I am curious why you didn't run it in XP in a VM? Why would you need to run XP in a VM under W7 in a VM?
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Anyone used a mba for a research degree?
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I am curious why you didn't run it in XP in a VM? Why would you need to run XP in a VM under W7 in a VM?
forget the virtual machines... the MBA doesn't have enough memory.
Bootcamp it up if you need Windows, but then again if you really need windows then screw the Mac as it pales in comparison to what's available in PC land.
My 2 cents about future proofing... I run Office 2012 and have no problems (other than the bugs the MS has to work out). The Adobe CS5 suite works well.
Vids stream without problems. And I'm only on rev. B.
Just make sure you get the SSD version if you are going to buy one!
I completely agree with you on both points.
I, like Scottsdale, would assume that any PhD degree would involve some complex data used to draw inferences and conclusions about relevant theories. I just wanted to provide a caveat to those that praise the MBA for things that it is not.
If I were the OP, I would just keep the MBP to be prepared in case there are more intense programs that need to be utilized during law school. I would then wait for a new revision of the MBA that could both serve your need for computing power and your wanting of portability and style.
I'm just finishing off a PhD in history and there's nothing more involved (computer wise anyway) than large word files and pdfs with large images, pretty much any computer can handle it.
Complex theories are being tested (hopefully) and there's a lot of data but it's not quantitative, so nothing that I have to use a computer for, and I'd imagine my situation is fairly typical in the humanities.
I faced the same question when the MBA came out (was then using a MBP) and in the end decided it wasn't for me - now I use a Thinkpad. I don't know if the reasons for my choice are relevant to the OPs use, but here they are:
1. No security slot on the MBA. So if you are in a research library, you can't secure it to the desk while you go for a coffee break (of which there will be a lot since you will likely spend the whole day there). Taking the computer with you to the cafe is a pain - it's another thing that has to be searched on entry and exit, and as proper bags aren't allowed in, you will have to somehow carry a cup, your laptop, documents and food with only two hands.
2. No keyboard shortcut for footnotes on the Mac version of Word, unlike on the PC. If you use footnotes really frequently, this rapidly gets annoying. even on the MBP, there was also a lag between typing and the letters appearing on the screen, quite slight but still a bit annoying. There may be better word processors out there for OS X, but..
3. If the people you have to send documents to can't read them, or they come out badly, it IS YOUR FAULT even if they are running Word 6 on Windows 95. Seeing as you will almost always be asking for something when you send a document out (journal or conference paper, feedback from tutor,funding application) you can't tell them to buy a mac
. In my case, seeing as I have to deal with people running Word on PCs, it's easier just using it myself rather than trying to remember which fonts don't print on Professor X's computer.
4. Kinda the same as Point 3, but for things like bibliography software - the the most often used package in your department/subject area is PC only (Reference Manager etc.) there might be problems importing and exporting to mac comaptible software. Not an issue for me, but it may be for the OP.
Anyway, for these reasons I got my Thinkpad - I don't want to turn this into
a mac vs pc thread, but just to share my experiences.
btw, I hardly ever see people with the MBA in the British Library - I'd say it's roughly evenly split between PCs, Macs, and netbooks, with netbooks probably having the largest share by a slight amount, fwiw.
Complex theories are being tested (hopefully) and there's a lot of data but it's not quantitative, so nothing that I have to use a computer for, and I'd imagine my situation is fairly typical in the humanities.
I faced the same question when the MBA came out (was then using a MBP) and in the end decided it wasn't for me - now I use a Thinkpad. I don't know if the reasons for my choice are relevant to the OPs use, but here they are:
1. No security slot on the MBA. So if you are in a research library, you can't secure it to the desk while you go for a coffee break (of which there will be a lot since you will likely spend the whole day there). Taking the computer with you to the cafe is a pain - it's another thing that has to be searched on entry and exit, and as proper bags aren't allowed in, you will have to somehow carry a cup, your laptop, documents and food with only two hands.
2. No keyboard shortcut for footnotes on the Mac version of Word, unlike on the PC. If you use footnotes really frequently, this rapidly gets annoying. even on the MBP, there was also a lag between typing and the letters appearing on the screen, quite slight but still a bit annoying. There may be better word processors out there for OS X, but..
3. If the people you have to send documents to can't read them, or they come out badly, it IS YOUR FAULT even if they are running Word 6 on Windows 95. Seeing as you will almost always be asking for something when you send a document out (journal or conference paper, feedback from tutor,funding application) you can't tell them to buy a mac
. In my case, seeing as I have to deal with people running Word on PCs, it's easier just using it myself rather than trying to remember which fonts don't print on Professor X's computer.4. Kinda the same as Point 3, but for things like bibliography software - the the most often used package in your department/subject area is PC only (Reference Manager etc.) there might be problems importing and exporting to mac comaptible software. Not an issue for me, but it may be for the OP.
Anyway, for these reasons I got my Thinkpad - I don't want to turn this into
a mac vs pc thread, but just to share my experiences.
btw, I hardly ever see people with the MBA in the British Library - I'd say it's roughly evenly split between PCs, Macs, and netbooks, with netbooks probably having the largest share by a slight amount, fwiw.
I'm just finishing off a PhD in history and there's nothing more involved (computer wise anyway) than large word files and pdfs with large images, pretty much any computer can handle it.
Complex theories are being tested (hopefully) and there's a lot of data but it's not quantitative, so nothing that I have to use a computer for, and I'd imagine my situation is fairly typical in the humanities.
I faced the same question when the MBA came out (was then using a MBP) and in the end decided it wasn't for me - now I use a Thinkpad. I don't know if the reasons for my choice are relevant to the OPs use, but here they are:
1. No security slot on the MBA. So if you are in a research library, you can't secure it to the desk while you go for a coffee break (of which there will be a lot since you will likely spend the whole day there). Taking the computer with you to the cafe is a pain - it's another thing that has to be searched on entry and exit, and as proper bags aren't allowed in, you will have to somehow carry a cup, your laptop, documents and food with only two hands.
2. No keyboard shortcut for footnotes on the Mac version of Word, unlike on the PC. If you use footnotes really frequently, this rapidly gets annoying. even on the MBP, there was also a lag between typing and the letters appearing on the screen, quite slight but still a bit annoying. There may be better word processors out there for OS X, but..
3. If the people you have to send documents to can't read them, or they come out badly, it IS YOUR FAULT even if they are running Word 6 on Windows 95. Seeing as you will almost always be asking for something when you send a document out (journal or conference paper, feedback from tutor,funding application) you can't tell them to buy a mac
4. Kinda the same as Point 3, but for things like bibliography software - the the most often used package in your department/subject area is PC only (Reference Manager etc.) there might be problems importing and exporting to mac comaptible software. Not an issue for me, but it may be for the OP.
Anyway, for these reasons I got my Thinkpad - I don't want to turn this into
a mac vs pc thread, but just to share my experiences.
btw, I hardly ever see people with the MBA in the British Library - I'd say it's roughly evenly split between PCs, Macs, and netbooks, with netbooks probably having the largest share by a slight amount, fwiw.
Hmm...
It seems that most of your issues are associated with the use of Microsoft products. OSX has, by far, the best LaTeX distribution I have seen. BibDesk plus Papers and TeXShop is an incredibly powerful setup, much more so than Word and its associated bibliography management software.
You should be sending out PDF documents in order to maximize compatability, not word documents. Annotations are simple enough.
I'm not sure where you go to school but we are not searched in anyway on campus. I'm glad I do not go to University where my 4th amendment rights are violated on a daily basis. Not sure what else to say about that... In any case, the light weight foot print of the machine makes portability a moot point.
To the OP, depending on your degree requirements - I think a MBA or MBP +SSD makes a lot of sense. Make sure you get some sort of cloud backup system, i.e. dropbox or backblaze with a time machine set up back home. Look into Papers which is linked in my sig. If you are doing a quant degree, I absolutely love Stata on OSX. Good luck...
I advise against a cloud based service. This is one of the "hottest" issues we discussed in my information security masters program. Ownership of your docs changes to the cloud service provider the second you upload them. I can say from personal experience that things such as google groups and the like are NOT secure (we had multiple breaches during a project). For my "cloud" based needs I use my own OSX server. I know there are tradeoffs, especially when you have your cloud based backup in the same location as your time machine backup (that is, your house). However, if you are suggesting cloud based storage simply for mobilities sake, I would very highly recommend using your own server.
I am ambivalent about cloud storage. I see the security concerns but doubt they would affect me much if at all. With a few exceptions nothing on any of my hard drives needs to be secure. The few files that do need to be secure, such as financial records are encrypted, anyway.
For the moment, at least, a 1Tb Time Machine on my network and Time Capsule handle my backup needs nicely. Although having the primary data and its backup stored on the same site is not ideal, doing so represents a small enough risk that it's a chance I am willing to take.
If I traveled as much as I once did I am sure that cloud computing would be of more interest to me than it is at the moment. These days, though, I travel very little so backing up via my network is good enough, despite the slight security concerns. If my house should burn to the ground, the loss of my computer data would be the least of my concerns.
I share your concerns. That is why any file that I would not feel comfortable posting on this message board, for example, is in a very secure TrueCrypt container. However, for academic purposes, dropbox should be sufficient. There's not a lot of personal information in my notes or term papers.
Just FYI, it is possible to configure a keyboard shortcut for footnotes on Word. You just have to do it via the script thingy, or through System Preferences.
Yeah, Word lets you configure keyboard shortcuts quite a bit if you go to it's keyboard options.
Im not at all into academics, but Im wondering whether the battery life matters in any way when you use the laptop in libraries and class rooms. In that case, be aware that the MacBook Airs battery life is significantly shorter than say, the 13" MacBook Pro. Just something to keep in mind.
Thanks for the responses guys. I do now think that the air is for me. I have the pro to cope with anything the air can't do. I am in no rush so am going to wait until i really have to get one and hope that a new version is out then. Is one reason that there hasn't been an update that the air can't be made any faster / better without compromising on the weight?
I wrote my PhD on a macbook air
Can you recommend any research organising / note organising programs. Any tips ?
I've been studying physics with the Open University for six years now and have done most of it using a mac of one form or another. At the moment I'm doing my final research project using an air and it's going very well.
The killer for me has been referencing external papers and Bookends has been a real time saver because a) it has a good set of functionality and b) it integrates really well with Word.
Ok, so this is a 6000 word writeup not a phd level paper but it's water off a ducks back to my MBA.
The killer for me has been referencing external papers and Bookends has been a real time saver because a) it has a good set of functionality and b) it integrates really well with Word.
Ok, so this is a 6000 word writeup not a phd level paper but it's water off a ducks back to my MBA.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11) Sprint PPC6850SP)
RexD: Did you write it in Pages, or Word?
(A few years ago, The New Yorker magazine had a long article about how MS-Word wasn't letting Phd. thesis writers follow -- was it the Oxford U. book on Phd formatting, that some colleges adopt as their standard? Something to do with 'Word' not letting one do the footnotes as the standard required.)
RexD: Did you write it in Pages, or Word?
(A few years ago, The New Yorker magazine had a long article about how MS-Word wasn't letting Phd. thesis writers follow -- was it the Oxford U. book on Phd formatting, that some colleges adopt as their standard? Something to do with 'Word' not letting one do the footnotes as the standard required.)
academic mac
I'm doing a PhD in ethnomusicology (just think of anthropology and music together if you have to ask what it is).
Doing field work and interviews, ethnographic work:
Here are my academic apps I used most:
1) Devonthink: nothing comes close to the quality of this data manager
2) Sente: think of it as a "iTunes" for pdfs, articles, references, etc. Also a Bibliography generator
3) Word Processor: Many people recommend Mellel--look into it. I used it for a while and it is good; and it marries well with Sente. I actually use DevonThink to write and then transfer to Pages if I have to send someone something. But plan to learn using Mellel for my dissertation.
4) Textexpander: Handy if you have to often input words with accents or have to italicize lots of the same words.
5) MacSpeech: there is one made especially for legal work. When you get tired of typing--there is a bit of a learning curve but I also get most of my best thoughts when I am speaking aloud---Also look into MacScribe: transcribes your recorded voice notes. If you have to transcribe interviews, I think you can somehow use MacScribe to help you--it can recognize up to 6 voice profiles. If not, you can also look into Transcribe! which will slow down your audio tracks. I think there is also something called Transcriptions.
Other Non-academic Apps I like
6) Quicksilver: a bit of a learning curve; but if you are a keyboard shortcut person then you might like it
7) BetterTouchTool: Trackpad gestures expanded; for lazy days when you only want to move only one of your hands.
8) SuperDuper: I use this and Time Machine. You cannot have enough redundancy for your PhD
I too wished for a Air, but I wanted the multitouch track pad of the MBP; the firewire connections (for my audio interface) and I needed 4G RAM for musical applications. I am hoping that in 5 years time, when I successfully defend my dissertation, I will reward myself with an Air which will be at that time more than enough for my needs (but not my desires).
I'm doing a PhD in ethnomusicology (just think of anthropology and music together if you have to ask what it is).
Doing field work and interviews, ethnographic work:
Here are my academic apps I used most:
1) Devonthink: nothing comes close to the quality of this data manager
2) Sente: think of it as a "iTunes" for pdfs, articles, references, etc. Also a Bibliography generator
3) Word Processor: Many people recommend Mellel--look into it. I used it for a while and it is good; and it marries well with Sente. I actually use DevonThink to write and then transfer to Pages if I have to send someone something. But plan to learn using Mellel for my dissertation.
4) Textexpander: Handy if you have to often input words with accents or have to italicize lots of the same words.
5) MacSpeech: there is one made especially for legal work. When you get tired of typing--there is a bit of a learning curve but I also get most of my best thoughts when I am speaking aloud---Also look into MacScribe: transcribes your recorded voice notes. If you have to transcribe interviews, I think you can somehow use MacScribe to help you--it can recognize up to 6 voice profiles. If not, you can also look into Transcribe! which will slow down your audio tracks. I think there is also something called Transcriptions.
Other Non-academic Apps I like
6) Quicksilver: a bit of a learning curve; but if you are a keyboard shortcut person then you might like it
7) BetterTouchTool: Trackpad gestures expanded; for lazy days when you only want to move only one of your hands.
8) SuperDuper: I use this and Time Machine. You cannot have enough redundancy for your PhD
I too wished for a Air, but I wanted the multitouch track pad of the MBP; the firewire connections (for my audio interface) and I needed 4G RAM for musical applications. I am hoping that in 5 years time, when I successfully defend my dissertation, I will reward myself with an Air which will be at that time more than enough for my needs (but not my desires).
let me just say THIS about THAT...
I hemmed and hawed before I started grad school about whether I was going MBA or MBP. I loved the feel and screen of the air and the weight, as previously mentioned, is moot. The SSD was incredible and I fell in love with that machine.
So why did I go with a 15' MBP rather than the MBA? Because my wife, who hates Macs anyway, went on and on about 4Gs of RAM and the machine won't last, blah, blah, blah....
Do I have a great computer? Absolutely. Bullet-proof and served me well.
Want to know where it stays most of the time? ON MY DESK AT HOME. The thing weighs a ton and has a wider footprint, etc.
I should have waited till school started but my mind said, "you better hurry up and get to know this machine." I ended up with a great machine, but not the best machine for my needs. I stay at school or go to my field placement and am in the field a lot and I cannot tell you how much I wish I got the MBA.
Don't listen to people about software who don't know that they are talking about. There are fantastic third party developers out there and in my opinion, the absolute best word processing software ever designed, Scrivener, is mac only. So, kookoo-ka-choo.
As soon as the MBA gets an update, this brick is history and a MBA is in my future. Personally, I think about selling this thing and buying a refirbished Rev C with SSD almost everyday.
That is all..
I hemmed and hawed before I started grad school about whether I was going MBA or MBP. I loved the feel and screen of the air and the weight, as previously mentioned, is moot. The SSD was incredible and I fell in love with that machine.
So why did I go with a 15' MBP rather than the MBA? Because my wife, who hates Macs anyway, went on and on about 4Gs of RAM and the machine won't last, blah, blah, blah....
Do I have a great computer? Absolutely. Bullet-proof and served me well.
Want to know where it stays most of the time? ON MY DESK AT HOME. The thing weighs a ton and has a wider footprint, etc.
I should have waited till school started but my mind said, "you better hurry up and get to know this machine." I ended up with a great machine, but not the best machine for my needs. I stay at school or go to my field placement and am in the field a lot and I cannot tell you how much I wish I got the MBA.
Don't listen to people about software who don't know that they are talking about. There are fantastic third party developers out there and in my opinion, the absolute best word processing software ever designed, Scrivener, is mac only. So, kookoo-ka-choo.
As soon as the MBA gets an update, this brick is history and a MBA is in my future. Personally, I think about selling this thing and buying a refirbished Rev C with SSD almost everyday.
That is all..
I am considering doing a phd later this year and don't really want to be carrying my mbp around with me to the library, to interviews, traveling etc. So needs to be light and portable.
It is a law based degree so any computer that I get will be used for writing and researching, no processor intensive design programs or anything like that.
Has anyone here got a mba for a research degree etc? What are your thoughts.
Yes, works fine with my doctorate needs
Is your degree a PsyD. as mentioned in your screen name?... if so, I'm surprised you didn't run into the same problems that I have discussed earlier. (my PhD is in I/O Psychology).
The MBA is great for just typing... I did my 120 page Master's Thesis on my MBA and it was great! The thinness of the case puts your wrists in a very comfortable position for typing. I thought I would need an external keyboard to type many pages at a time, but the MBA was the most comfortable typing experience I have ever had.
I have to agree that Scrivener is good. The reason I suggest Mellel is that works well with Sente. Also it was designed by academics for academic work.
We always want more. I don't think there are many people who REALLY need 4G RAM. It is a myth. I have 4G RAM, but I wish have more! Why? Because it is available--that is all. For school 13" is enough. Want a larger monitor, buy a external monitor.
Yes, I understand what you are going through. My 13" is even getting to be pain to carry around. If I ever get a academic job out of my PhD, the ideal set up would be this:
1) MBA
2) 22" or larger monitor
3) iPhone or iTouch for ultra light computing, field recording, lecture listening, etc
4) and a "mothership" to dump and store archival material--either a mac mini, or a 27" iMac which would take care of the need for a larger monitor monitor.
I actually try to envisage the iPad becoming my primary computer and it might be in 5 years time---only time will tell.
We always want more. I don't think there are many people who REALLY need 4G RAM. It is a myth. I have 4G RAM, but I wish have more! Why? Because it is available--that is all. For school 13" is enough. Want a larger monitor, buy a external monitor.
Yes, I understand what you are going through. My 13" is even getting to be pain to carry around. If I ever get a academic job out of my PhD, the ideal set up would be this:
1) MBA
2) 22" or larger monitor
3) iPhone or iTouch for ultra light computing, field recording, lecture listening, etc
4) and a "mothership" to dump and store archival material--either a mac mini, or a 27" iMac which would take care of the need for a larger monitor monitor.
I actually try to envisage the iPad becoming my primary computer and it might be in 5 years time---only time will tell.
The MBA is a great idea, but i do think that as a computer it is not value. I too am doing my D. Phil and have thought about an MBA. Can't quite bring myself to buy one. Price is too high for the convenience, even if it would be very convenient.
I had office compatibility concerns when I first got my MBA but those have been alleviated. I just always save as *.doc rather than *.docx and haven't had any issues.
As far as bibliographic software, that has been a slight issues since I use Endnote which is Win/Mac compatible while a lot of my colleagues use Reference Manager which runs on the Windows. They are basically the same program though, so reference databases can be transferred between people.
As far as bibliographic software, that has been a slight issues since I use Endnote which is Win/Mac compatible while a lot of my colleagues use Reference Manager which runs on the Windows. They are basically the same program though, so reference databases can be transferred between people.