Asus Zenbook UX530UX: this is how I use it at school

Some time ago the appeared Review of my Zenbook UX530UX from Asus, which I got mainly for school reasons. In this post I want to explain how I use it exactly for this area of ​​my life.

Specs of my model

My model is the one with the Intel Core i7 7500U. The hard drive is a 256GB SSD, the DDR4 RAM is 8GB. The graphics card is the GTX950 from nVidia. The OS is Windows 10 April 2018 Update. I am very happy with the performance of my device, in the almost five months of use I have only very rarely had any programs crash or anything similar.

Manage my files

I have all my data for the school saved in one central folder. In this I have created a further subfolder for each subject. All files that I save in these directories are synchronized directly with Google Drive thanks to Google's Backup and Sync Tool. So I can work on things from my smartphone or send files to my classmates with little effort. As a plan for the storage space on Google, I currently still use the free 15GB with the option to save photos on Google Photos without consumption. I am not currently thinking of expanding this plan.

Google Drive in combination with Backup and Sync has a number of advantages. The first is that I can use the usual Office 365 on my computer without having to move files around, and on my smartphone I have the customized G Suite apps from Google itself. The storage plans also offer more than those from OneDrive, for example, and are also cheaper. The last advantage is that I can open my project files for programming lessons using the normal Windows Explorer, even though they are backed up with Backup and Sync. Here, too, I am spared the annoying task of moving data around.

• World Backup Day: This is how I secure my data

I use this office suite

I mentioned it just before. I use Office 365 for documents, spreadsheets and presentations. I get the suite for free because my school sends a mailproprogram uses Office 365. But why don't I use the G Suite apps on my computer? This is mainly because I have been working with Office for a long time and am used to the structure of the programs. In addition, my teachers also use it in class, which is why I prefer to use Word, Excel or PowerPoint there rather than Google's services.

I use Office 365 for all my documents (screenshot: TechnikNews, 2018)

QT Creator for programming

I am currently attending a technical college in the computer science department, which is why programming is on my schedule quite often. For these lessons I use QT Creator because the school recommended it for programming in C and the teachers also use it in class. There are no other reasons why I use this software.

Evernote for all transcripts

I also use my Zenbook very often to take notes in class. The Windows 10 app from Evernote is used here as software. In terms of design, this is no longer the newest, but it still does what it is supposed to do. For me, there are three main reasons I prefer Evernote over OneNote. The first is the document scanner for the mobile app. I use this when the teacher draws something on the blackboard in order to complete my notes after the lesson. The second is that everything is a little more structured than it is in OneNote. The third reason is the many different formatting options. The feature of converting a text into a code block has often come in handy for me.

I can scan drawings with Evernote's document scanner (screenshot: TechnikNews, 2018)

Todoist to handle my tasks

As a student and class representative, you have a lot of tasks to complete. I use Todoist to keep track of them. For school, I have created my own project, which includes my individual subjects as sub-tasks.proprojects included. In addition, I then created labels especially for the school, which show me, for example, if a certain task is a homework assignment.

I use Todoist to keep track of my tasks (screenshot: TechnikNews, 2018)

I use Todoist on my smartphone and on my laptop via the Windows 10 app and the Chrome browser. I actually only use the app for Windows to check off tasks, as it has quite a few bugs.

• Tasks made easy: the smart Todoist in the Apptest
• Column: How I Use Todoist

Spotify and Netflix as a way to pass the time

Of course, I also need something to pass the break or a free period. Spotify and Netflix are used for this. I am a premium customer of Spotify because I would like to enjoy my music on the go without restrictions. With Netflix, I have a subscription for € 10,99 a month, with which you can stream in Full HD on up to two devices at the same time.