Q. Hello, I'm going away to college this fall and don't have much money. However I am aware that I will need some sort of computing device to do some research on and for basic document processing. Mainly for typing a few pages for a report. I'm not looking to write photos or anything crazy like that. Just browse, research, and type documents. I was looking to spend $250 or less or this device. I have boiled it down to maybe either getting a Chromebook ( Samsung 3 series, Acer c7 ) or a Nexus 7 2nd gen with a blue tooth keyboard attachment. Which of the two would be best for document processing and if either would be practical. I know about Google derive and docs. Also any suggestions sub $250 are welcome too. Thank you.
I appreciate the feedback. I know about libraries, just dont want to have to go to the library every time i need to do an assignment. And JQuick that sounds like a great idea, ill have to look into that and give the school a call. However if this school does not do anything like that, would either of these options i listed be practical. Are their office processing apps too primitive to use or could i easily get by between them and my library of needed? There is campus wide wifi so thats not an issue.
I appreciate the feedback. I know about libraries, just dont want to have to go to the library every time i need to do an assignment. And JQuick that sounds like a great idea, ill have to look into that and give the school a call. However if this school does not do anything like that, would either of these options i listed be practical. Are their office processing apps too primitive to use or could i easily get by between them and my library of needed? There is campus wide wifi so thats not an issue.
Answer
Wait until you go to college to see what options they have and to see what other students use. Some colleges and universities have financing programs to include a computer as part of your qualified student expenses, increasing your financial aid to cover the cost with no out-of-pocket expense for you. You may need a more powerful computer that costs more than what you can afford to pay on your own before school starts. When financial aid does cover the cost of the computer, there are usually limitations such as no specialized gaming hardware, only one purchase for your entire length of your degree, and no replacement purchase if it doesn't work, gets stolen, lost, breaks, whatever - although the cost of insurance for such losses may be allowed as part of the cost. See the financial aid office.
Edit: I used Google docs quite a bit online for my masters degree student group projects. While it was good for collaborating with other students, it was buggy as hell and the formatting options were terrible. So we used it only to collaborate on writing and editing together, then one of us converted it to MS Word for formatting and final layout. You'll find that most professors only know how to deal with MS Word format and few if any will know anything about the Google docs apps. I would only suggest computers that can run MS Office, which can be PC/Windows, Mac or multi-boot configurations. I have an iPad2, but I wouldn't use it for heavy word processing even though I do have a good bluetooth keyboard for it. By the way, the purchase of a computer through financial aid is specifically allowed by federal financial aid rules, it's just that each university's financial aid office can control the specifics about how it's actually done at that campus.
Wait until you go to college to see what options they have and to see what other students use. Some colleges and universities have financing programs to include a computer as part of your qualified student expenses, increasing your financial aid to cover the cost with no out-of-pocket expense for you. You may need a more powerful computer that costs more than what you can afford to pay on your own before school starts. When financial aid does cover the cost of the computer, there are usually limitations such as no specialized gaming hardware, only one purchase for your entire length of your degree, and no replacement purchase if it doesn't work, gets stolen, lost, breaks, whatever - although the cost of insurance for such losses may be allowed as part of the cost. See the financial aid office.
Edit: I used Google docs quite a bit online for my masters degree student group projects. While it was good for collaborating with other students, it was buggy as hell and the formatting options were terrible. So we used it only to collaborate on writing and editing together, then one of us converted it to MS Word for formatting and final layout. You'll find that most professors only know how to deal with MS Word format and few if any will know anything about the Google docs apps. I would only suggest computers that can run MS Office, which can be PC/Windows, Mac or multi-boot configurations. I have an iPad2, but I wouldn't use it for heavy word processing even though I do have a good bluetooth keyboard for it. By the way, the purchase of a computer through financial aid is specifically allowed by federal financial aid rules, it's just that each university's financial aid office can control the specifics about how it's actually done at that campus.
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