I could use some good advice to pass on to my younger son’s fiancee. She is beginning a Master’s Program in Psychology this August and is looking for advice on the best laptop for a social sciences grad student. She knows she need MS office, because her paperwork from the U says all work must be submitted in MS Word and/or Excel. She also needs a laptop that can handle some fairly complicated statistical programs for her research projects. Up to now she’s always used Apples, but her particular institution is one of the very few that don’t use Apple products. (and no, I don’t know why)
Would anyone feel comfortable recommending a good laptop for her purposes? I would be grateful for any useful input to pass along.
Perhaps I should elaborate on what little else I know. She has an old laptop she used for undergrad school. She really does need a new one and isn’t particularly computer savvy (neither is my son, for that matter). She wants something as cutting edge as her financial aid will cover, that will grow with her as she continues her education without having to frequently replace it.
I have a laptop, but it’s my employer’s, chosen for group rate discount reasons. It works fine for what I use it for, but I don’t require a lot of statistical/scientific attributes.
If anyone out there has a laptop that works particularly well with statistical analysis as well as the more commonplace functions such as internet and office suite applications, that’s what we are looking for.
Again, thanks for any input. The kids will happily take it all under consideration.
I second this. The hardware is excellent quality. The OS is Unix under the hood, so she can use just about any open source statistical packages she wants. Microsoft makes Office for the Mac, or she can just use the free Apple office suite and export into Word or Excel from Pages or Numbers, respectively (although I’m not sure Numbers is quite as capable as Excel for heavy-duty analysis). The days of tools forcing OS choice is mostly over–most every productivity app is cross-platform–so one should just use whatever platform one is comfortable with and/or prefers.
The annual Apple back to school sale should start soon. In addition to getting the standard higher-ed discount ($100 on MacBook Pro), the BtS sale usually includes a $100 Apple store gift card with purchase of a laptop.
By the way, an institution that requires Word format for document submission is doing it wrong. I understand that it’s useful for collaboration during the document creation process, but final versions should be in PDF.
That sounds like useful information. I think she was a bit intimidated when she was told the Psychology grad program doesn’t use Apple products and was leery of getting one as a result.
Are Macbooks customizable, or is there a single configuration right out of the box? Statistical programs don’t take a whole lot of processor power, but memory can sometimes be an issue. If she’s dealing with large data sets she’s going to want as much RAM as she can get, and she’s going to want it to be as fast as possible.
Definitely not the case in earth sciences. I’d guess that less than 20% of faculty I’ve worked with use Macs, and the student labs are always all PCs.
How does she take notes? If she’s used to taking them by typing them into a laptop already, then whatever, but if she handwrites them, then a Surface Pro 3 and Onenote is a tool combination I really, really wish I would have had in college.
Those are just generic computer uses. Virtually any new laptop can handles those requirements just fine but some a little better than others based on the RAM, processor and screen size.
I work in IT consulting for a very large mega-corp and we just finished a rollout of tens of thousands of laptops for every job category imaginable including lots of scientists. Everyone got a Lenovo running Windows including me and I love mine even for the heavy-duty work that I do.
There are several different models available and they aren’t the sexiest looking things but they are fairly rugged and reliable. The big questions aren’t about the ability to run common software because any of them can do that. The more important issues are about other features like screen size, weight, keyboard feel and the rather new ability for some of them to turn into a laptop-tablet hybrid with a touch screen (most people don’t really need that feature if they already have a tablet or smartphone).
Bigger screens are good in general but they weigh more and use more battery power. She can just add a docking station and a larger monitor when she is at her desk if she wants to turn it into a desktop computer with a proper monitor, external power, keyboard and mouse.
I know that Apple makes some good (if expensive) laptops but I would strongly recommend choosing something similar to the computers other people she will interacting with will be using. It makes a huge difference when there are problems or if she just needs to borrow a connector from someone right before a project is due.
Current Windows laptops that won’t be obsolete for at least a few years generally have at least an Intel i5 processor and at least 4GB of RAM (more is better but not strictly essential). Screen size is a matter of personal choice based on the tradeoffs. Laptops like this usually run in the $600 - $800 range new. Be careful if you see one significantly cheaper because they probably cut some corners somewhere even if it will work for a while. Lenovo is currently one of the more reputable brands for laptops in this category but HP isn’t bad either. Here are a few examples:
Also note that, if she gets a Windows computer right away, it will come with either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 but that is only going to be a temporary state of affairs. Windows 10 is coming out later this month and all new Windows computers have the option of upgrading to it automatically when it is released. Windows 10 is supposedly a very good operating system that fixes the complaints with 8.1 and also adds some slick new features. It will probably be the best personal computer OS around at least for a while.
I’ve started a Masters this year … LOVING my Surface Pro 3 … and getting very jealous looks from other students when in classes too!
So handy for readings and writing notes directly on powerpoint docs or pdfs, really useful for taking to lectures and other classes, works well with the university systems and so light I can take it with me everywhere!
(most of the computer labs at my uni are Macs but most of the rest of the systems they use are Windows … I haven’t had any issues integrating across platforms).
There are a number of students with tiny tiny notebook computers that they only use for taking notes in class but I didn’t want a separate tablet/notebook/laptop … all in one place is easier. I still prefer a bit of paper and pen for general notes, but write directly on the screen for any handouts etc.
I should add that I have had good experience with Dell desktops and laptops as well even looking at them through my critical IT eye. My personal computers are Dells. The only mainstream brands that I don’t really recommend are Toshiba, ASUS and especially Acer just based on my personal experience. Most of them work just fine until they suddenly don’t and they have some odd design quirks and a cheaper feel.
This is great stuff, folks. Thanks a bunch. The young lady in question will have some decisions to make regarding how she wants to interface with her computer, but other than that, this is excellent information that will narrow down the possibilities a lot. We should be able to send her shopping with this list of specs and get her something that will work well for her.
Before she buys anything, she should ask for a recommendation from her advisor. She should also check the campus store. They might have student-only deals for hardware and software.
If I was going back to school, and I really should, I would get a Surface Pro 3. OneNote is my favorite note taking device and I’d like to have the touchscreen and the portability.
The main thing, though, is Office 365. That’s Microsoft’s new web-based version of Office. It works beautifully and it ties in perfectly with Microsoft’s cloud based One Drive service. This is a huge boon for students because she’ll be able to share things with her professors and classmates without having to worry if her files are backed up or lost on a thumb drive.
Office 365 is available for Mac or PC. It’s like having the convenience of Google with the polish of Office.