My very first Bible study program was BibleWorks 9, back before its untimely demise. While I still believe BibleWorks was the best value for all the features that came packed into the program, it was a beast. At that time, I was a college student with a cheap Walmart laptop, and BibleWorks was definitely not the best program for my laptop’s limited capabilities. It actually got worse when a couple of years later I upgraded to a MacBook Pro. After BibleWorks closed their doors, I began looking for my next Bible program. This time I didn’t want to make the same mistake, so I went on the search for the best Bible program for laptops.
Accordance is the best Bible software for running on your laptop. This program is not taxing on your computer’s processor or graphics card. It doesn’t require a lot of memory, and you can run the program on pretty much any computer or laptop, as long it’s up to date.
There are, however, a few ways that you can optimize Accordance’s performance on your laptop or your older machine. If you’re looking for a way to speed up your program, even if you have a ton of modules added to your library, keep reading!
Please note: This is not a sponsored post and there are no affiliate links. Accordance hasn’t payed me to write this article. When I was looking for a Bible program that would run like butter on my older laptop, Accordance is the program I chose and I haven’t looked back. Everything you read here is simply my own experience. I hope it helps you out!
Why Accordance is the Best Bible Software For Your Laptop
When it comes to Bible computer programs, there are dozens for you to choose from. But two names rise to the top, the cream of the crop. These programs are approachable enough for church laypeople, or people who just want to learn more about the Bible. But they are packed with enough features to benefit seasoned pastors and seminary students. Both programs offer enough content and features that allow you to grow in your study. You can pretty much go as deep as you want to go, or as deep as your budget will allow you.
But there is a striking difference between the two. Logos, like BibleWorks mentioned at the start of this post, is a beast of a program. Technically speaking, the program only requires 2GB of RAM and 30GB of internal hard drive storage (check out Logos’s minimum requirements). That’s it.
But here’s the thing. If you 8GB of RAM installed in your computer, you’re likely going to run into some serious performance issues. Yes, you have four times more RAM than is technically required. But you don’t meet Logos’s recommended requirements. You can find those here.
So. Does Logos run smoothly on a laptop? Most likely not. If your laptop has 16GB of RAM, a 512GB solid state drive, a dedicated graphics card, and an i7 core processor, then you will be able to run Logos no problem. The fact is, most laptops do not boast these kinds of stats. You’re essentially going to need a beefed-up gaming laptop just to run the program without any performance issues.
This brings us to Accordance. With similar features to Logos and a rapidly-growing library of resources, you’re getting a computer program comparable to Logos. The difference is, Accordance is not taxing on your computer’s system. In fact, the only minimum requirements is that you have at least Windows 7 on your PC or OS X 10.7 (Lion) on your Mac. Which at this point, if you’re still running Windows Vista or Snow Leopard, you have other problems to solve before you purchase any kind of computer program.
So here’s the bottom line. If you have a computer, you can run Accordance. If you have the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro, or if you have a 2010 HP laptop from Walmart, Accordance will run just fine. Well, it will run as well as your computer runs.
With that, let’s move into some performance tips to help you get the most out of Accordance. I assume these tips will also help with Logos, if you already own that program and are looking for ways to speed it up. That said, Accordance is the program that I settled on and it’s the one that I’m familiar with. If you want to apply these tips to Logos, you’ll have to apply them in theory and not in practice, as I have no idea what settings you’re able to change with Logos or how you would go about changing them.
Optimize Your Starting Screen For Blazing Fast Startup
Accordance is a very flexible program, and pretty much lets you customize your entire experience. One of the most helpful customizations, especially when it comes to increasing performance on your laptop, is the startup options.
You can find your startup options by opening the “Preferences” menu and navigating to the “General” tab. This lets you set the workspace that Accordance will launch every single time you start the program. Be careful here. By default, this is set to “Last Session.” This setting can be helpful, especially if you’re in the middle of a project. Sometimes you just want to jump back into the program and pick up right where you left off. But that’s not always the best option for optimized performance. Here’s why.
It’s very easy to jump into Accordance, start opening up modules and resources, and ending up with several workspaces, each with its own tabs and panes. Now this is an issue for optimization in and of itself, and one that we’ll touch in the next section. But keep in mind that if you have several modules open when you close Accordance, if you have “Last Session” selected, it’s going to have to open all of those modules again the next time you launch the program.
This really isn’t a big issue. It will cause Accordance to take a few extra seconds to launch, and it may be a bit sluggish at first while the program warms up. But it will still run just fine on your laptop. So if the “Last Session” setting really is the best option for you and for the way you work, then by all means leave it selected. Just know that the next time you start it up it may be a little bit slower than normal.
If, however, you’re looking for a way to maximize Accordance’s speed, you may want to change this to something else. If you use an Accordance module for devotional reading or to keep track of your reading plan, you can set Accordance to open to any “Daily Reading” workspace so it’s right there for you, ready to jump in. If you have a particular workspace arrangement that you enjoy, you can set your start screen to a custom workspace of your choosing.
My favorite startup option is “Default Search Tab.” I have my default search tab set to the NRSV with Strong’s. This means every time I open up Accordance, regardless of what I was doing in my previous session, I’m greeted with a blank slate. Genesis 1:1 in the NRSV. From here, I can go anywhere in the Old Testament, New Testament, or even Apocrypha using my favorite translation. I can instantly pull up additional texts, parallel panes, and other resources as necessary. This doesn’t work for me all the time. Sometimes I’m working on an extended project and I need to continue working on the same session the next time I sit down to work. But as a general rule, I find that Accordance starts up faster when it has less modules to open up right away.
Manage Your Tabs and Workspaces For Consistently Powerful Performance
This one is a tough one for me. Here’s what happens to me every single time I’m in Accordance. And what I know happens to you too. Don’t try to pretend it doesn’t! I double-click on things. I right-click on things. I amplify things. I click hyperlinks. I follow my curiosity wherever my curiosity leads me. If my screen gets too cluttered, I often end up opening a second workspace just because I don’t want to close out of anything. Before long, I have tons of resources open across dozens of tabs and multiple workspaces. When this happens, I notice my laptop starts to get a little bit hotter than normal. It still runs just fine, but I know I’m starting to push Accordance to its limit.
I’m not going to tell you to try to work in a more organized way, or to keep better track of your tabs, or don’t open multiple workspaces. I’m not going to tell you that because there’s no way I can tell myself that. Part of the beauty of Accordance, and of the Bible in general, is the fact that a whole world of exploration is open in front of you. You are free to go anywhere and everywhere. I don’t want you to limit that curiosity by trying to apply some sort of organization to your tabs and workspaces. Accordance does a pretty good job organizing all of that for you.
But here’s what I’m warning you against: don’t keep open tabs that you’re finished with. If you want five versions and three commentaries open on one workspace, and an Atlas and a few dictionaries open in another workspace, that’s totally fine. As long as you’re using them all.
What I often find myself doing is opening a Bible to start with, then opening a few dictionaries, then opening another Bible just because I’m too lazy to go find my previous tab. This leads to a workspace full of Bibles just sitting there, open and forgotten about.
When you jump into Accordance, I encourage to go all in. Unleash your creativity and follow your curiosity. But just remember that you don’t need 15 ESVs open all at once. Every thirty minutes or so, take a look at your tabs and workspaces. Ask yourself if there’s anything you can close. Doing so will help you improve your machine’s performance, even if only slightly. And let’s be honest, it’ll help you be more productive in the long run.
Keep Your Program AND Your Modules Up to Date
There’s something else I do just about every time I open up Accordance. Something else that I know you do, too. I get that “It’s time to update!” popup and click “Remind Me Next Time.” It’s so tempting to constantly put off updating your Accordance software or your individual modules so that you can get right to work. But taking the time to make sure your program is up to date will help maintain optimal performance on your laptop.
Accordance is always working on their software to improve performance and minimize bugs. Anytime there’s a software update available, you should definitely update your program as soon as possible. But here’s the thing that many people ignore. Accordance often updates individual modules.
At first glance, it may not seem necessary to update your modules. After all, you already have the 2011 NIV. You won’t need to update it until the next revisions are published, right? Nope, you’ll definitely want to grab those updates as soon as they’re available. Accordance is only as optimized as its individual modules.
If you keep everything up to date and in tip-top shape, from the base software to all of its resources, you’ll have no problems running Accordance on pretty much any computer, regardless of its processing capabilities. Click here to check out Accordance today!
If you use a program besides Accordance, help someone else out down in the comments below. Do you have an experience running it smoothly on a laptop? What are some of your performance optimization tips?
