Should I upgrade my iPad 2 for an iPad 4 or get a Macbook Air for college?

Short answer: get the MacBook Air. The iPad will always be a subset of a Mac computer.

You did not say your major.

I recommend the MacBook Air. You will have a lot more flexiblity with the air. Not sure you need a new computer this year with iPad 2 and Macbook Pro, but that's your call.

I am considering upgrading to an Ipad 4 16 gb

You should definently get more storage space on a new iPad. 32gb or 64gb

I do not believe there is enough of a difference between the ipad 2 & 4 to be worth the upgrade. Perhaps if you were in a visual arts ciriculumn there might be more of a need.

The ipad is for light document creation.

Did you mean word instead of work?

All of the "Office" document editing applications on the iPad have limitations. Best try them out to see if they meet your needs.

iWork by Apple

* Keynote

* Numbers

* Pages

DocsToGo

• VIEW/EDIT/CREATE Word & Excel files(Office 2007/2008/2010)

• VIEW PowerPoint, PDF, iWork, Text, .RTF, and more!

• Send & receive attached supported documents using the built-in Mail app

• FREE desktop application with your purchase! Compatible on Win & Mac allows you 2-way file sync with a WIFI connection.

• Open & Edit files within DocsToGo from any 3rd party app that supports the “Open In” feature

• Supports iTunes File Sharing via USB cable for manually moving files

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/documents-to-go-office-suite/id317117961?mt=8

Office² HD

"Office² HD, the most intuitive and straightforward office document editor available on the iPad, makes it easy to open, view, create and edit Word (DOC & DOCX), Excel (XLS & XLSX), and PowerPoint (PPT & PPTX) files right from your iPad!"

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/office2-hd/id364361728?mt=8

Quickoffice Pro HD

Create and edit ALL Microsoft® Office -- document, spreadsheet, and presentation formats, as well as view PDF files, on the go. Our advanced file manager lets you manage local files, access Google Drive or other cloud accounts, and works with your iPad email attachments so you can work anywhere, anytime - online and offline.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quickoffice-pro-hd-edit-office/id376212724?mt=8

If you still have the MacBook Pro and it's working well for you, then I would suggest you keep that and use the iPad as an adjunct. The Air, in my opinion, isn't so much more portable than a Pro so as to make it worth having both the Pro and the Air.

Whether it's worth upgrading your iPad 2 I don't know, but I would recommend just keeping your current iPad until you experience a definite need it can't fill. If you've already hit that point, then by all means consider a new iPad, though you may wish to wait a couple of months since there are strong rumors that a new iPad will be released this fall. If you can't wait, though, the fourth-generation iPad is a really good device.

Regards.

Again, I see little reason to get an Air in addition to your MBP. The iPad should suffice for times when you need something really portable.

Regards.

Hi eah5683,

I would say save your money and keep what you have. The iPad 2 will be compatible with the upcoming iOS 7 release so the iPad 2 is still a supported device. Your MacBook Pro duo should be fine for most things. If anything, I would recommend spending a little time maintaining and money upgrading your MacBook Pro to give it a longer life. Here are the things I would do (in this order):

(Note: always back up your computer before running disk optimization tools or upgrading hardware)

1) Do some "housecleaning": Lack of drive space is something that slows down a computer. If you are using more than 80% of your drive space, you'll notice some slow downs. Think about clearing up some space by deleting items or moving them off to an external drive. Keep 20% or more of your drive free and your Mac will be happy. Also, keep your Desktop folder clean and free of documents. Store your documents in your Documents folder or other location that is not your Desktop. Next, use Disk Utility and run a Permissions Repair. You could also download a free app like Onyx to run some system maintenance operations. This will improve performance and help prolong the life of your MacBook Pro.

2) Upgrade the RAM: This is something you can do yourself and it'll improve your MacBook's performance for not so much money (probably less than $100). Use the tool on http://www.crucial.com to find how much RAM your model is capable of running.

3) Upgrade the hard drive: Get a 7200rpm drive or for fastest performance an SSD drive. This costs more than a RAM upgrade but will also prolong the life of your MacBook.

Save your money and rather than buying new do a few of these upgrades now to make the most of what you already have. Hope this helps!!

~Joe