By Mario Montalvo/reporter

Tablet computers will outsell netbooks by 2012, and by 2014, more consumers will use tablets than netbooks, according to a report released by Forrester Research.

With tablets like the Apple iPad 2, the Motorola Xoom and the BlackBerry Playbook hitting the market this spring, students may be debating whether to buy.

Several TCC students have already jumped on the tablet bandwagon.

NE student Jennifer West uses her iPad for several things but finds it most useful for school.

“It‘s so easy to keep organized,” she said. “And it’s easy to share notes with friends.”

NW student Maricela Martinez uses her iPad everyday.

“I use it for everything: Facebook, e-mail, Campus-Cruiser, homework, work work,” she said.

Many applications, or apps, help students stay organized and productive.

“I use it in class, which helps keep up with assignments,” West said.

Another app, Notes Plus, allows her to type and draw notes in the same document, she said.

Pages is a word processor app, “which is great for writing papers, and submitting them is easy,” Martinez said.

Textbook publishers are also making more of their titles available for purchase in iPad format.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Kaplan Publishing, McGraw-Hill Education and Pearson were the first to make their catalog of textbooks, study guides and prep manuals available on the iPad, according to cnet.com.

“I have bought a book on it for school, and I take it to the hospital for clinicals as well as for my theory classes for nursing,” South Campus nursing student Lauren Coronado said.

With more textbooks being offered in digital format, students may soon be able to make their backpacks a little lighter.

The iPad is compact.

“It fits in my purse everywhere I go,” Coronado said.

Despite it’s portability, the iPad still requires a hookup with a PC or Mac for uploads and updates.

“But it’s a small price to pay,” Martinez said.