
FestivusMiracle
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Everything posted by FestivusMiracle
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I was in this situation last year and I used Craigslist to find some prospective roommates. Looking for a room in a house that is already leased is the way to go. Usually this involves a three room house with one of the three roommates moving out and the other two wanting to stay and needing someone to pick up the other third of the rent. One way to be safe is to make sure you get the person to e-mail you using their campus (.edu) e-mail account. That way you know they are or were at least a student. This limits your options to students only, and even some students may be serial rapists, but it really lowers your risk. It worked for me (I was not raped).
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So I wound up purchasing a Chromebook for use during my first semester of grad school, and this is the review I promised to write. My main reason for starting this thread several months back was to figure out if the Chromebook could be used as my primary computer in grad school. After using the Chromebook for a semester, I’ve decided that, in a nutshell, the Chromebook is a great laptop (especially considering its very cheap price) that MIGHT suffice as a primary computer in the most favorable of circumstances, but really it should only be thought of as a fantastic supplement to a more traditional laptop/desktop. As I have access to Windows desktop computers at my school, the Chromebook has worked out relatively well for me. However, for those of you who want to use the Chromebook as a primary computer without having access to an additional Windows/Mac computer, I highly suggest you rethink this idea and spend a bit more for a traditional laptop. Windows apparently makes some very cheap and light laptops/tablets that should allow for more functionality than the Chromebook, and I’d suggest looking at these before considering an Apple (just my personal opinion; obviously Apple laptops have their uses, but if price is a big deal and you just need a good computer, I think a Windows laptop makes more sense). Below is a bullet-point summary of the pros and cons of the Chromebook, followed by a more in-depth discussion of certain Chromebook features / issues. Let me know if anything I’ve said in the review is inaccurate, as I am certainly no Chromebook expert. Pros: Computer runs smoothly and programs/windows rarely crash Very good battery life Lightweight and easy to carry around No pop-ups, reminders, etc. (e.g., “Updates are ready to install”, “Your computer may not be protected”); Chromebook updates automatically in the background Everything is in the cloud; you don’t have to worry about loss/theft of laptop Cons: PDF usage is complicated and inefficient on the Chromebook due to Google’s failure to address a few basic things Lack of screen clarity and size Limited printing options Can’t edit sheets offline (at least you couldn’t the last time I tried) Google’s office suite is nowhere near as polished as Microsoft Office Limited third-party software (you’re pretty much limited to whatever is available in the app store; however, you know this going in with the Chromebook, so you should be prepared for this) Ultimately, the biggest downfall of the Chromebook is how it handles PDF files. In short, as a grad student you will spend the majority of your time reading PDF files, and Google appears to have gone out of its way to make viewing and editing PDFs on the Chromebook a gigantic pain in the ass. First, if you want to perform any editing to PDFs, you will have to download a 3rd party program (I used PDFescape) to do it. While this may not sound so bad at first, consider the fact that you will have to upload every PDF twice (once for your Google Drive and once for the 3rd party program), which takes up precious time, in addition to the fact that the 3rd party software will lower the resolution of your PDF, making it harder to see on the already low resolution screen. I’m not one to bitch about screen quality, but there were several times this year when mathematical formulas inside a PDF on PDFescape were impossible to read, and I had to switch back and forth between the Google preview version and the PDFescape version. The 3rd party software will also be relatively slow when compared to the Google preview PDF viewer. Lastly, Google Drive will only allow PDFs under a certain size to be viewed (I think it is around 30 or 40 MB or less); any PDFs over this size will have to be viewed with third party software, and PDFescape has size limits as well, meaning that several PDFs I had to read this semester were not viewable AT ALL on the chromebook. Luckily I had easy access to computers at school, so this was not a huge issue. These issues with the Chromebook’s handling of PDFs cause me to recommend the purchase of a traditional laptop for your primary computing needs: With a Windows or Mac, just download Adobe Reader and move on with your life. You won’t have to worry about constantly moving over files and how to deal with larger PDFs. In other words, your life will be simpler and less frustrating, in addition to the fact that you will waste less time. I hope that Google reads this review, because it seems like the PDF thing would be an obvious and relatively simple fix. However, it appears that Google is pretty bad about fixing obvious issues with Chrome, such as not being able to edit spreadsheets offline and not being able to use the CTRL key to highlight non-sequential cells in spreadsheets (a small gripe, I know, but it’s been brought up repeatedly in Google forums without anyone addressing it, to my knowledge). My last complaint is that the Chromebook is too limited of a machine to be your primary computer, even if you use very few 3rd party programs. The vast majority of my time is spent online, but there are still a few programs that I would love to be able to install and use (e.g., Adobe Reader, Fluenz, iTunes). At the end of the day, you know what you’re getting with the Chromebook, so you shouldn’t be surprised that you can’t run these programs. However, it still sucks, and I feel like it’s worth mentioning just in case any of you fail to recognize the significance of not being able to use any non-Chrome programs on the Chromebook. With all of that said, I don’t regret buying the Chromebook, mainly because I do most of my work on a school computer and I like the small size and quick speed of the Chromebook. For surfing the web, checking e-mail, and other basic tasks the Chromebook is awesome, especially on days when the Windows computers at school seem to be running especially slow. The Chromebook is so much more efficient at these basic tasks than any other Windows laptop I’ve seen, which is why it is disappointing that the Chromebook is so deficient in dealing with PDFs. I could probably write several more pages on the Chromebook, but I’m lazy and planning on working on some other stuff tonight. I just wanted to make sure I posted a review of the Chromebook as I promised I would, and hopefully this helps someone who is interested in purchasing a Chromebook. I also hope someone at Google comes across my PDF complaint and addresses it, because that would really make my day [as you can probably tell from how much time I spent harping on how bad the Chromebook is at handling PDFs ] If any of you have Chromebooks, I’m curious to know how you feel about them...do you have the same complaints as I do? Love it? Hate it? Let me know!
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Done with first semester of grad school, and it's clear that I have way too much time on my hands. Btw, almost time for the Airing of Grievances and the Feats of Strength. .
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Prove it!!!
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Finding a husband in graduate school.
FestivusMiracle replied to LittleDarlings's topic in The Lobby
Tell that to the Governator. -
Finding a husband in graduate school.
FestivusMiracle replied to LittleDarlings's topic in The Lobby
Sorry, that wasn't a comment about you, and probably sounded worse than I meant it to sound. I just thought it was funny that the thread has been going in circles for like 8 pages. -
Finding a husband in graduate school.
FestivusMiracle replied to LittleDarlings's topic in The Lobby
I was reading through this thread, trying to think of this movie scene, but i couldn't remember which movie it was in. You nailed it, though. Great movie, btw. I may have to watch it after i get done with this semester (this is my last week). On another note, this thread is fucking stupid, but it has kept me entertained during a super busy week, and for that i thank you. -
Jim, I think you should re-post the link to your blog. Your blog is very relevant to thegradcafe, so I don't understand fuzzylogician's negative reaction to your posting of the link. Don't let his/her unwarranted criticism affect your decisions.
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I just pulled the trigger on the Samsung Chromebook. At $230 (on Amazon), and after reading many reviews detailing how awesome it is, it seems like an incredible deal. I appreciate all the advice in this thread, and I'm hoping to post an update later on and describe my experience with using the Chromebook in grad school. Ultimately, the reason I decided to get a Chromebook is because I really only use a computer to get on the internet and write papers, and I already use google apps, so it makes sense. Also, I really like that the Chromebook has a SSD hard drive, long battery life, and is extremely lightweight. With the exception of not running Windows, the Chromebook pretty much has all the specs that I would want in a laptop. BUT, the only reason I would prefer Windows over Chrome is because I may be forced to run a Windows-only program in grad school. However, I think the main program I will use in grad school is Stata, which, from my understanding, can run on Linux (Linux can be run on the Chromebook). And if that didn't work, I think I could also run Stata remotely from my old Windows laptop to the Chromebook as a last resort. This all assumes that I'll need Stata on my laptop, but I'm planning on using the lab computers anyway, so I probably will never have to cross that bridge. But knowing I have all of these options (especially being able to run programs remotely) gives me peace of mind about getting the Chromebook. And lastly, it's probably worth remembering that the Chromebook is really just a super-powered tablet, and that at $230, it's not like it's a big deal if it doesn't work out as a primary computer and I have to eventually buy a really pricey laptop. Even if that happens, I still think I'll enjoy having the Chromebook when I need it.
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I drank it a few times as a kid just to feel like a grown up, but I started drinking it regularly in college. Now I'd kinda consider myself a bit of a coffee snob, because I buy whole beans and grind them with a hand grinder before brewing each day. I've also really gotten into brewing an extra strong pot, letting it chill overnight, and mixing with a good bit of milk for iced coffee the next morning (no sugar). I'd say my primary reason for drinking coffee is taste, as opposed to drinking it for the caffeine effect. A lot of caffeine seems to just make me antsy, instead of keeping me more focused and awake. Right now I've been drinking eight o'clock's colombian...cheap, easy to find, and a pretty solid taste without being too dark or burnt tasting... What kinds of coffee do all of you drink? I need some suggestions on good brands to try!
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I know this thread is really old, but I just finished using Fluenz for Spanish, and I loved it. I highly doubt you'll find anything better for Spanish. IMO it's definitely worth the money.
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I appreciate all the advice. I'm still trying to decide on the type of laptop I want, but luckily I've pretty much got all summer to decide. If any of y'all check out a Chromebook in person, let me know what you think!
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I used to follow the Cheapskate blog a lot, so I guess I need to start checking in with it again, considering I'm in the market for a laptop.
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I'm planning on buying a new laptop for grad school, and I'm seriously considering buying the Samsung Chromebook that costs $250. What do you all think about having a Chromebook as a primary laptop in grad school? Is it a good idea, or should I go ahead and invest in another traditional laptop? I've always had Windows laptops in the past, but I never actually had Microsoft Office on my last computer, so anytime I needed to use Word/Excel/Powerpoint I would just use the computer lab, or use Openoffice programs. After thinking about it, I realized that I really never used my computer for anything other than going online, writing papers, and occasionally using spreadsheets or powerpoint, all of which can be done using Google Chrome (although for most serious academic tasks, I don't think Google Spreadsheets is a legitimate alternative to Excel). Other than the operating system, Samsung's Chromebook has pretty much everything I'm looking for: extremely affordable; SSD hard drive (I don't need a lot of space because all I plan on saving is documents, spreadsheets, and PDFs, plus you get extra online storage anyway); very compact and lightweight; and an extremely long battery life. Am I missing something, or is the Chromebook a legitimate alternative to a traditional laptop?
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I'm curious to read Sonia Sotomayor's book, because I've seen a quote where she basically infers that she didn't even know what the supreme court was until either late in high school or college, which is amazing to me. Also, I don't know how you put Freakonomics down, I love it! It changed the way I look at a lot of things in the world. Definitely a must-read IMO.
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I normally read non-fiction, but two fiction books that I really love and rarely see mentioned are Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh and The Giver by Lois Lowry. Trainspotting is not for the faint of heart, but I think it's brilliant. The Giver is a young adult kind of book, but I think anyone could enjoy it. Both are fairly quick reads.
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Accepted! Time to purchase school clothing & etc!!!??
FestivusMiracle replied to rllnyc's topic in 2010-2015 Archive
I'm guessing from Tennessee to Florida? -
Taking a year off and learning Spanish. So ready to start grad school in the fall.
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http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Words-GRE-Barrons/dp/0764144782/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1362969248&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=barron%27s+gre+voacab This is the book that I used, and I made a 170 on verbal (although I was making around 162-165 on all of my practice tests). I studied about 3 months for the GRE (verbal and quant), and I believe that this book is the most surefire way to increase your score. Make sure you take your time with the words, because IMO it's a lot better to know a few hard words really well than to just kinda sorta know a lot of words. Each lesson contains 10 words, and I usually worked 3 or 4 lessons each day, 5 days a week. I also made spreadsheets with the words and definitions and forced myself to actively recall either the vocab word or the definition of the vocab word. It takes a lot of time, but it really paid off in the end. Feel free to message me if you have any questions.