iPad or laptop for PhD in Second Lang Acquisition?

[Voulez-Vous]

For the last several years, I've had an iPad 2 that my school provided. Since I left at the end of the school year to go into a PhD program, I had to return it. There are many things I really like about the iPad and I want to buy another one. The biggest thing is that I love to do jigsaw puzzles, but hadn't in years because they take up so much room (and I have kids who will lose pieces). Obviously, a laptop would not work for puzzles!

 

However, even though I have a case with a keyboard for it, so I can type on it for a while, I obviously wouldn't want to do too much typing on it.

 

I'm entering a PhD program in Second Language Acquisition. As far I as know, I don't need a computer to do anything technical. I'll need to read and write. I don't game, so that is not a consideration.

 

I'll have a desktop at home. I will be carrying this around as my way to stay connected. I intend to walk or bike to school (about 3 miles). I don't have a smartphone and don't anticipate getting one.

 

As I see it, my options are:

1. buy a refurbished iPad 2, if it's not sufficient for what I need to do on campus, then get a laptop and leave the iPad at home

 

2. buy a decent laptop now, forget an iPad

 

3. buy an iPad 3 with more memory so that I can hopefully use it for the personal stuff I want but also what I need for school.

 

I'd love any input. I think current technology is going to be a steep learning curve for this returning grad student (I got my MA in 1996). Cost is definitely a consideration here! Thanks!

Edited June 14, 2014 by Voulez-Vous

[GeoDUDE!]

buy a laptop.

[rising_star]

Why can't you do jigsaw puzzles on a laptop?

[Voulez-Vous]

Why can't you do jigsaw puzzles on a laptop?

Can I? I don't know. 

[juilletmercredi]

You say you'll be carrying this around as your way to stay connected; that makes me lean towards iPad.  Were I you I would go for an iPad with a Retina screen - I just upgraded from my iPad 2 to an iPad Air and it's made a huge difference.  But it depends on what you mean by "connected" and also where "home" is.

 

If you are just bringing something to school to take notes, surf the net, read articles, etc., I think an iPad with a comfortable Bluetooth keyboard is more than sufficient for that.  I didn't have an iPad during my coursework phase, but I sure wish I did in retrospect because most of what I did on campus could've been replicated with an iPad + keyboard.  If you have no need of analysis programs and will do most of your paper-writing at home on the desktop, you don't really need a laptop for campus - plus, you can use Microsoft Office and Google docs on an iPad.  I wouldn't do any extended paper-writing on my iPad, but I could do some limited work.

 

However, if "home" is a far commute for you and you're going to be on campus all day long, you might want a laptop.  You might want to work on a paper in-between classes and if you're not close enough to go home in-between, you might need to use the library computer or public labs.  Depending on how plentiful they are, that could get annoying (they are not on my medical center campus, and thus computer space is difficult to find).

 

Also, I have a laptop for traveling.  When I go to a conference, I often need something more substantial than a tablet to get some serious work done, but obviously can't lug my desktop.  So I have a laptop.  My ideal setup would be a Mac mini at home, a MacBook Air for travel and an iPad for the reading and such.  That, of course, is expensive.  So what I have instead is a laptop that I hook up to an external monitor and keyboard and use as a desktop at home, and an iPad Air.  If you don't already have a desktop, consider doing this instead.