Joda----"I need to write mandarin when I start, and if I have to write assignments on 2 pages or more writting them in my hand will make me crazy,"

Like Psycam suggested, Windows XP and type into MSWord with the language setting on Mandarin (simplified). IMHO though, it's tedious to use MSWord because the computer tries to guess ahead of you and inserts words that you don't really want. I only used it when my teacher demanded that we type out our assignment. Some of my classmates just wrote it out.

Writing is actually much faster once you are familiar with the characters. You will need to learn to write because so much of the language is expressed through the characters. Over the years they changed the teaching of mandarin so many times with emphasis on memorising to pin yin back to memorising.

At the end of the day it is just practice and more practice. I find when I don't practice writing, I forget even simple words because it's all based on memory.