<p>I would appreciate suggestions and recommendations (if you have one that is working well for you) for a freshman in Clark School of Engineering that will last all 4 years but given the speed of technology these days, who knows... So should we get the latest model and pay a premium or should we go for a good one for 3/4 of the price?? Thanks</p>
<p>If you decide to go with PC, the good brands are usually Asus, Sony, and Samsung. Lenovo is pretty good also. Stay away from Dell, Toshiba, and Acer. If you really wan’t something to last all 4 years, if not more, your best bet is Mac</p>
<p>Keep in mind some manufacturers, if you buy directly from them offer student discounts. I know Apple does, and probably Dell as well.</p>
<p>You can buy a computer at the Terrapin Technology Store on campus: [ACT</a> - Academic Computers for Terps](<a href=“http://www.act.umd.edu/]ACT”>http://www.act.umd.edu/)</p>
<p>They offer a student discount and a very nice warranty (4 years). If your computer needs repair, they will provide a loaner, and repairs are processed on campus and provided by vendor-certified technicians.</p>
<p>It looks like the Campus store only stocks Mac and Dell so if we go the PC route, choices are limited. I had the impression that Macs are not ideal for engineering students since a lot of the programs used are much more PC friendly (based on questions to my 2 older kids who are not engineers but has engineering friends).</p>
<p>If you dual-boot, that argument goes out the window.</p>
<p>If you are an engineering major you need to get a PC especially if you are aerospace. All the programs used are on PC not Macs.</p>
<p>Could you not use boot camp and then run the programs as you would on a pc without problems?</p>
<p>Yes you can.</p>
<p>Bootcamp will work fine, but Parallels Desktop allows the user to run both Windows and Mac at the same time. If you get a Mac, go for 8GB+ RAM for memory if you plan to do this.</p>