College offers freshmen a choice: iPad or MacBook

It amazes me the number of otherwise intelligent people that miss the point of this class of device. I travel for a living, have the 17" mbpro and love it, but I will preorder the wifi ipad asap and then get a 3G when it comes out as well. I see the ipad as primarily a reference screen where I can organize the hundreds of documents that I have, manage email on the fly, do some lite web browsing, etc. When I am on the plane, I like to compose emails and queue them for delivery. iPhone is too small, MBPro is good, but then I have to find a place to stop when I land, drag it out and explicitly connect just to send. I have a 3G mifi, but it all takes time and focus to pull off. The ipad would be big enough to compose and organize, yet will be able to send the email the moment I turn 3G back on.

As for the camera, I really like that it does not have one. Most businesses don't like it people walking around a datacenter with a camera device. If this ipad is useful to college students for textbooks, imagine sysadmins with every manual they need at their fingertips.

Finally, the reason this university jumped out there with this offer? Have you ever heard of them before now? How many high school kids have read this posting and thought, "hey, a new MacBook or iPad for college?". This is all about using the iPad hype to get the name of the school out there. Nicely done, more power to them.

You guys have all missed one huge point:

Textbooks. On iPad.

Bookmarked. An iPad is not a substitute for a laptop. I can't imagine typing an essay on an iPad

Interesting choice.

At first brain-swipe I reflexively thought, "of course, take the MacBook!" But I'd expect the life of the iPad to be easily double that of the 'book.

Is it the 3G iPad with service? That'd go a long ways toward evening out the value.

I wonder if GFU already has options available for e-books for its students? If so, then as the article indicates, this may be a viable option for someone that ALREADY OWNS a laptop (regardless of brand or type). It also puts the new IT out into the field in an operational environment to give it a serious road test. I think it will be interesting to see the feedback provided by the GFU students and IT staff.

Personally, I'm not planning on buying an iPad until they put a camera in it! I STILL can't believe Apple didn't include one.

I guess you are all IT related. IMHO the iPad is more suited for non-IT ppl, who study psychology for example. They don't want to hassle with the complicated configuration that comes with a full blown os x. The iPad is limmited enough to ease things.
That said I hope that there will be a variant "for the rest of us" with a full blown osx - but I doubt it and see an iPhone os based MacBook Air comming ...

P.S.: There is an app for printing stuff from the iPhone.

Will the device be to own? If that's the case, even if you want an iPad, get the Macbook. Sell it, buy an iPad, and pocket the difference to buy some apps/tunes.

I would take neither and get a ThinkPad, and I say this as an owner of multiple Macs.

You guys are forgetting that George Fox is a fundy christian school, they're not bound by rational thought. That said for a College student like me the Ipad looks like it should be damn useful for what I need with out haveing to carry my laptop everywhere.