The fanciest new gadget from Apple, the iPad, is a great technological investment, especially for students. It’s priced from Apple at $499, which is about what some students spend on textbooks at the beginning of the semester. But, is the investment worth the product? Here are five practical reasons for college students to invest in an iPad to make their college career more successful.

  1. The iPad is incredibly user-friendly. Like a lot of Apple products, they are intuitive and easy to use—even if you’re used to PCs. Another feature that makes it intuitive and user friendly is the touchscreen. Many students are used to the iPod touch interface, so the iPad won’t be much different.
  2. Students, you can either lug all your books around with you, or you can download them all onto the 1.5 pound iPad and bring that to campus instead. iPads are a great resource to download, store, and read written material. So, you can have all your materials for all your classes on a piece of equipment only slightly larger than a notebook.
  3. The long battery life allows students a full school-day’s worth of life in order to take notes, review materials, and surfing the internet. Apple states that the iPad has a 10-hour battery life, which should be plenty of time for you to use it in all your classes every day.
  4. The iPad is not nearly as intrusive as a laptop. Often, students taking notes on laptops are multitasking in class, which distracts other students, as well as the student multitasking. Some people think that the lack of multitasking is a con for the iPad, but really, for students that are easily distracted, I think the lack of multitasking is a pro. Besides, the iPad is not nearly as bulky as a laptop, and you can use the iPad standing up.
  5. Having a variety of coursework available in one convenient location is a must for college students. Powerpoint presentations, YouTube videos, documents, and other multimedia are necessities for college students to participate fully in the classroom. The iPad is also a great resource for reading newspapers. The iPad keeps this entire media needed for college life in one location. Besides, the picture quality on the iPad screen is fantastic for looking all the multimedia.

If you don’t believe me that the iPad is a great little piece of technology for students, go down to your local Apple store or to your campus computer store for a test drive. IN no time, you’ll be putting it on your wish list.

Author: Diane Johnson writes about a number of her interests including four wheeling, pell grants for college, shopping, and traveling.