Should I be okay with a new iMac and an iPad 2?

College Life
1

<p>I’m majoring in business admin and I just got an iMac and I’ve had my iPad for a while. Can I easily make it through this year without taking my older windows laptop? Also is it worth using iWork because of the iPad and mso compatibility?</p>

2

<p>You’ll be alright. Worst case scenario is that you’ll have to install Windows on your iMac or have your older laptop shipped.</p>

3

<p>Plenty of people I know do this. Just make sure you have ready access to a printer, whether it be your own or a university one. I’d also suggest setting up TeamViewer ([TeamViewer</a> - Free Remote Control, Remote Access & Online Meetings](<a href=“http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx]TeamViewer”>TeamViewer – The Remote Connectivity Software)) so you can control your computer with your tablet.</p>

4

<p>You can install windows on your mac so it boots separately but you can also get software that runs it side by side with OS X. It lets you have separate “spaces” for each OS or to have Windows windows alongside the OS X ones. Two companies make it: Parallels and VMware.</p>

<p>With iWork you might run into compatibility issues if you have to work with .docx a lot. The formatting gets weird sometimes. You can use MSOffice on OS X and it’ll work great though. </p>

<p>I like iWork as I like the formatting features but it is harder to work with other people and to share your files without exporting them. The other thing with iWork that bugs me is the Apple hasn’t updated it since 2009, and I’m afraid that they might have left it to die. </p>

<p>There are many good apps on the iPad that can read/edit MSOffice, and it is rumored that there will be an official one this year.</p>

5

<p>I strongly advise against going without a laptop. iPads are far too inconvenient for doing anything substantial–even just taking notes. For example, if you’re taking notes and want to look something up, you can’t do that conveniently on an iPad.</p>

<p>I had both an iPad 2 and 11" MacBook Air. The Air is barely heavier, barely larger, and infinitely more capable. I ended up selling my iPad because I found myself literally never using it, ever.</p>