<p>I am going to be coming to UCF in the fall of 2011 as a new computer engineering major. I am an avid mac user and have been for some time. I do know however that for my major I might me better off with a PC. My question is, Is it better to have a PC vs a Mac for a CE major? If so, Should i get one my freshman year or wait till my sophomore year to see what I feel fit? If not, will the Mac be compatible with everything I need throughout my undergrad career as a CE major and will be just as good? And in general should I get all of my computer stuff before my freshmen year so I am already set up or would you recommend waiting till my sophomore year to get a feel for what others have? People with experience in this field feel free to PM me because there are more specific questions that I have about computer choices and other tech stuff. Please dont bring out the Mac vs PC bias debate because i am looking for straight facts to help my decision. Thanks a bunch!! =]</p>
<p>As someone looking into the same major, who’s been programming for her entire life basically, I’d recommend taking a PC and running away from ANYTHING mac related as FAST as you can. In a perfect world, you’d already know how to use Linux, which works great for programming, but otherwise, I’d DEFINITELY go with a PC. Mac is a more ‘user-friendly’ type computer for people who don’t know much about how to use a computer XD</p>
<p>For someone doing programming, you’re going to have tons of compatibility issues with a mac, and oftentimes find yourself unable to do things that can be done very quickly with the right software. You CAN use a mac, but it requires a lot of excess software and mods to get working with some of the most basic things.</p>
<p>If you CAN use Linux, DEFINITELY, otherwise, Windows is much, much better. If you can’t use Linux at all, I wouldn’t recommend trying until you have someone to officially teach you. It’s a long and drawn out process, though it goes a lot quicker for a programmer.</p>
<p>My other thought was to dual boot windows and mac. I could either do it with bootcamp or vmware. If i were to do this do you think i would be better off doing it straight on my internal HD or having an external one specifically for windows?</p>
<p>I picked up a lower-end laptop to use exclusively for my computer/programming/etc courses, to use in conjunction with my desktop PC. I’m formatting the laptop often to experiment with various Linux distributions, and don’t have to fuss with my PC. Of course, I keep a backup of all of my files on the PC and a USB drive. If you’ve got a couple hundred bucks to spare, it’s quite a nice resource to have!</p>
<p>ericiidx’s idea is pretty good if you’ve got the spare cash! Since it’s only for your courses, it might not need to be so labor intensive, I don’t think. I’ve heard that some programs in UCF’s Engineering department deal with pretty intense graphic simulations.</p>
<p>As for whether to deal with internal or external, I think that all depends on your personal preference and needs. I personally would create a partition on the internal HD, and use an external one for storage. I’ve never actually done one on an external, but I heard horror stories about things being erased due to non-compatibility and stuff when I was younger. It’s much better now though, than back then, so I’m sure you could if you wanted, but I can’t help much there =[</p>
<p>With VMware it just saves a copy of your windows partition as a normal file type on your mac os hd so i dont have to worry about formatting which is good. I have an old 320 gb external that i am going to use strictly for backups. I am debating a 500gb drive @ 7200 rpm or a 750gb drive @5400 rpm. How much difference in performance will I notice? I have currently a 320gb internal that is almost full so if i do go with the 500 i might need to invest in an external drive for extra space down the road where if i get the 750 i think i should be ok. Im really not sure how much the engineering files and whatnot will take up so if you can provide information on that it would be much appreciated. In regards to a separate laptop for programing, what would the advantages to that be? im not sure i have the extra cash so it would be taking away some specs from my main MBP if i were to get it.</p>
<p>Also, which version of windows to get to dual boot, 7 or xp. and of those, home, premium, etc…</p>