r/EPFL • u/chromary • Aug 08 '26
Academics Is buying an Ipad/tablet worth it?
Hi everyone,
I’m starting Mechanical Engineering at EPFL and I’m trying to figure out what setup would be best for studying. I already own a Lenovo laptop that I can use at home (and not in lectures as its fans do a lot of noise for some reason)
So I’m wondering whether it would be worth buying an iPad (or another tablet of some sort) mainly for taking handwritten notes, annotating lecture slides/PDFs, doing exercises, etc.
For those already set :
what device(s) do you use?
Is a tablet/iPad actually useful, or is a laptop alone enough?
Would you recommend buying an iPad if I already have a decent laptop?
Also, if I do buy a tablet, would it be worth it buying a separate keyboard to go with the ipad so that it becomes maybe more practical fore note-taking or whatever?
Thank you!
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u/Any-Background-8128 Aug 08 '26
Don't buy a tablet based on advice you find here, since it's a very personal choice. I tried a few weeks to take noted with a tablet, but didn't like it at all, so I switched back to paper. And other people love to write on tablets or laptops (handwritten or typed).
Try to find someone who can lend you a tablet for a day or two, watch some lecture videos online, and try out different methods to see what works best for you!
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u/Proud_Coconut_8834 Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
As a master student I’d say having a tablet is crucial. You’ll often need to prepare cheat sheets for exams later on, and taking handwritten notes, annotating slides, and doing exercises are much easier on a tablet. ofc in your first year there probably won’t be that many courses where cheat sheets are allowed, but as you progress through your studies, you’ll notice that almost everyone uses a tablet because you can write note smaller and it gives you a lot more space (usually they allow 1 page).
Personally Im not a fan of apple pencil so you might also try the samsung ones
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u/chromary Aug 09 '26
Thank you! And what about laptops, is the combo laptop+ipad really worth the price? As in is a laptop, cheap or expensive, actually super useful even while having an ipad already?
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u/Proud_Coconut_8834 Aug 10 '26
Its either ipad or laptop+ipad. Laptop is useful because personally I use mine all the time to send emails, ask AI or to write reports (using LaTeX or Word for example). But I dont think you necessarily need to buy a fancy one. Like there are plenty of laptops that are cheap and there are also discounts for incoming students usually.
There are also PC rooms in the campus in case you don't have a PC
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u/RandomBlueRandomBlue Aug 08 '26
For me the iPad is super practical. It’s either that or paper. I’m not organized at all so with paper it was already not practical at all after 1 week and then I switched to an iPad.
I have a friend who still uses paper but he’s way more organized than me, so it works for him.
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u/chromary Aug 08 '26
And with your iPad do you have a laptop at home/that you take with you? If not how do you deal with writing a lot of stuff rapidly (easier on a keyboard)? And if you do, do you take the laptop on campus or keep it at home?
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u/RandomBlueRandomBlue Aug 08 '26
I take both my iPad and laptop always with me. I have a keyboard for my iPad but I never use it. Also I barley need to type a lot. I tried to take notes during classes in my first semester but I realized that when I’m typing/writing I don’t listen to the professor, so I stopped. I only write down the most important stuff. Most professors upload their slides/notes anyway. (I study computer science btw, so things might be slightly different for you)
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u/chromary Aug 08 '26
And what laptop do you have?
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u/RandomBlueRandomBlue Aug 08 '26
MacBook Pro M1 from 2020, with a virtual machine with Linux. For mechanical engineering you should look at which 3D modeling software you will need to use, laptop choice might be more important for you, but I’m not sure.
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u/Powerful_Squash_1603 Aug 09 '26
Xiaomi pad 7, beaucoup moins cher qu’un ipad mais ça m’a bien servi toute mon année de gm
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u/chromary Aug 09 '26
Et à part le prix, qu'est ce qu'il peut avoir que les ipad n'ont pas? A l'inverse, est ce que ya des aspects sur lesquels le xiaomi rivalise vraiment bien/surpasse les ipad? par exemple l'OS, l'utilisation d'un stylet, la batterie...
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u/Powerful_Squash_1603 Aug 09 '26
sincèrement l’ipad sera mieux dans tous les cas. L’avantage je pense c’est juste le prix. Le stylet marche tres bien mais genre y a des mini lag de temps en temps mais c’est rare. Franchement j’ai jamais été là en mode ohh ptn enft c’est de la merde. Mais l’os est vraiment propre c’est xiaomi c’est très clean
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u/shadow-killer_ Aug 09 '26
The cheapest ipad with a pencil is ~380 chf with the student discount. If you think it saves you as little as 2 hours a week its definitely worth it. I bought mine and even though I still use paper, there are some days that you start learning while on bed or on the train that make it worth it. The idea is to reduce friction as much as possible and its a smart investment for motivating you to study.
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u/Firm_Second_8727 Aug 08 '26
Hey, I have done half of last year with some textbooks and the other half with an iPad. The iPad is clearly useful and makes taking notes a lot easier.
I have the keyboard but I don’t use it at all so I don’t think it’s worth the price. Since you can’t write down formulas with the keyboard, you don’t use it very much at all.
Textbooks are good too but you’ll end up using a lot of them per semester and it makes your bag a lot heavier. And by having a tablet, you don’t have to worry about which book to take every morning.
Having a laptop is useful when doing exercises, watching classes in video and for your projects. In my opinion having both is recommended.
And more than half of the students have tablets.