I was accepted into computer science engineering and I will be attending in the fall. I have been using a macbook for the past couples years for schoolwork (inlcuding my AP comp science class for basic code in Java) and whatever else. However, I saw on a thread somewhere that everyone advised against using macs. What laptops would you recommend?
I’m not looking to drop a fortune on this, just looking for something that will work well for anything that I may need to get done for my classes, I’ll probably continue to use my macbook for personal stuff.
My daughter is a third year at OSU and I will tell you what she discovered. No matter which laptop you decide on, make sure it is a lightweight one! She didn’t like carrying the heavier laptop around campus as it eventually will put too much strain on your body. Good luck at OSU in the fall. My younger daughter will also be attending this fall as a First Year Engineering major.
my older son is a CS major at UT and we just had this conversation. Macs are not good; get a laptop with as much RAM as you can put on it - his has workd for 3 years of heavy duty programming.
Current first year in Computer Science and Engineering at OSU. I currently have a Mac Book Pro, and it works great. CSE is very relaxed on computer requirements. In fact they use linux servers which are far easier to interface with using a Unix machine (OS X). The only problem is that the fundamentals of engineering class uses Solidworks which will not work on a Mac. That said, I purchased a student copy of Parallels and it works great! A Mac works great for CSE, and in the real world a lot of companies will use one. The computer I brought with me (Windows laptop) died about 8 hours before my first class, and the next day I bought the MacBook Pro because it was the best option available.
I would use the MacBook you have until you absolutely cannot get on without it. Saves money too. Something with at least 8GB of RAM and an SSD is always nice if you are purchasing a new computer.
Most laptops are very bad and will break in 2-3 years (MacBooks being one of the only exceptions). However, I would NOT recommend limiting yourself only to a Mac. My personal recommendation would be to use your Macbook for general usage, notes, basic programming, but then get a solid Windows desktop for your dorm.