Hello,
I will be attending A&M in the fall of 2017 and will need to buy a laptop. I know it is pretty early to look for something like this but I figured that it’d best to get an idea of what to buy.
@newrecruit - For engineering they post a list of “approved” laptops every year. Here’s the list for last fall, which I’m sure will be updated for next fall: https://engineering.tamu.edu/easa/areas/academics/byod/devices/2016-2017
If you will not be an engineering or hard science major, I don’t think there are any guidelines. Pretty much anything should work.
With the published guidelines, they are minimum guidelines for what you need for speed and hard drive capacity to run the programs engineering requires but you are not required to purchase through the university. My son purchased a higher version of a recommended one. . There was a day during Howdy week where he took his computer in and had Windows installed for like $10 and whatever else required. Make sure you buy the lightning USB adapter if you go apple.
He accidentally dropped it on its edge Monday before coming home from Thanksgiving and now has lines across his screen. Help Desk Central will repair non university computers and are open until midnight. There are private businesses that can also repair. Just know going in, if you buy an Apple, Apple Care does not cover any accidental damage.
@newrecruit I will be doing petroleum engineering in the Spring. I just bought the new 13 inch macbook pro with an i7 and 16gb of ram
What are the benefits of purchasing through A&M as opposed to buying a similarly spec’d computer from say Costco or some other retailer? Is this something that would be good to have prior to the NSC? When do the recommendations for the next school year come out? Anyone know?
I’m currently a freshman engineer. A LOT of people have macbooks, like probably a good third of people in my classes, even with the stigma that apple isn’t best for engineers. Most people don’t need dual boot either, though I’m not sure about later if other courses may require it. As for windows laptops make sure it matches the specs of the recommended computers and try to get something with a light weight, because you will walk/bike a ton daily. The specific laptop is really completely up to you, do not follow other people’s advice of brands because they tend to just be purely opinion. I picked a budget first and then maxed the specs that fit in it.