For context: I have never owned a single Apple device in my entire life. I run a custom Linux setup on my PC, and I genuinely love the openness of Android: sideloading APKs, having a real filesystem, running tools like Cloudstream... etc.
I had fully committed to waiting for the Galaxy Tab S12 to drop, and i guess that was the plan.

Then I brought this up to a few tech savvy people, and to my surprise, they told me to ditch the plan and just buy an iPad instead. Hearing this take kinda threw me for a loop, which made it a lot harder for me to consider which one to get.

The main argument was that iPads are just better optimized for medical school workflows: mainly the note taking ecosystem and app polish.

I need a tablet for heavy studying: annotating massive textbook PDFs, handwriting notes with a stylus, and running other apps for studying. But the thought of being locked into iPadOS, losing a real filesystem, and dealing with Apple's ecosystem restrictions feels pretty suffocating to me. Even though it's very pretty. Much prettier than OneUI.

I guess the main thing throwing me off is that I am definitely not a part of the Apple ecosystem. Will this be a problem?

For anyone in med school or heavy study workflows... Which one should I be getting and which model?

Would really appreciate real experiences before I make a final decision.

Hey, i am thinking of buying a tablet and have been confused as of lately.

I wont be able to spend more than 25K INR at a tablet as it is my max budget.

My use case

- Note Taking

- Watching Lectures

- Leetcode

- recording some content for youtube (note app based content)

Note: I have a laptop which have linux and I use it as preferred device. I want to get a secondary device for viewing and others.

Redmi Pad 2

It is a good tablet with a decent processor for normal stuff and but I have seen reviews and they say this tablet will become slow in coming 2-3 years as the software is a bottleneck and it is a budget tablet.

Ipad 10th Gen

I was gonna buy the ipad 11th gen at 32K INR adn decided to wait for sometime to build some budget. However last month they increased price and its now about 49K and at best discounts even it is costing me 43K. So my best bet is to go ipad 10th gen.

Ipads are for longevity and they work great in long term as many of the reviews say and it is on sweetspot as to not too old and not too pricey even. I am getting a great deal at 24K.

What should I go for??

My family has been trying to get me to get an iPad for Uni, but all my devices are android (Samsung phone and HP laptop) so I just really don't want an iPad.

I need something where I can note take on and can just do my uni work in (and won't start just dying because of how much its being used - I had a Microsoft surface in high school and that was the biggest problem)

I carry a shoulder bag, so for the sake of my shoulder, I'd prefer something more lightweight.

When it comes to actual screen size, I have no real preference.

Any recommendations are welcome!!!!