iPad for college Part 1: How to set it up

Here we are quickly approaching the start of another school year. Many people are returning to college, many are starting for the first time. The question always arises this time of year, what do I need to do to set up my iPad for college? Are there special apps or accessories that I need?

Among those headed to the ivory towers of knowledge for the first time is one of my own little brothers. And he is the first among the Nielsen siblings to go without a laptop. He is going to be primarily using his iPad 2 as his main computing device. Naturally, I took some time a few weeks ago to help him get it set up for this new experience. It was time to unload some games and movies and free up some space for more educational pursuits.



Initial Set Up 

• Apple account -- if a child is going to college for the first time it is my hope that they do not have there own apple account, unless they have had one of the newly announced education accounts. Parents aught to know and monitor what their children are downloading, but as they go to college they will need their own Apple ID and password, hopefully attached to their own debit card account.
• Email account -- if the iPad is not already set up to sync with the students own email account that should be done now. Also now is the perfect time to make the change to a more professional email address if the current on is a little on the casual, slang, or snarky side. Setting up an icloud account in conjunction with the new apple ID provides the perfect opportunity to do this.
• Calendar -- every student should have a good calendar set up for college. Whatever email you are using primarily will likely also be you calendar server. I prefer to use icloud, but you could also use google calendar or any number of similar services. 
• iCloud -- even if you elect not to use iCloud for email and calendars it is still important that you make sure an iCloud account is set up and active because many apps and the iPads automatic backup use it.  
• Memory -- a key thing when using your iPad at college will be memory, you will need enough of it so make sure you have several gigs free. In a later post I will talk about apps more, but it is important when using an iPad as you primary device that you understand and use the cloud well.

That is pretty much it for set up. If you need help just getting started with an iPad read this article, or for me detailed instructions on emails and calendars click here.
I hope this helps. I'll be writing articles on apps and accessories in the near future so stay tuned. If you have any questions please ask them in the comment below or tweet them at me.

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Thanks for reading, and remember, live better.