Currently, the best laptop for students is the Asus ZenBook Ultra-Slim. Wiki researchers have been writing reviews of the latest student laptops since 2016. Our selection of laptops for students includes models that feature a combination of relatively low cost, rugged durability, easy portability, long battery lives and/or blisteringly fast.
The OS's war. On of the eternal subject of nerd's fights. They have forever tried to prove that their Operating System was way better than every other imaginable. Here I will give my opinion about the best operating systems for a student moving to, preferably with a laptop. Of course the answer is unique to each person, but there seems to be a certain trend in overall OS's use on campus. Graphic design students: Here I recommend. Don't call me an Apple Fanboy yet, but in the case of this study program a student can benefit from the mac architecture.
First because, as of 2011, the mac platform is the industry's norm in numerous fields of computer graphic. It is a tool that the student's will have to work with for most of his career. Also, most of the high end software used by professionals graphic designers is made for the, and there is a strong tradition in graphic software firms to prefer the mac platform. The Macintosh were originally designed to work in the publishing industry, before expanding its capacities to 2D 3D work and professional video editing. Furthermore, most of the schools I have heard of uses Macs in their graphic courses, so having the same operating system as the school department can eliminate some compatibility problems. A Windows computer is also possible, since except for apple's own pro solution (Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Aperture), all the graphic software from adobe is available on the PC platform as well.
Windows is however not traditionally adopted in the publishing industry, nor among the professionals graphic designers. Here is not a viable option, as no professional software exists on the platform yet. It Is possible to see one day these programs on the Linux operating system, but not in a close future.
Science students (Engineering, Medicine, physics, Biology and Chemistry): Here Windows clearly stands out of the crowd because of it's compatibility. Every physic's lab electronic lab probe will at least be compatible with Windows. Also on Windows, the office brand products are released quicker, and generally with new functions that will take a year or more to implement on the Mac. For a science class relying on Excel for calculation and data management, having the most compatible OS for this specific software can be an asset. More, most of the labs I have visited use Windows computers, as they generally cost less for more powerful hardware and less subject to compatibility issues. Max OSX come as a second option here, although it is a road I would not recommend. Some scientific software is available on the Mac platform, but their number and quality doesn't match the Window's offer yet.
Compatibility issues are frequently reported while using external lab measurement tools. Either the software was not tested for Mac OSX or there is simply not an available driver supporting the device. For these reasons I often see students with Mac hardware running a windows partition or virtual machine in their science classes.
For Linux expect even fewer programs available and it is unlikely that the existing windows applications will ever get ported to Linux. Expect frequent compatibility issues with the lab hardware as well as when sharing files Linux for science students is not a road I can recommend yet. Social Science students (Literature, sociology, psychology, Marketing. ): For these students I recommend Mac OSX over Windows and Linux. I came to this conclusion by observing carefully the real needs of these classes. Unlike in or in Science, the Social Sciences departments usually don't provide any feedback about the preferred Exploitation System required, leaving the choice to the students. The Mac is generally seen has easier to learn, with a very gaphic and easy to understand Operating system.
Installing an application usually only involve dragging an icon into the Applications folder. The installation process was made even easier with the new Mac App Store, were programs can be directly downloaded and installed automatically. Furthermore, the Mac comes preloaded with iLife so the student can have his photo library and edit video from his camera right away. Mac laptops tend to have longer battery lives then their PC counterparts and the software and hardware works extremely well together. Most of the time, students will only need to share and handle basic text without writing complex formatting so the compatibility in not an issue. In this context, the Apple applications can be used, were it was impossible to do so for a science student. The last aspect that explain my preference for Macs in this case is the easy back-up solution proposed by time machine and the good overall system stability.
It is extremely hard to damage a OSX distribution without doing it intentionally. Social Science students are generally not very interested in computer science, so having an easy to use computer that works most of the time is a definite plus here. Windows is also an extremely valid alternative. Generally adopted by gamers and student who do not wish to pay the high price tag of Macs, they are as competent as their Apple counterpart for the task these studies requires.
Word is still the dominant bureaucratic suit of application so the user will not experience any compatibility issues. Only Windows is a little easier to damage, back-ups are harder to make for non-experienced users and the OS is generally a little less stable than Mac OSX. The stability issues are, however, reported to be lower than ever in.
I would not recommend Linux for this student group. The installation process can be confusing for someone with little technical knowledge. Using a Linux distribution require tweaking frequently the system and should only be attempted by advanced users. Beginners can seriously damage their systems and encounter a high risk of losing files, as a badly installed linux distribution can be unstable. Compatibility is not an issue.
OppenOffice is available for Linux and handle the format used by iWork. I frequently see students using the application, available for Windows and Mac too, on campus.
Computer science: For these students I recommend Linux. I had a lot of feedback from teachers and they generally told me that setting up a Linux distribution properly is a challenge that teach a lot to the students. They also learn how the exploitation system is made since Linux is Open Source.
It means that students can actually see how the whole environment work, and can even modify it. It is sometime complex to achieve a simple task in Linux but definitively not impossible for a Computer Science Student. Note that Linux is used mainly in web servers and it is a constantly evolving exploitation system. I could also recommend Microsoft Windows. It is today the most used development environment around the world. Windows systems are less likely to provoke compatibility bugs and some departments makes them mandatory. Apple's OSX is not the reference here.
The Cocoa API's used in this operating systems are unique to Mac, and the platform is far from being the number one in terms of use among developers. Choosing a Mac computer for a Mac enthusiast can also be a fun experience. To conclude, it is essential to remember that there is not a single perfect exploitation system around.
Different needs will result in different OS being used and favored. As long as an environment feels right and does not stop a user from performing the task he desire, it remains a fully valid option. This is a very good writing on OS options especially for the new undergraduates. As a parent, I just have gone through this with my son who is a freshman at a state flagship college now.
My son told me that at least half of the freshman kids are using MacBook on campus for sure. Due to the peer pressure and problem with the PC, I had to buy a MacBook Pro with Retina display for my kid to swap out the half-year old HP Windows PC (it's already developed problem in slow booting and we had to sent it back for warranty service, which would take 3-5 weeks. My son cannot wait for 3-5 weeks without PC for school work, thus the purchasing of the MacBook Pro for my son). The problem with MacBook for a engineering students is the issues on homework assignments. About 3/4 of the school work assignments from professors are in PDF format.
More than half of the PDF files just cannot be opened by the MacBook. They will only work on Windows adobe reader or need Internet Explorer driver to open. Don't know why though. The kids who own the Windows PC are actually very popular because MacBook owners have to borrow their PC to finish the homework. Kids opt for the MacBooks even with these troubles because of the beautifulness and showy of the MacBook. Kids' behavior have reflection on adults as well, the Mercedes owners have the similar behavior.
This writing is mostly from usefulness of a computer based on the scientific or engineering observation. This is a good writing, but not perfect unless somebody can soup it up from some point view of human psychology, why so many people prefer Mac over PC.
I did ask my son of the Linux usage on campus. The answer was he haven't heard anybody talking about Linux nor seen people using the Linux. Most undergraduate college kids have no clue what the Linux is to be honest except someone who is in the CS major. Perhaps I am a bit late with this comment, but here it goes. Linux is an excellent option for a quantitatively-oriented social scientist. Statistical packages of varying degrees of complexity are available for this platform: R and RStudio (for advanced users), PSPP and Sofa Statistics (for light uses), TextStat and AntConc (for linguistic and textual statistics), SocNetV (for social networks analysis), among many others. On the other hand, the qualitatively-oriented social researchers are less lucky.
There is a R package named RQDA and a few more obscure tools. 'Science students (Engineering, Medicine, physics, Biology and Chemistry): Here Windows clearly stands out of the crowd because of it's compatibility. Every physic's lab electronic lab probe will at least be compatible with Windows.' Erm that isn't exactly true. Especially if you are Working with experimental Hardware (like my Brother does) things are completely different, because access to hardware without existing drivers is much easier in an Linux enviroment. Also free and easy availability of all kind of Compilers and Interpreters which are important for scientists (C/C/Python/Fortran).
The next issue is that many scientific libraries for scientific computing and related stuff in mathematics are open source, and it's literally a torture to set them up on a windows machine, while you can install them only with a few clicks on quite every Linux distro. And ever worked with LaTeX in Windows? But the following is true: Engeneers work mostly with Windows because of much software. But Scientists which very often work with experimental Stuff and scientific computing (like mathematics, physics, chemistry, and molecular biology) mostly use Linux (out of my experience. I'm mathematics PhD. I choose to switch to Mac OSX as it gives me the option to have a stable plaform that is a UNIX rather than deal with compatability and stability issues with Linux.
I am currently studying computer science at the Master's level and I would say that Linux has yet to prove itself outside of a virtual machine. In addition to what I am finding, that you can find most of the programs for Linux available via MacPorts and will provide you the environment that you are looking for. With stable virtualization software like VMware Fusion and Paralles, you can have a virtual Windows computer and Linux for testing things out in those environments. For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: Show Details Necessary HubPages Device ID This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
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I'm curious as to what would be the best word processor for a PhD Dissertation between Word for Mac, Pages, Mellel, and Nisus? Pages is probably too bare bones, and I'm not sure if Word's performance is really good enough. I'm wondering if Mellel would be ideal since it offers pretty solid performance and iCloud support for backing up the files. Also, for doing research for a PhD, is Accordance Notes and/or user tools a good place to store research? Logos' note taking capabilities are pretty buggy, and performance isn't great at all. Evernote is great, but it's outside the realm of Bible software, so the notes can't be searched in line with Bible software without exporting out of Evernote and into the Bible program.
Accordance has great performance, and everything's searchable inside Accordance without doing an export/import dance. Just curious as to the ideal workflow for this setup. That depends on your subject area. If it is OT or NT that includes Hebrew, R-to-L text, then I'd look at Mellel. It's perhaps the best for anything with Hebrew.
By all means don't use Word if it includes any R-to-L text (Hebrew or any other Semitic language). I've not used Nisus, but I've heard it does OK in that area. Pages, as you note, is not ready for a dissertation-sized project. If you need only English or English and Greek, then Word does just fine, even a full-length diss. Once you get up in the 400 (?) page range, it gets a bit slower and wants to repaginate more often than necessary (but you can cancel that with Esc), but I've had up to 1,200 pages of technical English/Unicode Greek in a single document w/o problems.
It's also the most robust in terms of features, even if you don't need all the fancier ones for a dissertation. Keeping footnotes on the right page is always a problem and I'd be surprised if any word processor is always perfect in that regard, esp. Given the quantity of documentation expected in a diss.
As for notes, you'll have to listen to others. I'd be very hesitant to commit my notes to any Bible software program. Though they all provide for notes, you really need something dedicated to notes if you want digital research notes for a diss.
There is no way to organize or collect notes in the limited notes features in Bible software. I've always done it an older way and simply recorded my notes in Word processor documents. Using the outliner features there provides some ability to organize and Find is very handy. There are probably better solutions. I would consider using Scrivener. It is great for research notations, chapter divisions, and writing.
You can export into Word to beautify it but nothing really beats it for writing. Now, I must confess that I have not thrown Hebrew at it yet.
Frank Jones, Pastor Scrivener is a great program for writing! You can organize everything neatly! But, I think it only works well with English. I tried typing, copying and pasting Hebrew. It will look great, but when you compile it to doc/rft formats - boom, it will flip the letters/words in odd-reverse way.:/ So, I got tired of it, and now I am using Mellel for my dissertation, it is a great program, and need to learn a lot I wish I could really use Scrivener for the entire project! Edited by joelmadasu, 10 March 2014 - 07:47 PM.
Scrivener is a great program for writing! You can organize everything neatly! But, I think it only works well with English. I tried typing, copying and pasting Hebrew. It will look great, but when you compile it to doc/rft formats - boom, it will flip the letters/words in odd-reverse way.:/ So, I got tired of it, and now I am using Mellel for my dissertation, it is a great program, and need to learn a lot I wish I could really use Scrivener for the entire project! Thanks Joel for the information on using Hebrew. It will save me a step.
I have used Mellel but there is a learning curve and the proprietary doc format bothers me a little. Just throwing it out there You could always forego a word processor and use a typesetting system like.
Then you do not need to worry about proprietary source files, or get bogged down in formatting. It can easily handle book sized projects and given time on the learning curve is super easy to understand. And because they are plain text documents so that you will never have to worry about not being able to open your files.
You could even use TextEdit and get iCloud backup. Support for Hebrew is also quite strong. Perhaps the best part is that the, not like Word output ugh. And it autogenerates things like table of contents, footnote numbering, etc. The bottom line is, as is typical, the standard set by the degree-issuing institution. U Mich, where I took my doctorate, required MS Word.
It remains the most commonly required program by publishers and universities, the standard as it were. Yes, it does have issues with right-to-left text, but the Near Eastern Studies Department at UM still had to abide by the university standard. Other institutions may have different standards. Check with them.
If you are preparing a manuscript for a publishing company, check with that company. If you are fortunate enough to have a company that is will to accept a PDF, most professional-level word processing programs will export to that format. You can then use whichever of those you want. Thanks everyone for the excellent feedback!
A few additional questions: 1. How well does Mellel do with formatting end notes (if I can get by using end notes over footnotes so at least the formatting won't be all crazy)? Between Mellel and Nisus Pro, which has better performance?
When I've used Mellel, performance was pretty good over Word. I almost had the hang of exporting Mellel docs to Word with very few 'conversion errors'. Are there any training videos on Mellel, or any other training besides the 'big manual' that'd help me learn more quickly and easily (like a 'Mellel for Dummies'? What's Scrivener? I've faintly heard of it but never used it. Sounds interesting.
Any suggestions of storing research notes in Accordance User Tools? Good or bad idea? It'd be searchable in Accordance and a little less clunky than having to use Logos Personal Books and re-compile all the time. Thoughts on Microsoft's new OneNote for Mac? I store all my college documents in OneDrive and all my company docs in SharePoint, so would this interface better with my workflow?
Thanks everyone for the excellent feedback! A few additional questions: 1. How well does Mellel do with formatting end notes (if I can get by using end notes over footnotes so at least the formatting won't be all crazy)?
Between Mellel and Nisus Pro, which has better performance? When I've used Mellel, performance was pretty good over Word.
I almost had the hang of exporting Mellel docs to Word with very few 'conversion errors'. Are there any training videos on Mellel, or any other training besides the 'big manual' that'd help me learn more quickly and easily (like a 'Mellel for Dummies'?
What's Scrivener? I've faintly heard of it but never used it. Sounds interesting. Any suggestions of storing research notes in Accordance User Tools?
Good or bad idea? It'd be searchable in Accordance and a little less clunky than having to use Logos Personal Books and re-compile all the time. Thoughts on Microsoft's new OneNote for Mac?
I store all my college documents in OneDrive and all my company docs in SharePoint, so would this interface better with my workflow? You won't have a problem. I had a 30 page course paper, in which I used footnotes.
I wanted to edit this paper and submit to an annual conference, in which case I wanted to clearly see how many pages I needed to edit down. Mellel worked like a charm, with either footnotes or endnotes. Depends on for what. Text manipulation? Document length? Hebrew font rendering?
Not sure what you mean by performance, as it is relative to a task. Mellel has several tutorial videos. It's not that hard to learn—just start using it. Software learning is an empirical process! Just start using it, and solve each problem when you encounter it.
Scrivener is a research/writing application. If you are doing Hebrew, forget it exists.
It's also heavily reliant on Ms Word or another editor. Also, it doesn't support Live Bibliography like Mellel does (which is very handy at times). My advisor keeps all his notes on Qumran in Accordance. He is the Accordance note master! I like the idea, and have recently started to use them more.
All of my data on my thesis is in notes and a tool. Wouldn't have a clue. I detest MS Word and Microsoft products.
I bought a Mac for a reason. Thanks everyone for the excellent feedback! A few additional questions: 1. How well does Mellel do with formatting end notes (if I can get by using end notes over footnotes so at least the formatting won't be all crazy)? Between Mellel and Nisus Pro, which has better performance?
When I've used Mellel, performance was pretty good over Word. I almost had the hang of exporting Mellel docs to Word with very few 'conversion errors'. Are there any training videos on Mellel, or any other training besides the 'big manual' that'd help me learn more quickly and easily (like a 'Mellel for Dummies'? What's Scrivener?
I've faintly heard of it but never used it. Sounds interesting. Any suggestions of storing research notes in Accordance User Tools? Good or bad idea?
It'd be searchable in Accordance and a little less clunky than having to use Logos Personal Books and re-compile all the time. Thoughts on Microsoft's new OneNote for Mac? I store all my college documents in OneDrive and all my company docs in SharePoint, so would this interface better with my workflow? I'll make a few comments: 1. Mellel allows multiple note streams, so you can have endnotes and footnotes, or multiples of each. I've had problems with performance in Nisus with very large documents, but performance in Mellel has never been a problem.
Not that I'm aware of. I understand Scrivener is best for writing novels or screenplays. I'm not sure it supports footnotes or how it handles different languages. I wrote my dissertation in Mellel and have also copy-edited the manuscript for publication in Mellel. I sent everything to my readers and editors as pdfs, so electronic format was not an issue. It is an issue with journals that want.docx files, however, so you should think about that for the future. That is, once you establish a workflow you are comfortable with, you will probably want to keep using that for publication projects after the dissertation. I have had to find work-arounds for the cases where a docx was required.
Mellel is great for controlling the text. My only problem was the lack of a feature comparable to 'wordart' for charts or diagrams. There were a few places I would have liked to have made a simple diagram that I ended up using ASCII symbols. Finally, I can't imagine your readers will want endnotes.
They are incredibly cumbersome for a scholarly work, particularly a dissertation where there will be significant interaction with secondary literature in the notes. No one wants to have to flip back and forth to the end of the book or chapter.