Our Kind Of Backpack (TM)

Below are Professor Wickman’s recommendations:

1. Organizing your email is huge. Your workflow in Apple Mail will serve you till the ripe old age of thirty. Create both regular and Smart mailboxes to help you parse and organize your incoming email, and make sure you’re set up with an IMAP Gmail account, instead of the older POP format, so your computer talks intelligently to the server, and doesn’t just drag mail one way in a messy, abrasive net.

2. For word-processing, presentation creation and spread-sheets, iWork is an amazing toolset. It’s a hundred bucks cheaper than Microsoft Office, but has all the same functions, and more! Plus, some outlets will give it out for free with the Back-to-school purchase of a Macbook. Useful!
   
3. Snow Leopard was released at the end of August, and for just 35 dollars (the amount any given student wastes on friday night drinks), it will significantly boost your machine’s speed and performance. Technically, you can even upgrade from Tiger with the 35-dollar disc, but you didn’t hear it from me.

4. The AppleStore extends a discount to students purchasing new MacBooks during back-to-school. Combined with one of their payment plans, this could put a machine in your hands in time for the first lecture. Trust me – school goes a lot smoother with a laptop in your bag instead of ten binders.

5. Of course, owning a MacBook shouldn’t just be about taking notes. If you and your friends are watching videos, and finding that the screen dims every two minutes, a handy free application called “Caffeine” from Lighthead will solve this for you. Just click on the little coffee cup to fill it, and your screen won’t dim till you empty the cup. Handy!

6. Backup your data! Leopard and Snow Leopard both come with Time Machine – a simple and phenomenally useful backup tool. If you can afford to grab a $150 external hard-drive, having the peace of mind backups provide is a no-brainer.

7. Surf on over to www.apple.com/pro/tips or drop by Macinhome’s own tip page, to get the most out of your Mac.

8. The iPhone 3G has dropped down to $99 a unit, as long as you sign your livelihood away for a 3-year plan – and why not? This device is incredibly handy for taking your contacts and calendars with you everywhere you go. Email and maps don’t hurt either, if one can afford a data plan.

9. Tofu is a handy Application that reformats text documents to make them more readable. Handy when decoding illegible junk from your prof.

10. Finally, once you do grab that affordable iPhone, here are three handy Apps for students to carry with them on the go:
    MobileTranslator - will help you with your language requirement. Translate any word into any language
    Convert – will convert any value into its equivalent in another denomination.
    Cambridge Talking Dictionary – a dictionary that speaks the words you want aloud.

Go forth, children, and be fruitful in your quests for knowledge. And let that fruit be an Apple.