Getting ready for pupil life will be thrilling and annoying. To make issues simpler, it’s good to know that you simply’ve bought the proper tech that will help you with word taking, writing essays, and so you may chill with Netflix and video games when the work is finished. The iPad has developed in recent times to one thing that may now act as a laptop computer alternative for a lot of college students, with equipment just like the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil making it one of the vital versatile units you should purchase.
Selecting the perfect iPad will be tough although. Apple at the moment gives a variety of fashions with completely different costs and options, together with the M4 iPad Professional up to date in Might 2024, the iPad mini A17 Professional that arrived in October 2024 and the and M3 iPad Air and iPad A16 that arrived in March 2025.
Three of those iPads are able to supporting Apple Intelligence, which is Apple’s AI device that powers a number of options, however the iPad A16 doesn’t help Apple Intelligence and its options centered round studying, writing and picture technology. These AI options could also be helpful for you as a pupil, though they could additionally get you into hassle if you’re seen to be utilizing AI to jot down your essays!
Can college students get reductions on iPads?
The excellent news is that, sure, college students can get cash off an iPad when shopping for from Apple’s schooling retailer of their nation. Apple gives cash off new iPad purchases to college students in larger schooling all yr spherical.
One of the best time for college kids to purchase a brand new iPad from Apple is in the course of the summer season months as a result of Apple provides qualifying college students a free reward similar to a pair of AirPods or an Apple Pencil with the acquisition of sure iPads and Macs. So, when you’re a pupil about to start out larger schooling, make the most of the corporate’s “Again To Faculty/Uni” occasion which is operating within the U.S. and Canada proper now till late September. The provide will begin within the U.Ok. and Europe in July and can run till October. Apple does an identical deal in January-March for Australia, New Zealand and different southern hemisphere areas. Learn our information to Apple’s Again To Faculty provide.
One other bonus when you’re a pupil: you will get Apple Music for half worth with free Apple TV+ included.
How one can get an iPad pupil low cost
In case you are a pupil you should purchase a reduced iPad by clicking on the hyperlink for Apple’s Schooling Retailer the place you reside:
Relying in your location you might solely want to enroll with particulars of your pupil standing and course and show your identification. Some international locations have much less stringent checks than others. Within the U.Ok., for instance, it’s good to be registered with UNiDAYS with a view to even see the coed costs. We clarify how to do that in our article How one can get an Apple pupil low cost.
To qualify for a reduction it’s good to meet Apple’s circumstances. You both have to be a pupil in larger schooling, or a trainer at a instructing establishment. The one option to get a reduction for a kid nonetheless in school is to be residence educating them or to be a trainer your self.
If you happen to can’t get a pupil low cost that doesn’t imply you received’t be capable to get cash off a brand new iPad although. Beneath we suggest the perfect iPads for college kids, and one can find hyperlinks to the perfect costs at resellers the place you’re, a few of which can be greater reductions than these provided by Apple. Additionally learn our round-up of the perfect iPad offers.
How a lot can college students save on an iPad?
College students can save as a lot as $100 within the U.S., £100 within the U.Ok., $170 in Australia, and $150 in Canada in the event that they purchase from the Apple schooling retailer.
Chances are you’ll discover extra money off at a 3rd celebration reseller, see the perfect costs within the sections beneath.
ProductU.S.U.Ok.AustraliaCanadaiPad (A16) MSRP$349£329$599$499iPad (A16) Pupil Value$329£309$559$469iPad mini (A17 Professional) MSRP$499£499$799$679iPad mini (A17 Professional) Pupil Value
$449
£449$719$609iPad Air (11-inch, M3) MSRP$599£599$999$799iPad Air (11-inch, M3) Pupil Value$549£549$919$729iPad Air (13-inch, M2)
MSRP$799£799$1,299$1,099iPad Air (13-inch, M2) Pupil Value$749£749$1,219$1,029iPad Professional (11-inch, M4) MSRP$999£999$1,699$1,399iPad Professional (11-inch, M4) Pupil Value$899£899$1,529$1,249iPad Professional (13-inch, M4) MSRP$1,299£1,299$2,199$1,799iPad Professional (13-inch, M4) Pupil Value$1,199£1,199$2,029$1,649Apple’s discounted worth for college kids in comparison with the same old worth.
Greatest iPad for college kids
11-inch iPad Air (M3, 2025): Greatest iPad for college kids
Professionals
M3 processor
Good choice of coloration choices
Greatest Costs In the present day:
$549
The 11-inch iPad Air (M3), with its 11-inch show, fashionable design, low weight (462g), nice cameras, massively highly effective processor, and loads of colours to select from, is a superb selection for college kids.
Sadly, it’s a bit on the expensive aspect for a pill, with the present costs beginning at $599/£599 ($549/£549 for college kids). Nonetheless, it’s cheaper than a laptop computer and it’s the right mixture of energy, storage and options, for a worth that isn’t unreasonable. That is why we will heartily suggest for these beginning out on their research.
The largest function of the mannequin launched in 2025 is the inclusion of the M3 processor. This is similar chip that has powered a number of Macs. In an iPad Air, it makes the gadget fly.
The digicam is a 12MP Large lens (additionally like on the iPad Professional), which may document video as much as 4K/60fps, and as with different iPads on this listing, the front-facing digicam is a 12MP Extremely-Large that permits for Heart Stage and is sensibly positioned on the longer aspect of the chassis to permit panorama views for FaceTime calls.
Whereas the 2025 iPad Air is lacking a few of the flagship options of the iPad Professional, such because the 120Hz ProMotion display screen, TrueDepth digicam, 4 audio system, and the highly effective M4 chip, it gives greater than sufficient for the typical person.
If you wish to flip your iPad right into a laptop computer you may workforce it with a Magic Keyboard ($299/£299), or one of many different iPad keyboards we’ve checked out.
If you happen to favor a bigger show, there’s additionally the 13-inch iPad Air (M2) that comes with all the identical specs and options. It begins at $799/£799 (or $749/£749 for college kids).
We extremely suggest the 11-inch iPad Air (M2) for college kids who want premium efficiency and the perfect iPad you should purchase with out the Professional title.
Learn iPad Air vs iPad Professional to learn the way the iPad Air compares to the iPad Professional.
How a lot can college students save on the iPad Air?
MSRP: $599 / £599 / AU$999 / CA$799
Pupil: $549 / £549 / AU$919 / CA$729
College students save: $50 / £50 / AU$80 / CA$70
Get the perfect deal on a brand new iPad Air.
Learn our full
Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M3, 2025) overview
iPad mini (A17 Professional, 2024): Greatest for note-taking and studying
Professionals
Small and lightweight
Extra storage
Centre Stage for FaceTime calls
Cons
Might really feel cramped relying in your wants
If an important issue to you is portability there’s one iPad specifically that you simply may wish to take into account.
The iPad mini, up to date in October 2024 with the Apple Intelligence-capable A17 Professional, is the smallest and lightest iPad you should purchase, weighing in at 293g. In fact, the low weight is a results of the iPad itself being smaller, due to the 8.3-inch show (which is greater than it was once since Apple removed the Dwelling button and relocated Contact ID to the ability button on the highest edge a number of generations in the past). The result’s a compact however highly effective gadget that doesn’t really feel too small. We expect this display screen dimension is ideal for studying books or taking notes (particularly with an Apple Pencil), so it could be best if that’s how you propose to make use of your iPad.
And don’t let the diminutive type idiot you: the A17 Professional chip is similar as that discovered within the iPhone 15 Professional, so there’s no scarcity of energy on faucet. Connectivity is top-notch too, with help for Wi-Fi 6E and 5G networks obtainable, relying on the mannequin you select.
The front-facing digicam is an Extremely-Large lens, so it will possibly monitor you and hold you within the heart of the body on video calls due to Heart Stage, whereas the 12MP Large digicam on the again can seize nice photographs and movies that may very well be utilized in displays or for media-based assignments.
There are three storage choices obtainable (128GB, 256GB and 512GB). We’re glad Apple has stopped promoting the 64GB mannequin as we didn’t suppose that was sufficient storage. 128GB needs to be sufficient so that you can retailer your apps, music, films, photographs, and movies, and when you want more room we suggest iCloud’s numerous storage choices.
One drawback is that the mini solely works with Bluetooth keyboards, quite than Apple’s vary of iPad-specific keyboard, however whether or not that’s a big drawback is debatable–at this dimension, a inbuilt keyboard could be too small to kind on comfortably.
Costs begin at $499/£499 ($449 for college kids) for the 128GB mannequin (which is what the 64GB mannequin used to price). The 256GB possibility elevating the associated fee to $599/£599 (down from $649/£649 beforehand), and the 512GB mannequin costing $799/£799. In Australia the value of the iPad mini dropped with the arrival of the brand new mannequin from $829 to $799.
How a lot can college students save on the iPad mini?
MSRP: $499 / £499 / AU$799 / CA$679
College students: $449 / £449 / AU$719 / CA $609
College students save: $50 / £50 / AU$80 / CA$70
Get the perfect deal on a brand new iPad mini.
iPad (A16, 2025): Greatest for college kids on a finances
Professionals
Air-style design
10.9-inch Liquid Retina show
Cons
64GB storage on base mannequin
No compatibility for Apple Intelligence
New mannequin coming quickly (we hope)
Greatest Costs In the present day:
$299
The iPad (A16) mannequin that arrived in March 2025 is the most affordable iPad obtainable from Apple.
It options the identical design method because the iPad mini and iPad Air, with Contact ID sensor built-in within the energy button on the highest edge. This makes room for a bigger show that’s nearly an identical in dimension to the 11-inch iPad Air.
Nonetheless, by way of the display screen know-how the 2 iPads aren’t equal. The iPad Air sports activities a totally laminated show, whereas the iPad’s show has a slight air hole between the glass and the digitizer beneath. You most likely received’t discover it in any respect, however when you intend to make use of the Apple Pencil for notes (1st-gen 1 and USB-C Apple Pencils are supported) then you might expertise slight delays within the monitoring.
Just like the iPad Professional and iPad Air there’s a front-facing digicam positioned on the longer finish of the panel, that means it gives a real panorama view that’s centrally positioned. That is a lot better suited to FaceTime and different video calling apps. The panorama 12MP Extremely Large digicam has a f/2.4 aperture that delivers a 122-degree view; it’s additionally appropriate with the Heart Stage function that retains you within the heart of the body even when you transfer about whereas on video calls.
Apple bestows this iPad with a 12MP f/1.8 rear digicam so you will get some nice pictures and shoot video 4K video at 60fps. In case your course requires any type of video content material, then both the entrance or again optics of the iPad A16 ought to show greater than ample. Plus you may name residence and look good doing so.
An A16 Bionic processor is on the coronary heart of this iPad, which is similar chip that powered the iPhone 14 Professional and iPhone 15. So there’s greater than sufficient energy for phrase processing, note-taking, coding, and most different schooling apps, to not point out gaming and leisure duties. There’s a USB-C on the base, so you should use numerous peripherals and even energy an exterior show in order for you the iPad to grow to be extra like a fully-fledged laptop.
Nonetheless, the A16 shouldn’t be highly effective sufficient for Apple Intelligence, Apple’s AI options which are obtainable on the opposite iPads on sale proper now. Whether or not that issues is determined by your wants, however the enhancing help that is without doubt one of the Apple Intelligence options could also be helpful for a pupil. (This could be precisely why Apple hasn’t included it on the iPad that’s the selection of many faculties and schooling establishments). Examine what’s in Apple Intelligence.
One of the best information concerning the 2025 replace is that Apple has stopped delivery a 64GB model. Even higher, the 128GB iPad is similar worth that Apple used to promote the 64GB iPad for. If 128GB isn’t sufficient area for all of your film downloads, music, video games, photographs and movies, you will get 256GB or 512GB, or there’s the choice of increasing your iCloud storage with the intention to hold stuff secure within the cloud as a substitute.
There are 4 colours to select from (Blue, Yellow, Silver, and Pink) so you need to be capable to discover one which fits your persona, and for further performance, you might put money into the brand new two-piece Magic Keyboard Folio, though the $249/£249 price ticket does appear very excessive. In fact, a normal Bluetooth keyboard will get you an identical outcomes for lots much less cash.
The brand new iPad helps the first-generation Apple Pencil, however because the charging port is now USB-C you’ll want an adaptor from Apple when you’ve already purchased the Pencil. In any other case, the dongle is now included within the field whenever you purchase a brand new Apple Pencil (1st gen). In fact, there’s additionally the appropriate Apple Pencil (USB-C) which will get across the dongle insanity however lacks the presure sensitivity that artists will crave. See: Apple Pencils in contrast: Which Apple Pencil works along with your iPad?
As you may see, there are a number of caveats, however with its fashionable design, stable processor, and bigger show, the iPad (A16) is a superb all-rounder that might show a smart funding for these heading off to pursue their research.
How a lot can college students save on the iPad (A16)?
MSRP: $349 / £329 / AU$599 / CA$499
College students; $329 / £309 / AU$559 / CA$469
College students save: $20 / £20 / AU$40 / CA$30
Learn our full
Apple iPad (A16) overview
11-inch iPad Professional (2024): Greatest for Energy and Efficiency
Professionals
M4 Processor
OLED show
Stupidly gentle and skinny
Cons
Costly
Most likely overkill for college kids
Greatest Costs In the present day:
$895
The Professional iPads are the head of Apple’s pill vary, and as such they really feel like the ability and worth are most likely overkill to your common pupil. That being stated, in order for you the perfect, then that is the place you’ll discover it.
The 11-inch iPad Professional (M4), was launched in Might 2024, boasting extremely gentle and skinny building, however with a silly quantity of energy inside. In an unprecedented step, Apple launched the brand new M4 processor within the iPad earlier than the Mac, making the 11-inch iPad Professional and 13-inch iPad Professional essentially the most up-to-date units within the Apple catalog.
The query actually, is do you want all that grunt? If you happen to’re after an iPad for taking notes, writing essays, watching Netflix, taking part in some video games and utilizing it for video calls residence, then the iPad Air is a greater steadiness of energy and worth. However, for these with cash burning a gap of their pockets, and people planning on doing lots of gaming when they need to be finding out, the 11-inch iPad Professional comes with a brand new Extremely Retina XDR OLED show that has two layers (Apple calls this Tandem OLED) to provide the brightest panel they’re ever made, kicking out as much as 1600 nits. It’s additionally ProMotion, with an ultra-smooth 120Hz refresh fee.
Cameras are 12Mp sensors, with the rear unit a Large lens that may document video as much as 4K/60fps, plus ProRes capabilities which might be of curiosity to video content material creators. The front-facing lens additionally has the TrueDepth array, permitting Face ID, which stays a Professional-only options on iPads. You get Centre Stage for video calls, and the location of the digicam on the longer edge means you get panorama view.
The 2 dimension variants provide the identical capabilities, with 256GB of storage the baseline, and costs beginning at $999/£999 ($899 for college kids) for the 11-inch mannequin and $1,299/£1,299 for the 13-inch variant.
As we’ve stated, the iPad Professionals are most likely an excessive amount of to your typical pupil, however that doesn’t imply they aren’t wonderful merchandise for individuals who can afford them and make the most of all the ability on provide.
How a lot can college students save on the 11-inch iPad Professional?
MSRP: $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 / CA$1,399
College students: $899 / £899 / AU$1,529 / CA$1,249
College students save: $100 / £100 / AU$170 / CA$150
Get the perfect deal on a brand new iPad Professional.
Learn our full
Apple iPad Professional 11-inch (M4, 2024) overview
Ought to college students purchase an iPad or a laptop computer?
Earlier than you go forward and purchase your iPad you might wish to take into account its suitability to your objective.
As a pupil you most likely have a number of necessities:
Low worth
Nice apps for issues like note-taking, recording lectures and revision
Gentle sufficient to hold round all-day
Keyboard and stylus help
Appropriate for making video calls residence
You may be questioning whether or not a pill or a laptop computer could be higher for these wants, and when you lean in direction of the latter, check out our information to the perfect Macs for college kids.
We expect, nonetheless, that an iPad is a superb selection. It runs most of the apps you’ll discover on a laptop computer, together with Workplace apps like Phrase and PowerPoint and the Apple equivalents, and in some instances, an iPad is definitely extra highly effective than a laptop computer due to the super-fast processors Apple makes use of.
One other profit is that you would be able to have all of the books you want to your course in your iPad and carry them with you to lectures and tutorials. You can even {photograph} pages from books within the library and use optical character recognition to avoid wasting the textual content to your iPad.
Not solely do you not have to lug all of your books round with you, however an iPad can also be far lighter than even the lightest laptop computer, so that you received’t get backache from carrying it to lectures and the library.
With battery lifetime of 10 hours–lots for a day on campus–you aren’t going to wish to discover a area beside a plug socket with a view to get via a day at uni.
Suppose that having an iPad will imply you need to kind on an on-screen keyboard. No! You can sync any Bluetooth keyboard or plug in one in every of Apple’s personal iPad keyboards and successfully flip your iPad right into a laptop computer. There’s additionally the Apple Pencil, which might are available in helpful when you needed to jot down some notes in your iPad display screen in a lecture. See Greatest stylus for iPad.
And whenever you’ve completed finding out there are a great deal of video games, and apps for video calling your dad and mom.
Nonetheless undecided? We’ve extra info evaluating a MacBook laptop computer and an iPad.
Are iPads good for college kids?
The subsequent query you may want some reassurance on is whether or not the iPad is the best choice for a pupil. There are lots of different tablets obtainable, a lot of that are cheaper than an iPad. So that you may be pondering of saving some cash.
We expect when you achieve this you’ll remorse it. There are a lot of the explanation why Apple’s iPads are so standard:
The App Retailer is heaving with nice apps designed particularly for the iPad.
A lot of these apps shall be best for college kids: note-taking apps, apps for changing handwriting to textual content, apps for recording lectures, timetable administration, and naturally video calling (so you may keep in contact with mum and pa).
There may be an ecosystem of nice equipment designed to work with the iPad.
Apple’s iPadOS is steady and simple to make use of, particularly if you have already got an iPhone.
If you happen to’ve bought a Mac you should use an iPad as a second display screen, offered you’re operating Massive Sur or later.
Apple Intelligence, powered by AI, could simplify your research by finishing up summarisations of textual content, creating photos for illustrations, and different helpful options.
That’s all of our student-related shopping for recommendation, however when you’re shopping for for somebody youthful, take a look at our information to the perfect iPad for Children.
