<p>Hey everyone. I plan to major in either bioengineering or chemical engineering at UMD - college park. As my high school graduation present my aunt said she will get me any laptop I want. Id like to know that if you could get any laptop you wanted for free what would you get. I'd like a Mac although I saw that some engineering programs don't run at all on it. So please answer if you have any idea. Especially if you are a current engineering student. </p>
<p>Please be specific!!</p>
<p>Solidworks is the only thing that I can think of that only runs on Windows. I think that would be something you would be using more in mechanical engineering. Also, keep in mind that the engineering lab computers will have all of this software and you might not have it on your own computer due to cost (depending on what the university provides). Does the university or engineering department have guidelines for student computer choices?</p>
<p>Try the dell xps 15 , or something in the thinkpad lineup. There is no beating windows in terms of productivity</p>
<p><em>cough</em> Linux *cough.
Depends on the field, actually. CS people hate Windows, generally, and stick to Unix systems (Mac or Linux).</p>
<p>nanotechnology is correct. Check out college lectures by CS professors. 99% of them use OS X; I know all of my professors recommend it. Windows is just not developer friendly. </p>