Should I get an iPad Pro 12.9" with Apple Pen or a Macbook Pro?

Post date: 2018-07-20 02:48:58

Here are the basic details: I'm starting a 5 year grad program and will be reading an extremely large amount of PDF articles. I have a Macbook Air that I bought 1.5 years ago and is doing just fine. I can use my funding for a device anytime over the next 4 years. More details inside.

I use my Macbook Air to write, browse the web, etc. Pretty basic stuff. I'm also working on learning LaTeX. I have a really hard time reading articles on my laptop, partly because I don't find markup and annotation particularly elegant or organic, and, relatedly, because I just find it hard to maintain focus. I was planning on printing out and saving in a filing system every article I come across, but that would take up a lot of room, time, and energy, and it might be hard to go back through my collection, so I had the idea of buying an iPad Pro 12.9" with my "laptop" funding.

My only real concern is that my Macbook Air might crap out sometime over the next 4 years and then I wouldn't have a budget to buy a new laptop. I like the Macbook I have just fine, but if I wasn't going to get an iPad I'd probably wait a few years and then get a new Macbook Pro. My question is: do you think it would be a better solution for me to get an iPad so that I can read and keep track of all the articles, or just print them out and wait to get a new laptop?

I've come across interesting workflow ideas for research and teaching with the iPad, but it still doesn't strike me as something that would or could entirely replace my laptop for me. I don't know if I can imagine writing my dissertation on a tablet, for example. I do have a desktop computer, though: a Windows PC that I built from current parts 3 years ago. If it matters, I have an Android phone.

So, what would you do if you were in my position?

Please click Here to read the full story.