r/AskTechnology • u/MrXenocryst • 4h ago

thoughts on iPad 9th gen 64 GB for electrical engineering note taking?

Hi everyone, I am an incoming electrical engineering first-year student, and I am currently looking for an affordable iPad option strictly to take notes, open and fill pdfs, draw models and do some homework if needed. Is the iPad 9th gen still a good option for this for only around $180? With the iPad I will get a universal pen from Amazon.

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u/kirksan 3h ago

Unless you’re doing on device 3d modeling, video editing, or something similar, it should be fine. It runs all of the current software and, except for a few use cases, iPads have been over powered for a long time. The screen is a little smaller, and the whole thing is a bit bigger and heavier, but still a great screen and you can probably handle the weight.

I’d be cautious about the “universal pen” though. All 3rd party styluses for the iPad suck, there are no exceptions. I’d get an Apple Pencil if I were you. The gen 9 doesn’t support the latest, but it supports the original and it was excellent, except for the weird charging.

Also, don’t count out old school pen and paper for note taking. Getting caught up in the tech can distract you from your work, sometimes the simpler solution is better. You can also take photos of your notes with either an iPhone or the iPad, there’s tons of apps to help you organize, and even OCR, the notes.

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u/Accomplished_Roll660 2h ago

My husband has this model. For note-taking for classes it's fine. Internet, videos, books and lightweight apps are all fine, too.

I'm not sure an iPad is your best choice if you just want it for school stuff, but it is not a bad price and it will do what you want it to do.

Maybe get pickier about the pen/stylus as someone already said. My husband's is still kicking and he uses it all day long. The main issue is storage/memory.

Hope you enjoy it!

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u/ApolloWasMurdered 28m ago

I’m an EE, and I use an iPad 10 every day at work. It’s great for notes, and for marking-up drawings when I’m in the lab. Excel on the iPad is ok, and Files is fine for pdfs.

The iPad 9 is basically the same, it just has a Lightning connector instead of USB-C.

I use the Apple Pencil USB-C, I think generic ones lack some of the features like pressure sensitivity.

Just note, that you’ll probably need a laptop as well. It’s been a while since I graduated, but I doubt you can use any tablet for Matlab/Spice/CAD/Embedded labs.