hyronomus4 Posted February 18, 2015 Posted February 18, 2015 I didn't read all of the pages so it may have already been mentioned but one thing I would add is a Kindle/tablet. I hate doing readings on the computer and it's literally thousands of pages if you want to print everything for a semester. I found that my kindle was a good compromise. I put everything on my Kindle that was assigned for the week and then only printed what I needed for papers or projects. I could keep it with me all the time and pull it out whenever I had a spare minute. Textbooks are also cheaper for the Kindle if they're available. maelia8 and Shamrock_Frog 2
maelia8 Posted February 18, 2015 Posted February 18, 2015 I read everything that's available as an e-book and all articles as PDFs on my kindle paperwhite, and I love it! Saves me from carrying so much weight around, and it allows me to annotate and highlight the texts without carrying around sticky notes and markers. WhatAmIDoingNow 1
Crucial BBQ Posted February 18, 2015 Posted February 18, 2015 Similar laptop question: I'm starting next fall and I was just given a gently used MacBook air with pretty minimal harware (128GB SSD, 4GB RAM, 2.7GHz processor) I love how portable it is and it handles web browsing, PDFs, and word processing well. I think that is all I would really need it for, and I have a big portable hard drive for storage. Does that seem like it would work, or is it a no way? For what it is worth, unless you are editing video or playing FPSs on high res, these specs are more than adequette. It might seem like the SSD is on the smaller side but unless you do not dump your entire music collection (assuming it is large), photo library, and/or some movies, you should be fine. Word docs and PDFs are surprisingly small (it has been estimated that you can fit roughly 6 million MS Word pages onto a 100GB drive).
insaneinthemembrane Posted February 18, 2015 Posted February 18, 2015 (edited) I would get one now if you have the money. If not, it will be a random big expense in middle of grad school when you aren't expecting it. You might be able to mitigate that by paying for it with credit, but some place like Best Buy may not see a grad school stipend as a good enough income stream to extend a lot of credit. Or, put however much you think you may spend on a computer aside in a savings account so that you will have it when your finally dies. Thanks! I think I might just try to save up a bit and purchase a laptop. I'm wondering if I should ask if the program will be purchasing one because I've heard from some friends already in grad school (for biomed PhDs) that their programs have purchased laptops for the students Edited February 18, 2015 by insaneinthemembrane
victorydance Posted February 18, 2015 Posted February 18, 2015 All I ever need is a good and powerful laptop, second screen, a USB, notebook, pens, backpack, and an external drive. WhatAmIDoingNow 1
zupgiusto Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 I have a late-2011 Macbook Pro that lasted me through the last 2 years of undergrad and it was getting reeeeally sluggish into the second half of my 2nd year of my M.A., so over Christmas I replaced the hard drive with a 500gb SSD and maxed out the ram and it is GOOD. AS. NEW. I highly suggest exploring this option if your laptop is fine but super slow. When I did the migration and I opened my computer it was exactly the same as before (even remembered all my tabs in Chrome) but lightning fast. The steps involved were incredibly simple to do at home. I put a picture ledge from Ikea on the wall behind my desk, and my laptop sits up there out of the way in clamshell mode while plugged into my external monitor or when it's charging. I can also lean my keyboard up there when it's not being used. Yay desk space! FLUX: I love this app (justgetflux.com). Use it on your computer. You put in where you live and your typical sleep schedule and it will adjust the white balance on your computer as the day goes on/after sunset, to make it more yellow. Lots of blue light messes up your internal clock, and blue light also stresses your eye muscles which makes them deteriorate faster. It's weird at first, but it is wonderful and beneficial. Especially if you're just reading, it can't hurt. My eyes got significantly worse over the last 2 years, so I'm doing what I can to help. Other things: Ear plugs! You can get plastic washable ones with a little case. I bring these around everywhere. Sometimes I just really need to block out sounds to concentrate. Space heater. Electric blanket? A good quality pillow Eye mask (in case your sleep schedule is off kilter but you still need some zzz's, or if you nap!) Extension cords/power bars - Target has power bars with an 8ft cord for something like $11 CAD "Daylight" light bulbs (as opposed to the 'soft white' ones) A pillow with arms on it that you can use to sit in bed Lysol wipes eternallyephemeral and educdoc 2
Crucial BBQ Posted February 19, 2015 Posted February 19, 2015 After awhile your hard drive starts to look like a messy closet with random stuff piled in random places; files start to appear in random places on your drive causing your OS to look for them in places other than where they are supposed to be because they are no longer where they are supposed to be. You can repair permissions and declutter your drive, too, which should speed things up. GABA-daba-doo 1
brown_eyed_girl Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 I suppose it depends on your subject. I'm graduating from a well-known research university and all my TAs just wore jeans/shorts and tees, basically what everyone else wears (maybe sneakers if it was something like Organic Chemistry). The only time I ever saw my TAs dressed up was if they had something else to do later that required nicer attire. I do however plan on dressing up a tad just because I look young to begin with and I want to set myself apart from my students....but that's mostly to satisfy my "OMG I don't look old enough!" issue. Re: clothes. I think this varies a lot by department. I majored in Art History at a top-25 university (top 15 AH dept) and my TAs were all very fashion-forward women. TAs in other departments at my school wore jeans, but Art History TAs tended to be very well-dressed (an artsy version of business casual). I've also seen studies that professionally dressed TAs are rated more highly by students and have better learning outcomes, so I wouldn't discount the importance of personal presentation. Getting ready to enroll in a AH PhD program this fall, what to wear as a TA has been on my mind... Luckily I took a year off to work so I'm not totally at a loss for professional clothes. I'm actually looking forward to being able to dress more casually day to day - but as a petite 24-year-old woman, I also want to make sure I don't get mistaken for an undergrad and make good impressions when networking. educdoc 1
GeoMex Posted March 5, 2015 Posted March 5, 2015 Anyone here has the livescribe pen? is it worth it? I'm thinking that a cheaper way would be to use a sound recorder app in my phone and a scanner to digitize my notes. What do you think?
WhatAmIDoingNow Posted March 5, 2015 Posted March 5, 2015 I read everything that's available as an e-book and all articles as PDFs on my kindle paperweight, and I love it! Saves me from carrying so much weight around, and it allows me to annotate and highlight the texts without carrying around sticky notes and markers. If you have a kindle, you can get the program on your computer to access all your books. This allows you to copy and past sections into Word, take notes in the Kindle program, and easily manage your annotated bibliographies.
WhatAmIDoingNow Posted March 5, 2015 Posted March 5, 2015 Similar laptop question: I'm starting next fall and I was just given a gently used MacBook air with pretty minimal harware (128GB SSD, 4GB RAM, 2.7GHz processor) I love how portable it is and it handles web browsing, PDFs, and word processing well. I think that is all I would really need it for, and I have a big portable hard drive for storage. Does that seem like it would work, or is it a no way? It should be fine for theatre. It would only be an issue if you are trying to run statistical analyses or do design projects that take a lot of power. For writing, lit review, and basic computer use, you should be fine.
maelia8 Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 If you're trying to decide between 13" and 15", I'd definitely go with the 13. I have an older Macbook Pro 15" and it's a pain in the rear dragging it to and from campus. Admittedly the new models are lighter, but a 13" Pro or Air is lighter still, and it really, really makes a difference. I'm in a social science program and I still need my laptop on campus almost every day. Read_books and hgp 2
ERR_Alpha Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 So I managed to survive this winter without real winter boots and I am realizing I need to invest in a pair for next winter. Any suggestions? I know LL bean makes great boots but I personally find them so ugly.
rising_star Posted March 10, 2015 Posted March 10, 2015 So I managed to survive this winter without real winter boots and I am realizing I need to invest in a pair for next winter. Any suggestions? I know LL bean makes great boots but I personally find them so ugly. Columbia Sportswear makes good winter boots. I know a lot of people that have them. North Face is another option. You might also browse REI and REI-Outlet, just to see a bunch of options. If you wait a little while longer, they'll be even more affordable.
Crucial BBQ Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 So I managed to survive this winter without real winter boots and I am realizing I need to invest in a pair for next winter. Any suggestions? I know LL bean makes great boots but I personally find them so ugly. You mean the "duck" boots? Yeah, those are ugly! The cool thing about Beans, as an FYI, is that they have a life-time return policy. Buy those boots and you can exchange them for a new/different pair in 20 years. I second Columbia. Or how about going old school with a pair of Moon Boots?
Adelantero Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 Bean boots are an acquired taste to be sure. I went to undergrad in Maine, so eventually they just seemed normal to me. If you put on a flannel shirt, those boots look great. They're super comfortable and like Crucial BBQ said, you can return them for a full refund whenever. I'm on my third pair now because I wear the bejeezus out of them in Maine. Half the winter boots out there are knock-offs of the LL Bean design anyway. In general, winter boots are not fashion-forward unless they're designed to actually be useless in winter.
hreaðemus Posted March 12, 2015 Posted March 12, 2015 Try Merrell! They've got some great waterproof all-leather options; you'll need thick socks, but I traipsed through the snow in New Haven for three days and stayed 100% warm and dry (and didn't fall on black ice, so the treads are good!). I think they're a nice blend of functionality and design. maelia8 1
kurayamino Posted March 12, 2015 Posted March 12, 2015 So I managed to survive this winter without real winter boots and I am realizing I need to invest in a pair for next winter. Any suggestions? I know LL bean makes great boots but I personally find them so ugly. I swear by my Sorel's. They have a high initial cost but have lasted for years both internal sole-wise and external leather wise. I can stand inside a huge ice slush while trying to cross the street and walk out with dry feet! fencergirl and eternallyephemeral 2
__________________________ Posted March 15, 2015 Posted March 15, 2015 So I managed to survive this winter without real winter boots and I am realizing I need to invest in a pair for next winter. Any suggestions? I know LL bean makes great boots but I personally find them so ugly. Maybe too ugly, but you can find a decent pair of waterproof workboots almost anywhere for a fine price. I have a pair of Wolverine workboots that I got for like 60 bucks at a Macy's or something and they've gotten me through a landscaping job and three Wisconsin winters. I just slap some mink oil on them every once in a while.
Clueless91 Posted March 27, 2015 Posted March 27, 2015 Hi All, I was wondering if someone could help me out. I'm going to start grad school in the Fall and I'm looking to buy a laptop. I'm not an "Apple" person so I'm hoping someone could recommend a PC, something that I can walk around with will be best! Thanks guys!
WhatAmIDoingNow Posted March 27, 2015 Posted March 27, 2015 Hi All, I was wondering if someone could help me out. I'm going to start grad school in the Fall and I'm looking to buy a laptop. I'm not an "Apple" person so I'm hoping someone could recommend a PC, something that I can walk around with will be best! Thanks guys! It helps to know the program you are going into and what purposes you will be using the laptop/tablet for (ex: papers, statistical analysis, graphic design).
Clueless91 Posted March 27, 2015 Posted March 27, 2015 It helps to know the program you are going into and what purposes you will be using the laptop/tablet for (ex: papers, statistical analysis, graphic design). I'm in social sciences and mainly for writing purposes!
SeanDDavies Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Clueless- I would say get a Lenovo or Asus. Those seem to hold up really well. I would avoid the touchscreen personally because they seem glitchy. I prefer Intel over AMD, so I would go with an i5 processor. at least 4 gb of ram. As for hard drive, it doesn't really matter since I would back up everything to an external drive. Consider a laptop that has a numbered key pad if you will be entering data/numbers. You can find all of this for around $500-800. Clueless91 and WhatAmIDoingNow 2
AuldReekie Posted April 1, 2015 Posted April 1, 2015 Clueless- I would say get a Lenovo or Asus. Those seem to hold up really well. I would avoid the touchscreen personally because they seem glitchy. I prefer Intel over AMD, so I would go with an i5 processor. at least 4 gb of ram. As for hard drive, it doesn't really matter since I would back up everything to an external drive. Consider a laptop that has a numbered key pad if you will be entering data/numbers. You can find all of this for around $500-800. My current Lenovo has held up pretty well. I've only owned two laptops, but each time I went for the 'business' model or through the business site. With many companies there's no difference, but with Dell I found there to be a massive increase in build quality for almost exactly the same price. Worth having a look at at least. WhatAmIDoingNow 1
Cheshire_Cat Posted April 1, 2015 Posted April 1, 2015 My work computer is Dell, and I can see how it is built a lot better. However, it is also a LOT heavier.
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