iPad 3: Goodbye laptops?
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 20 March 2012 12:48
- Written by Malilimalo Phaswana
Love them or hate them, there is simply something cool about someone swiping through a 0.94 cm thin gadget in lectures, coffee shops or just chilling anywhere on campus. Any 0.94 cm thin gadget wouldn’t receive the ultimate status of "coolness" without an apple on it.
You’re sitting on Jammie stairs swiping through your favourite magazine on your iPad when you decide to prepare for your next lecture. You quickly admire the view and capture the beautiful city with the 5-megapixel camera and with iCloud, the picture is already on your iPod, iPhone and MacBook
Two taps take you to an updated version of your biology textbook.
You come across the word ‘gastrocnemius’ and one tap shows you the dictionary definition of the word and another tap shows the 3D model of this gastrocnemius which you now confidently know- pinnacle of education?
Professor Michelle Kuttel from UCT’s computer science department describes the iPad as the “most useful digital device by value” as its technology is simply “proactive”.
Could this be a reference to the fact that the iPad gives you access to over 200 000 exciting and interactive apps, the fact that it can type your essays as you speak, its HD video recording or simply its elegant design?
You’d have to be living under a rock not to notice how iPads have formed part of the student society all around campus. Just why then are they so popular? Well I chatted to some of the "in" students around campus who own iPads and Zayd Haneker, a third year film student, is one such example.
He mentions the common uses for the iPad among students such as accessing Vula, reading study notes, iBooks, social networking and simply surfing the net for free, thanks to the campus-wide eduroam.
Mishka Narot, a third year Bus Sci student, seemed to have captured the academic and financial side quite perfectly as she sees the iPad as “more of an investment” than anything else.
Mishka explains how the iPad saves a lot of money, which would otherwise be spent on textbooks, since the download costs are only a fraction of a hardcopy.
She also sees no point in having neither an iPod nor a laptop as the iPad easily substitutes the two and she particularly recommends it to first years as they can use it for years to come with all their books, notes and tests from the previous years in one gadget.
Most students feel that the new iPad 3, which was launched on the 7th of April “isn’t much of an upgrade” as many of the features are common. They feel that the new generation only has a better screen resolution and camera.
The launch of the new iPad, however, is seen as an opportunity to get your hands on the iPad which is arguably just as valuable at R3999.
The Apple Store also offers a student discount of 5%, which is a great incentive to have the coolest gadget around.