First of all, I want to start this video saying that I know that many of you are now on your
winter holiday.
And that school is probably the least of your priorities and that you probably don't want
to hear about it right now.
As much as I would like to make this video next week, I have something pretty special
planned and it's a bit of a surprise.
On top of that, boxing day is coming soon, which is probably going to mean a little more
to us Canadians than our neighbours down south.
But, I'm going to talk about my favourite note-taking device for post-secondary education.
And that is the Apple iPad Pro.
This thing is seriously my favourite note-taking device.
Here I have the 10.5" 64GB Space Grey model.
But it also comes in a 12.9" form factor.
The colour, as well as the storage is also customizable.
The battery life on the iPad Pro is great.
I can easily go a whole day with it, even two days.
I charge every single night when I'm going to college.
I usually end the day with around 40%, so if I miss a charge, I'd just be a little more conservative.
You know, maybe turn down the brightness a little bit.
Now, the thing about the iPad Pro is, it's an expensive purchase.
So, if you're going to buy it, you might as well go all out because that is how you get
the full experience.
The first accessory to get is a keyboard.
Now, this is the official Apple [type cover], which costs more than $100.
It's very expensive for what it does.
It's not even Bluetooth; it connects via these pins.
But you can go on Amazon, find a Bluetooth keyboard for much less.
I do like this keyboard, however, because it does fold nicely and props your iPad up
like a stand.
Which is very useful, but some of the Amazon alternatives do that too.
I will leave a link in the description below as to where you can find the alternative keyboard covers.
So, the keys are definitely compacted; they are much closer than you'd expect on a full-sized keyboard.
But they do feel very nice.
In fact, the key travel feels much better than my MacBook Pro.
I actually prefer typing on my iPad than I do on my MacBook Pro's standard keyboard.
You also have your standard control, option and cmd keys which all work inside apps.
Overall, I would highly recommend getting this keyboard if you have an iPad Pro.
Or at least a keyboard of some sort, some substitute.
Then, the next product is the Apple Pencil.
Which can also be substituted, using any third-party stylus.
But those are a little different.
Apple's hardware is very well optimized for the Apple Pencil and this hard surface right
here creates a near-frictionless contact between the surface of the iPad and your Apple Pencil.
So, this is an especially great option if you are some sort of an artist and you like
to draw a lot, or sketch or paint.
It's also great for those situations where you just have to handwrite notes.
I found it very useful in Discrete Mathematics, even though I dropped that course half-way through.
There were just characters that were too difficult to type with the keyboard.
But moving onto what I actually take my notes on, on the iPad...
We're going to talk about the one application that I use.
That application happens to be OneNote by Microsoft.
Now, those of you who have been following my channel for a while, know that I'm an absolute
Google fanboy.
And that I try to use most of Google's applications for what I do.
Now, while I think that Google Docs is a pretty good platform for note-taking, I think that
Microsoft's OneNote just takes it one step further.
You get way more options; it's just way more flexible.
The only trade-off I think is the syncing; syncing is just no good on this app.
It's totally unreliable but it does work.
It's just a bad experience trying to sync across multiple devices; that's why I picked
up the keyboard here.
Because I'm trying to centralize all the note-taking on the iPad.
So, in OneNote, obviously you can type out your notes.
But if you enter the draw mode, you can actually take the Apple Pencil and start drawing.
This means various things; you can use the highlighter pen to highlight parts of the
text that you typed in.
You can use the markers to actually write stuff or even draw diagrams.
It's really useful.
One unexpected advantage that I noticed while using OneNote was that I was actually able
to share my notes with anyone I wanted.
And I didn't have to make copies of it or take any pictures.
I would just share a link, and they would have access to all the notes that I want them to see.
It's especially useful for the collaborative projects that you might encounter.
So, overall with OneNote, it's a great app as long as you're not trying to fight with
the whole syncing situation.
Also, at the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year, Apple released iOS 11.
And along with that, came the Files app, which allows your iPad to download files off the cloud.
I found this particularly useful when my teachers would upload their PDF files on the internet.
I could download them from my college's website.
Tthen I can put them into the files app and from there I'd transfer it into OneNote, where
I can take my apple pencil and start writing all over it.
So, those two applications already make the iPad a great companion for post-secondary
education.
However, if you are an artist and you want to make the most out of your Apple Pencil,
you can download an app called Procreate.
It does cost a little bit of money.
Everything else I mentioned in this video is free in terms of applications but Procreate
costs a little bit.
It doesn't cost a whole lot, I can't remember how much it was exactly.
I think it might've been like $5, but it gives you all the tools you would need to create
a masterpiece on the iPad.
Now, I'm not very good at drawing, but I've seen videos on YouTube and I know how capable
this app is.
It'll even record every single stroke that you make and effectively make a timelapse
or a speedart of your creation.
All without having to hit any record button.
That's pretty useful.
There's also Inbox by Gmail, which I obviously use.
I use Gmail, so Inbox in my opinion is the best interface for it.
It just gives you a really clean environment and really declutters everything.
And then you have YouTube for all the in-between class sessions where you just have some time
to kill.
Also, Reddit if you're into that.
One gripe I have with the iPad Pro is that it doesn't come with a calculator app; not
even a basic one, let-alone a scientific one.
And that means you have to go into the App Store and download one, and they all have
ads unless you pay for them.
That is insane for a basic service; Apple needs to make a calculator app.
So, that is it for my iPad setup for college.
Let me know what you think in the comments below and whether or not you have something similar.
Thank you for watching and happy holidays!
It's snowing today in Vancouver!
I didn't think that we would have a white Christmas this year but maybe that will happen.
I'm taking a break from my project to go to a party right now so...
Check back in later.