M1 MacBook Air to do the “computery” stuff she’ll need to do. I have an iPad Pro and it’s not a full computer replacement for me. I can figure out how to do 95% of the stuff I need to but there’s still 5% of tasks that are just too convoluted or downright impossible to do on an iPad.
posted by paulcole at 5:03 AM on November 29, 2021 [2 favorites]

Another advantage of having both devices is that there is some redundancy built into the system for when Murphy rears his ugly head. (Inevitably at the worst possible moment).
posted by oceano at 5:09 AM on November 29, 2021 [2 favorites]

The iPad Air and Mini are also compatible with the Apple Pencil, if that might free up funds enough to consider both. I used iAnnotate with an iPad Pro/Pencil combo heavily when I was marking up show scripts and in meetings at work. I love the iPad but file organization becomes more and more an issue as you amass more notes.
posted by brachiopod at 5:20 AM on November 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

…but should add that the iPad is WAY better than paper notes if you need to mark something up extensively or have several revisions of a document to keep track of.
posted by brachiopod at 5:26 AM on November 29, 2021

It depends a little what kind of classes she anticipates taking, how far they might verge towards the biology (or chemistry) end of the spectrum, and whether or not she might do undergraduate research (and thus might need to install whatever software her research lab uses). However, as a former undergraduate in chemistry with a minor in biology (some time ago, now, though not so long ago that I didn't have a laptop), I'd honestly say that most of my coursework didn't require specific software, or any software at all, and that was mostly true in my grad school coursework (for biochemistry) as well, and in the courses I TAed. Most problem sets were handwritten and most lab reports didn't require much in terms of specific software (and in some cases, browser-based tools could substitute for, say, generating a figure of a simple chemical structure.) A few upper level classes made some limited use of specific software, but it was often available via computer labs (yes there generally still are a few of those around) or by mooching off of classmates. If your niece's coursework looks like this, she might be more or less fine with an iPad Pro + keyboard.

That said, if anything does require extensive use of specific software, there's unfortunately a decent chance that she'd need an actual laptop running macOS (that means a Macbook (Air or Pro)) or a tablet or laptop running Windows (either 10 or 11) - most of the relevant software has both Mac and Windows options. iPads (including the iPad Pro) run a tablet operating system (iPadOS) that is a variant of the one on the iPhone (iOS) rather than the one on Apple's laptops and computers, and there's a lot of science software that they don't run as a result. Additionally, a tablet isn't an ideal interface for a lot of this software, tablets are often underpowered for what the software does, and the (limited) target market is generally scientists who have an actual work computer, so there's not much pressure to develop tablet or browser apps. Going through a few specific examples of software used in my biochemistry-focused lab:

- Is ChemDraw actually currently available for iOS? I haven't checked in a few years, but I remember it getting withdrawn from the Apple store a while back, to some outcry. There's a browser-based set of ChemOffice "cloud" tools, but my undergrad researcher (who initially couldn't get our license working for the desktop software) found it somewhat frustrating compared to the desktop software.
- The molecular biology-focused software suites that're available via license at my university (Geneious, DNAstar/Lasergene) don't have i(Pad)OS options. Some of the simpler options, whether free (like APE) or not (like Snapgene) also definitely don't work on i(Pad)OS.
- For structural biology, it looks like the i(Pad)OS version of Pymol has been discontinued, and Chimera's not an option either. These are used relatively frequently to look at protein structures in biochem/molecular biology courses, so this is a potential concern. Online viewers exist but may not be able to do certain things effectively (align multiple protein structures, calculate distances between residues, etc.)
- For bioinformatics (and statistics) work, it's not clear after some quick searching that there's a great way to use R(Studio) or Python on an iPad. If options exist, I'd be worried that they might be less functional than the versions available for either Windows (native or via the Linux subsystem) or macOS, particularly in terms of what packages would work locally. Cloud options exist but might still be limited from i(Pad)OS.
- For more mathematically focused work, including physical chemistry but also certain kinds of spectroscopy (and possibly for any mathematics or physics courses she might take), might she need Matlab (I never encountered Maple or Mathematica in coursework or labwork but have encountered Matlab repeatedly)? If so, the tablet-friendly version at least used to have some limitations.
- If she ends up needing to do things involving mass spectrometry, much of that software is Windows-only (or requires exporting things in certain file formats on a Windows computer and then running freeware in macOS or Windows to analyze it.)
- Somewhat unexpectedly, MNova - for looking at NMR spectra, used most heavily in organic chemistry labs - is one of the few things I can find with a seemingly current tablet version.

Now, your niece may use none of those whatsoever, and some of those do have alternatives that might be iPad-compatible or at least browser-based (though she'd have to be willing to spend the time learning how to use an alternative program to the one her classmates and course materials may be using), and/or she might be able to get by with computer labs & mooching off of classmates. But the more science/math software is integrated into her coursework, the more likely it is that having only an iPad Pro may end up being a real limitation for her. If drawing on a screen is a must, she's probably best off with Windows laptops, since Apple has yet to produce anything that has a pen-friendly screen that runs macOS. If she's willing to learn how to use a drawing tablet (and if it's allowed by her program?), a cheap Wacom tablet + a Macbook might be an option as well. If money allows, an iPad + a laptop would also certainly work.
posted by ASF Tod und Schwerkraft at 5:32 AM on November 29, 2021 [3 favorites]

There are plenty of software packages which cost a lot of money, so the university makes a few PCs available with them to save students buying them all for one class. It's likely there will be a computer lab with any specialty software available -- and it should be accessible remotely for off-hours work.

I work in IT at a uni in America, and when COVID hit we set up a program on all the PCs in our shared computer labs so that users could get to them without physically going to the lab. (The labs were, of course, shut down.) This also let students use them 24/7 instead of just when the abs were open, which was a nice bonus.

And for Linux/Mac/iPad users, it meant the ability to run Windows-only software: yesss!
posted by wenestvedt at 7:38 AM on November 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

Is the question about getting an ipad in addition to a laptop/desktop, or instead of one?

I agree with eviemath and Johnny Assay, though I'm in a different field and nation. I have taught required courses to chem and bio students at a research university. Those who only have a tablet device often have a really tough time just getting basic stuff to work in advanced non-majors classes. (e.g., calculus-based first year physics, anything quantitative with a lab component.)

My guess is that universities probably don't have strict requirements, 'cause every class will be different depending on who teaches it. But, faculty are going to assume everyone has access to a mac/win/bigname-linux computer with root access when designing assignments, especially if there's any programming involved. I try hard to make everything available via browser-based programming notebooks, but it isn't always possible. When something doesn't work, it'll be up to the student or unusually devoted lecturers to find a work-around. If I were starting college today, I'd go for a laptop and either a tablet or a bunch of paper notebooks, but skipping the laptop seems like a bad idea.
posted by eotvos at 7:44 AM on November 29, 2021

Response by poster: Thank you, this is all very helpful. To answer a couple of questions - she skews towards the chemistry and maths side of biochemistry, and the question is about what is preferable if she can have one device only. She may be able to contact a couple of the universities directly, but hasn't had offers from most of them yet so I think would be twitchy about making contact.
posted by paduasoy at 8:15 AM on November 29, 2021

I'm a university professor in the US, in a STEM department. I would never recommend an ipad pro as a sole device for a university student. Because of the walled garden nature, it precludes too many things entirely, and for some things that may be possible it'll at least make life a whole lot more difficult. Here's a few examples that come to my mind, some overlap with previous comments:

• Scientific computing software: R (all sorts of other stats software), scipy/jupyter/anaconda/etc, any machine learning stack, field-specific ones like those listed above
• Programming in general
• A lot of bibliography management software (though there are options I think)
• LaTeX, should she want to get into this (relevant at least for math), though a lot of students use overleaf these days, no idea how overleaf handles ipad browsers
• Weird crusty software that may be required by that one course (you can't assume this will be provided for perfectly in a computer lab)

posted by advil at 8:32 AM on November 29, 2021 [8 favorites]

She may be able to contact a couple of the universities directly, but hasn't had offers from most of them yet so I think would be twitchy about making contact.

The biochem departments will not give a second thought to a student calling and saying "I'm considering your program, do you have a computer preference/requirement?" or something like that. She doesn't even have to bring up she hasn't been given an offer yet.
posted by bowmaniac at 8:50 AM on November 29, 2021 [7 favorites]

If she can only have one device, I believe that device should be a laptop, whether Apple or Windows (her university can probably give more guidance on if either is preferred due to specific software used). There are just too many restrictions on what domain-specific software is available on iPadOS for me to recommend that for general-purpose scientific computing right now. It may be possible, but it also may not be possible, and if she can only have a single piece of hardware, I’d vote to go for the most flexible thing possible.
posted by Alterscape at 8:59 AM on November 29, 2021 [8 favorites]

I highly, highly recommend getting a laptop. I have gone to university for a science-y and a social science-y undergrad degree and for both it would have been annoying at best and incredibly difficult at worst to have only had a laptop. It would have been possible only by using the university library and computer labs to complete assignments and write papers, which generally requires a lot of timing and organization to find times when computers were available and the building was open. Formatting requirements for papers I had to submit got much stricter in university and that alone would have been a huge pain if not impossible to do on an iPad. Biochemistry likely requires some Stats courses, in my experience, and that could require R and some programming applications, which are unlikely to be on an iPad.

I also second the plan to email the biochemistry department at whatever universities she is considering. I think that would be perfectly fine and a good way to get a authoritative answer. (I suspect the answer will be that they recommend a laptop, but there are computer labs available for students, in which case I still really recommend getting the laptop.)

The Lenovo Yoga is a touchpad laptop that can fold over to become a tablet. I had one for six years, it was a nice feature, although not worth it in my opinion and not the same time as an iPad, but if she is really concerned about digitizing notes, that's something to look into. Also, a cheaper, user iPad with an acceptable Windows laptop would likely be equal or less in cost than an iPad Pro.
posted by raeka at 9:54 AM on November 29, 2021

I'm a biology professor. All of my students trying to get by with just a tablet or chromebook are miserable and (pre-COVID) usually end up retreating to computer labs sooner or later to do things their device just won't do. I had students limp through running RStudio Cloud in the browser on an iPad and Chromebook in April 2020, and it was absolutely awful. If you're buying something brand new for university anyway, buy the right tool for the job, which is a full laptop.
posted by hydropsyche at 2:18 PM on November 29, 2021 [4 favorites]

I'm a university department chair, and only having a tablet wouldn't work for most students. Having a laptop is essential; it is so important that some universities including my own provide one to the students as a part of their onboarding (of course, that's calculated into their fees) and most campus libraries have loaner laptops to check out for short-term periods in case the student's needs repair/replacement.

This might mean that depending on where your niece enrolls, your concern could be moot as she might have a laptop provided to her by the school.

At my current institution, the main ecosystem is Mac (but some of the business students run Windows since it's apparently a better OS for Excel and accounting software). This means most of my students and colleagues have MacBook Airs; I have a Pro because I run intense graphics software. At my former institution, the main ecosystem was Windows. It is generally better to have whichever one the school mainly uses as most of the support and services will be for that OS. For instance at my current institution we use AirPlay in the classrooms, and the students who have MacBooks have a far easier time working with the projection hardware and software.
posted by vegartanipla at 3:24 PM on November 29, 2021 [6 favorites]

I am faculty in a Biochemistry department (US, not UK), and she would absolutely need a laptop, not an iPad.
posted by Knowyournuts at 7:22 PM on November 29, 2021

I’m an academic librarian and another vote for an actual laptop. I’ve had several students in multiple disciplines try to get away with just an iPad and it’s a huge PITA.
posted by aspersioncast at 3:36 PM on December 1, 2021