Software to Consider

Once you have purchased your laptop you will want to think about the software that you plan on using during your time at Bucknell.

Even though your Bison laptop comes preinstalled with some software applications you may want to consider purchasing some other popular applications.

FAQ: What is on the Bucknell image on my Bison Laptop?

Microsoft Office is the standard application most heavily used across campus. Other applications are available on all campus lab computers but can be purchased for your laptop at educational discounts before and after arriving on campus. The most popular applications that students purchase include:

Microsoft Office 2007 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) -

The standard word processor, spreadsheet and presentation applications used on campus.  Estimated cost: $85 through the Journey's Ed discount. Note: OpenOffice, an open source office suite, is available for download for no charge.

Mozilla Thunderbird email

A terrific full-featured highly customizable email program is installed on Bison Laptops and can quickly be configured for use at Bucknell through the shortcut on your desktop. Read more on what email services are offered at Bucknell. Cost: $0

Labs will have all of the other software that you will need. Some people find that they use some applications so heavily that they prefer to buy their own copy - that is something that you can decide at any time.

Note: Open source software can frequently meet your needs and it does not cost anything! Some examples include OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org), which is a free office suite, Thunderbird email (see above), GIMP for Windows (http://www.gimp.org/windows/) for photo editing, etc. But note that we cannot support open source software and it may not work for all assignments. 

If you have any questions about software, please contact us at 570-577-7777 or bisonlaptop@bucknell.edu.