<p>I noticed that there is no specific computer requirement in the College of Engineering. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what specifically I should have when I arrive? My parents are probably going to get me a laptop for my graduation and they want to know specifics as to what they should get. Please be as specific as possible. Thanks.</p>
<p>corporate/business-class dell and lenovo laptops are the way to go.. they are generally more expensive than consumer class dell but they are more durable, reliable and stable..well worth the price, and definitely much better than overpriced macbooks and macbook pros that have inferior specs.</p>
<p>corporate class dell and lenovo include
dell latitude or precision series( precision is more high end workstations)
lenovo thinkpad series
I am currently using a dell precision m4400 mobile workstation. Bought it refurbished on ebay for $1100 and has core 2 QUAD (quad, mind you) 2.53 Ghz, a professional nvdia graphics card.. much better and faster than that piece of junk named macbook pro which would probably cost me more, has a much much inferior processor and consumer grade graphics card.</p>
<p>ooh and another thing against mac is you'll need matlab and minitab in COE and microsoft visual studio is also very useful at some point and i dont know about matlab but i am pretty sure macs dont run minitab and visual studio</p>
<p>Honestly, the specific computer you have doesn't really matter. But don't waste your money on a Mac.</p>
<p>Pc pc pc pc pc pc pc</p>
<p>Do they have any sort of set up at orientation where the university sells computers to the students based on the needs of the individual colleges or is it best to just buy it on your own before you get there?</p>
<p>err, here you go:
Michigan</a> Engineering | Personal Computer Support
U-M</a> Computer Showcase</p>
<p>this sells computers and programs (like microsoft office) to students at very low prices. the first link just contains suggestions for engineering students regarding computers.</p>
<p>Bearcats, check your information. The new macbooks can do everything a pc can (including running windows, if you feel so inclined). The processing power is more than enough for what the programs you'll need to be running, and they come equipped with come stocked with middle/upper tier nVidia cards. Yes, they are more expensive, but in comparison to other, cheaper laptops, they are also smaller, and more practical to have in your backpack. I've seen people around campus with monster laptops. </p>
<p>It's really a preference thing. Use whatever you're comfortable with.</p>
<p>"Bearcats, check your information. The new macbooks can do everything a pc can (including running windows, if you feel so inclined). The processing power is more than enough for what the programs you'll need to be running, and they come equipped with come stocked with middle/upper tier nVidia cards. Yes, they are more expensive, but in comparison to other, cheaper laptops, they are also smaller, and more practical to have in your backpack. I've seen people around campus with monster laptops. "</p>
<p>Actually, you should check YOUR information. macbooks regular are equipped with 8400GS which is a lower tier nVdia Graphics card (the first number is the generation and the 2nd number is the tier, GS also indicates low end, GT is the high end version) Upper tier are at least 8700 GT, and that is just considering consumer graphics card. Therefore, a speced out macbook has a low-tier consumer card.
Even a 17" macbook pro can hold a 8600GT if maxed out, which is considered a middle tier consumer graphics card, nothing in the "upper tier".</p>
<p>The dell precision m4400 15.4" can hold a Nvdia QUADRO FX1770M, which is the PROFESSIONAL VERSION (QUADRO is the professional version while geforce is the consumer version) of 9700GT (take notice to the first number, it means newer generation, and second number , 7, indicates high end) , which is a high end PROFESSIONAL card made for stability. Also, a dell precision can hold up to 3.06 ghz extreme dual core or 2.53ghz QUAD CORE (QUAD , 4 cores, mind you), while the maxed out 17" macbook pro can only hold 2.6 ghz dual max.. The 15.4" dell precision is about the same size, price as the 15"macbook pro while more the twice the power just based on specs.</p>
<p>Try rendering with a macbook (or even macbook pro) vs a M4400 and you'll see the difference. (and depending on what engineering you are into, you might need to do rendering).</p>
<p>and what's the point of paying extra price for an inferior laptop running mac in order to run windows to run your necessary programs? The only edge mac has is the eyecandies...and as an efficient seeking IOE major, I could care less</p>
<p>Bearcats, in a mac your paying for far superior customer service than what you can get with a PC. Also paying to not have to use faulty Windows as an OS. Price is comparable to quality.</p>
<p>Rendering? On a laptop? Why would want to do that? If you are truly trying to be efficient, you're better off buying a desktop, since it'd be cheaper and more powerful than most laptop equivalents. Again, the point of a laptop is to have something light and easy to carry to and from class. Obviously when you buy a compact computer, you'll be compromising power.</p>
<p>If you would check the apple's website, they do offer many upgrades for video card. Even the stock options (im looking at the macbook pro) perform relatively well. I haven't the faintest clue where you get your information from, but the stock 8600 that comes on a macbook pro is more than enough for any college student.</p>
<p>2009grad: It really depends on what you're looking for. In terms of quality, the mac line of laptops is top notch. They are quiet, durable, powerful and light. Many of my friends who own various brands of non-macs are loud (fan noise can be a bother), and relatively huge (It's rediculous that it takes up half of their backpack), which in my opinion kills the purpose of having a laptop. Michigan WILL allow you to run the necessary programs, in one form or another, on a mac, so don't worry about things like that.</p>
<p>"Rendering? On a laptop? Why would want to do that?"
Because I can? My m4400 with QUAD 2.53ghz and quadro can render faster than 99% of the desktops, and is smaller and lighter than the macbook pro.</p>
<p>"in a mac your paying for far superior customer service than what you can get with a PC"
Maybe you should try to business line laptops from lenovo or dell. next business day onsite service for 3 years.</p>
<p>"Also paying to not have to use faulty Windows as an OS. Price is comparable to quality"
yet you end up running windows on your mac to run all the engineering applications such as minitab, matlab, visual studio, because your computer comes with a crappy OS that is not compatible with 90% of the softwares in the world</p>
<p>"I haven't the faintest clue where you get your information from, but the stock 8600 that comes on a macbook pro is more than enough for any college student."
I am a senior student computer consultant at caen (basically the IT department of north campus sparing the dorms)</p>
<p>oh and btw Nvidia's</a> 8-Series GPU Failures - Am I At Risk And What Can I Do?
late last year nvidia admitted that the 8series gpus are defective due to weak material in the conductor which basically causes massive gpu meltdown at a very high rate. Shame on apple for still keeping it on the flagship laptop until last month while everyone else move onto the 9-series</p>
<p>"they do offer many upgrades for video card."
no they dont. Even on their 17" they offer 9400 and 9600 GT. 9400 is a downgrade from 8600GT and 9600GT is just the newer series of 8600GT that works as the SAME bandwidth and frequency
and 8600 is not enough for any college students. Ask a computer engineering major and you'll see why</p>
<p>You can ssh/remote desktop into CAEN computers with pretty much all the software you need, no matter if you're on OSX or Windows or Linux.</p>
<p>except you need connection to start ssh and remote desktop to start with. isnt that another constraint? If i were to spend money, I'd get something that'd allow me to do the most whenever i want</p>
<p>Where do you plan on working, the middle of the woods? Pretty much anywhere you're going to be trying to get work done will have wireless.</p>
<p>Bearcats: I don't follow your logic. As someone who works in the IT department, you MUST know that using a desktop is more efficient for hardware intensive tasks, such as rendering. And no, i'm not talking about the generic desktops that you can buy off the shelves, i'm talking about the kind that are DESIGNED for this purpose in mind. The most I can see a person using their laptop for is minor tasks. </p>
<p>Are you really trying to praise Dell's tech support? They've been in the news for having some of the worst support around. You're being TOO nitpicky with apple, especially</a> they have acknowledged and are willing to fix the problem. Reading your article, it's not just apple (Dell, among other companies) who had the problem, either.</p>
<p>I usually line up on the side of the PCs in these debates (and you can tell the partisan lines have been formed already...) </p>
<p>However, the truth is you don't need anything specific. Buy whatever you want. There are really limiting characteristics that you need for CoE.</p>
<p>dell and lenovo took the 8series off all the lines back in october and switched to 9-series. Apple waited till last month. Oh and just so you know. Quad 2.53 and my quadro card rivals almost ANY desktop DESIGNED for the purpose. that's why it's CALLED MOBILE WORKSTATION. and better of all it's much more powerful, smaller , lighter and more robust (magnesium alloy vs aluminum) than a macbook pro and in the same price range.</p>
<p>dilksy, you must not have lived in bursley. Because if you have, you should realize how often the internet goes down... So If you are up late in bursley on a very very cold night trying to finish an assignment due the next morning (which happened to me a lot for IOE 366 lab in the winter) and trying to remote desktop and use minitab and the internet goes down (ITCS dont fix internet off office hours)....you are out of luck. again, why put a constraint on yourself?
Oh and try to remote desktop and use RHINO, you'lll lag the hell out and wont be able to do your designing.</p>
<p>"Are you really trying to praise Dell's tech support? They've been in the news for having some of the worst support around."</p>
<p>that's for their consumer line computers. For consumer line computers they have call centers in india who would never understand your problem and then you have to ship it to them (that's why if you read my previous posts , I said buy dell business line or lenovo busniness line)</p>
<p>the dell business line service is unrivalled just so you know since they realize that's where their money's at.</p>
<p>btw lenovo is known for having the best service, much better than apple since they are catered for business users</p>