Computers for engineering majors.

College Life
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<p>I read a couple of threads about people buying computers and there is a sense about what engineering and cs majors need in terms of computing that clashes with my experience as an electrical engineering major. This would result in paying a significantly higher amount of money than is necessary.</p>

<p>For my major I have needed/used the following pieces of software:
MATLAB with Simulink (numerical computations and simulation)
LTSpice (simulation of electric circuits)
gcc w/ notepad++ (writing C and C++ code and compiling it)
MPLAB (programming microcontrollers)
TexnicCenter (pdf report generator, very useful for getting equations to look nice)
OpenOffice (free version of microsoft office for when I don't feel like taking the extra time with TexnicCenter)</p>

<p>Some that I anticipate needing next year:
FPGA programmer (probably Xilinx's)
Python environment (if this is not correct python lingo, my apologies, as I have never used python before)</p>

<p>Of those the only one that comes close to being annoyingly slow is MATLAB, but this has more to do with properties intrinsic to the software itself, rather than anything to do with my computer. If I had a 3.8GHz processor quadcore rather than a 2.1 dualcore, this would not improve things as MATLAB does not take advantage of multiple cores, and the less than 2x speed increase with 3.8 as opposed to 2.1, is minor, usually more care when writing code leads to improved speed. </p>

<p>GCC w/ notepad++ can be replaced with the IDE of your choice, but this will not noticeably affect computer speed. I have used visual studio, and the change in speed was negligible. </p>

<p>Programs that friends of mine have used:
AutoCAD
Solidworks
A computational fluid dynamics(CFD) (Fluent I think) simulator
A chemical molecule simulator (Spartan I think)
Mathematica
Some extremely expensive ICE design software that I cannot remember the names of.</p>

<p>of these, Solidworks, the CFD simulator and the chemical molecule simulator are slow (this is intrinsic to what they are trying to do, not a fault of the programmers). However, the cost of these pieces of software is much higher than the cost of the computer. </p>

<p>The main parts of the computer that affect performance are RAM, processor and the graphics card. For engineering programs, RAM is the significant factor here as these programs consume lots of memory. Processor speed does not have significant effects here, and the graphics card does not as these programs are not written to take advantage of features that newer graphics cards have.</p>

<p>My advice on computer specs to get are:
2-2.5GHz processor
2.5+ GB of RAM
200+ GB on the HDD (This will vary depending on how many movies, pictures and songs you keep, but 200GB is a good minimum.)
Minimum 3 USB2.0 ports (I have actually needed all three at the same time occasionally)(if you can get at least 1 3.0 port, soon devices will want 3.0., but there will most likely be very few)
HDMI over VGA for an external monitor interface, but have a VGA adapter ready.
As for getting a bluray drive, this would be personal preference. </p>

<p>A graphics card is unnecessary, unless you are an avid gamer or heavily use photo/movie editing software. If you are going to get one (only for engineering, CS and science majors), I would suggest an nVidia graphics card that supports CUDA. CUDA is an extension of C that allows people to force the computer to move certain operations to the graphics card where they will be more efficient. This is a useful skill to have.</p>

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<p>I forgot to add, if you don’t mind spending the extra money, getting a mac that dual boots into windows is probably a better idea than getting a really expensive PC.</p>

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<p>Great post. I’m actually a CS major with CE minor, and agree with everything you’ve said. Before starting college, I bought a 13" white macbook. Probably a stupid decision, but I got lucky and it turns out that the entire CS faculty use macs for personal and work use. It actually turned out to be an advantage, since I had a native UNIX terminal, which turns out to be incredibly useful in most classes. My advice on the CE side, is to invest in at least 4Gigs of RAM. Logicworks, Pro E, AutoCAD, Xilinx or anything else that you’re going to need that is simulation based, will need a ton of RAM.</p>

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<p>Wow, thanks for the post! I’m an incoming CS freshman and I had no clue what to get for my laptop… Thanks for the very detailed list of programs and pros/cons! :O</p>

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<p>just bumping this because it’s amazingly helpful</p>

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<p>yes this was very helpfull
i have a question smilodon
I will be going into Computer engineering, and i would like to know if it is necessary/more convenient to have a laptop
personally i preffer a desktop, but if a laptop is necessary then i will go for the laptop</p>

<p>if i buy a mac and a pc (yes i read your second post, but im looking for a laptop + desktop combo comparison, not the different OS’s), would it be better to buy a macbook pro + windows desktop or windows laptop + imac (the prices are about the same for both combinations)</p>

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<p>It will depend on your school’s culture. At my school, professors prefer that students don’t bring laptops to class. Any software that we need for our classes is readily available at the school. However, I have heard that at some schools, having a laptop is a virtual necessity. </p>

<p>Since you are going into computer engineering a windows laptop + mac desktop would be better. Lots of engineering software only works/works better in Windows and you will be doing work in groups, where you will use a laptop, unless the studying occurs only in your dorm.</p>

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<p>Unrelated question: How did you get notepad++ with gcc?</p>

<p>Or： how to get notepad++ for linux or gcc for windows?</p>

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<p>Cygwin
\10char</p>

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<p>Was going to get the HP envy 14, but they changed the options so you have to pay an extra $200 for the 1600x900 screen. Possibly buying the MPB now over the Envy 14.</p>

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<p>If you’re into GCC you’ll like OS X :slight_smile: </p>

<p>I think if you’re taking physics, math… you should have a tablet >> </p>

<p>NUFF SAID!</p>

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<p>@wwlink: There are considerations when purchasing computers other than what OS’s come with what compilers. Also cygwin is fairly easy to download.</p>

<p>@martone: My purpose in creating this thread was to give advice on the computer specs, not specific models. I am not familiar enough with specific models to give good advice on which ones to get.</p>

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<p>I wonder if the new AMD Fusion will have the power to do the job…it’s still a netbook though but has improved a lot… I am thinking about a 400-600 desktop pc (yes you can get quad cores with this amount of money) and a Fusion netbook to carry arround… is that possible?</p>