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.

Note: We use Google Apps for Education at Bucknell, which includes Google Docs. For many assignments, Google Docs will work perfectly for you - it's free, it's included with you everywhere you go, and it's always backed up!

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 are described below.

Microsoft Office 2010 (Win) or 2011 (Mac)   (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Highly recommended

The standard word processor, spreadsheet and presentation applications used on campus.
Office 2010: $100 through www.theultimatesteal.com 

Office 2011: $100 through www.theultimatesteal.com   

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,  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.