<p>I'm a HS student who's gunna graduate this year and enter college in the field of IE. I'm buying a laptop for college and I'm wondering what is the most appropriate OS for an industrial engineer, Mac or PC? or both (boot-camp)? I like the way how Mac is clean and virus free but I'm also afraid that it might not run the programs I'll be using in college. So far I've been thinking about buying a Apple/Mac Book Pro/MB134ZP/A, any suggestions? Thanks.</p>
<p>b u m p</p>
<p>It depends on what your school wants. Quite a few engineering programs recommend tablet PCs though, those are Windows only.</p>
<p>I'd just wait until the school you opt to go you mails recommendations. Then you can make an informed buying decision. Between that time the prices will only go down, so you should probably wait...</p>
<p>No one uses boot camp anymore. Buy parallels and you can run windows and leopard at the same time.</p>
<p>runs xp/vista in a separate window,actually.</p>
<p>if you don't want to do that,buy a windows based laptop.you need autocad,no? autocad is windows only.</p>
<p>AutoCAD'll run in Parallels. I use SolidWorks in VirtualBox on Linux all the time, and it works fine.</p>
<p>I tried Mac in a store and it wasn't that good.</p>
<p>You probably want to get a Dell XPS with a processor number above T8000. I customised one on the dell website, ending up with something like:</p>
<p>CPU: T8300 or something (I can't remember)
Memory: 4 GB at 667 Mhz
Harddrive: 320 GB
GPU: Nvidia 8600, 256 MB
Screen: 15.4 inches, 1920 x 1200 inches</p>
<p>The price was about $1,800. I really like its screen resolution and hard drive. If you use computers a lot, it is important that you have a good screen.</p>
<p>Avoid Thinkpads and anything else made by Lenovo. Right now I am using a Lenovo v200 and I totally regret that I bought it. If you delete Windows Vista that came with it and downgrade to XP, the installation process would be very unstable. Very noisy. Screen resolution is 1280 x 800 which is not enough.</p>
<p>I don't really agree with the previous poster. I have a t61p thinkpad, and it's been a completely amazing experience. Maybe it's because the previous poster got a lenovo-native computer, whereas the thinkpad is a carryover from IBM.</p>
<p>this topic has been done about 50 times in the past 6 months...</p>
<p>assuming your school does not require anything specific, as long as it has a discrete graphics card, it doesn't matter. all other hardware specifications is up to you.</p>
<p>for whatever doesn't work 100% in Parallels, you can use BootCamp.</p>
<p>
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Very noisy. Screen resolution is 1280 x 800 which is not enough.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The screen resolution is configurable. If 1200x800 isn't enough for you, then you should have realized that before making your purchase. Besides, it would be a problem with any laptop, regardless of the OEM. Buying a Macbook doesn't magically make screen resolution a non-issue. Moreover, Thinkpads are available with WSXGA (1440x900) and WSXGA+ (1920x1200) screens. If you wanted more pixels, you should've bought a computer with it.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you delete Windows Vista that came with it and downgrade to XP, the installation process would be very unstable.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That makes no sense at all. There's no such thing as an "unstable" install. Either it works, or it doesn't. In this case, it will work: since businesses need XP, there will be XP drivers available for the Thinkpads.</p>