<p>I'm buying a Macbook Pro 13" for computer science and I'm wondering if I should buy an external screen for my programming assignments or if I should just go to the lab? What is your set-up like when you do programming assignments?</p>
<p>I think most of the time the schools provide you with everything you need. There’s so many operating systems out there that they can’t expect every kid to have the same, so I think you mostly go to the labs and use the school’s equipment for assignments.</p>
<p>Unless you have MouseVision I would get a humongous screen. As a professional software developer I have two 22" screens and could use a third. It is a lot easier on the eyes. 22" monitors are fairly inexpensive, look for one that has an ATSC tuner so you can watch TV too.</p>
<p>It’s purely personal preference. Some people prefer to go to the lab to work - nothing wrong with that. You can likely also remote access in to the lab machines, provided you have been given access. Personally, I’ve never given it much thought, using whatever was available. Some people get very serious about how workstations are configured, though, and I suppose it’s nice to have a hobby.</p>
<p>Do most people go to the lab in your computer science department (or those that you know of)? Or do most have an external screen? I was thinking that if I went to the lab I could maybe get to know the other computer science majors. I don’t want to buy an external monitor if I don’t need it</p>
<p>Are you sure you want a MacBook? Check dept recommendations for your school. It seems like many STEM majors steer toward Windows/Linux,.</p>
<p>Macbook, huh? Maybe you should also buy some GI Joes and a teddy bear. :-P</p>
<p>Yeah, I went there. Don’t get mad at me, if anything I’m preparing you for the Holy Wars you will walk into as a CS major. And what the guy above said is true: Windows and Linux are more popular among CS majors than Mac, but there are exceptions.</p>
<p>On a practical note, I should add that at some point in your CS education you will want to use Visual Studio, the greatest IDE ever made. (as a MS-hating Linux-lover, this was hard for me to admit) VS only runs on Windows. Just something to consider. Ask a CS advisor at your school. I know one guy in my class who only has Linux (no Windows) and has hassles with VS/C# which our entire project class is based on.</p>
<p>My personal recommendation for CS majors is to have a Windows laptop with a Linux partition. Classes always seem to favor either Windows (classes that use/require Visual Studio) or a UNIX/Linux running GCC (the GNU C Compiler). With a Windows/Linux machine you are pretty much guaranteed to never have problems, whereas an Apple machine MIGHT cause a problem when you want to use VS.</p>
<p>Many programs probably focus on Windows/Linux, and use Macs for developing mobile applications only.</p>
<p>Don’t make a linux partition. You can install ubuntu using wubi. It is going to install linux as any software in windows. Macs can be useful for developing apps for ipad and iphone.</p>
<p>Lets say that you go to Stanford. They have quite a few iOS classes which you can only program on Mac. They also got quite a few students quit school to start up software companies focusing on iOS. You don’t hear start up focusing on Windows. You can always run bootcamp on Mac. Xcode on Mac is as good as VS if not better in some areas. I have evaluated C# every year hoping to use it as a cross platform solution but the support is just not good enough on Linux.</p>
<p>OS X is fundamentally Unix. IIRC it’s a bunch of GUI atop Darwin (that sounds kinkier than it is). I think it’s BSD, which is pretty hard-core Unix. I have a windows machine on my desk at work along with a mac, and most of what I run on the latter is open source Unix software (which BTW is a really nice environment for R package development. Man, it was soooo much nicer configuring the mac than the windows machine. I think C and Perl and maybe even Tex, not sure about the latter, were already in there. Python comes with OSX, too). Another example of traditional Unix/Linux software that runs on macOSX pretty well is MacSpice for circuit design. To tell the truth, MacOS reminds me a bit of GNOME, which was a GUI that (I’m wracking my brain here) was atop Ubuntu, though it could have been on Debian distro. In any event, you can treat the mac like a Unix box when you’re not treating it like a Mac.</p>
<p>I guess part of my problem is I really don’t like partitions. I don’t know why. There might be a support group for that. :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Gnome can be found on several distributions of Linux. Ubuntu is Debian-based.</p>
<p>Don’t make a partition, just run Linux under Windows? What on Earth for?</p>
<p>Macs are completely fine for CS. As has been mentioned, they are Unix-based and can usually handle just about anything you would want to do *nix-wise. If you need Windows, you can either virtualize it or dual-boot for no extra cost (usually students can acquire free and legal copies of Windows).</p>
<p>In contrast to TomServo’s experience, most students at my school seem to have either Macs or ThinkPads running Linux. Most employees at major tech companies also seem to use one or the other. Point being: a Mac isn’t likely to cause issues any more than any other platform.</p>
<p>Comicstix “I’m wondering if I should buy an external screen for my programming assignments or if I should just go to the lab?”</p>
<p>At my son’s school they do almost all of their programming assignments on their own computers. He has a friend at another big state university that does most of his CS work in the lab. It may be one way or the other at your school. IMO, there’s no need to make this decision until after you are at school at decide where you prefer to do your work. </p>
<p>Personally, I don’t like using a laptop screen unless I’m on the road and am forced to do so. A 22inch screen can be purchased for $100-160 and IMO makes work much more efficient. Son #1 works at a company with a 2 screen setup but prefers the 3 screens that he has at his apartment.</p>