Engineering Students: What Kind of Laptop Did You Get?

[gstein]

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@desilu

DS has a Mac desktop. He enjoys the 24" screen. You can run the programs on the engineering dept. computers and use your Mac screen. You can load Windows on the hardware if you feel you must. I guess the specific software you use depends on your major.</p>

<p>You will find that Macs are competitive when you consider that they come with higher end hardware, and a .pdf creation software and other application software as part of the OS. If you don’t like Macs that is fine

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<p>I’m going to fight you on this one.</p>

<p>Everything you listed above is available on a PC: The big screen (obviously), the .pdf software (if that’s even a perk rather than a function), etc. The “higher end” hardware might be true in some cases when you compare base model to base model, however then you must factor in price. You can buy and install hardware upgrades for a base model PC that will make it run smoother, faster, and have better graphics than a Mac for that price differential when comparing base models.</p>

<p>Then, here comes the big whammy: software. Since this pertains to the engineering student, try running a commonly used program like SolidWorks on a Mac… you’re going to have issues. Then you must worry about installing windows, getting Bootcamp, or going to the engineering lab, etc. to run the windows-based software. It’s a big hassle that you can avoid by simply buying a cheaper and more practical PC.</p>

<p>Macs function wonderfully and have their place, just not to the general undergraduate engineering student.</p>