<p>MacBook or MacBook Pro. I’ve been very happy with the one I bought two years ago, especially compared to the HP and Dell laptops I had before it. If you need Windows for a particular program, simply install it through Boot Camp. </p>
<p>Irrationally hate of Apple follows:</p>
<p>I have to say that HP is definitely more durable than Dell. I also think Dell tends to be more expensive sometimes… but I guess that could be said for all of them. After recalling my cousin’s Vaio, I will say Dell has a nicer trackpad (I know, what is up with me and trackpads? Haha, they’re important, alright). </p>
<p>As for irrational hate of Apples, you can read this thread as I’m sure it covers most of what you will want to say (on both sides). It’s actually also very informative and offers a great comparison between Apple & PC’s pricing. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/virginia-tech/965498-mac-engineering-freshman.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/virginia-tech/965498-mac-engineering-freshman.html</a></p>
<p>(Keep in mind for me that I was really bored and so decided to go through with playing devil’s advocate, so don’t bash me. I do think Macbooks are overpriced a bit. Sticking to devil’s advocate so earnestly did lead me to making a few fallacious statements as I began pulling straws - but they were only very very short and tiny straws :))</p>
<p>Macs are great… unless you want to run engineering software on them.</p>
<p>EngineerHead, that’s a good thread that compares the two quite fairly. When you go with a Mac, you do pay a certain premium, (which is not as much as some think as you pointed out), but in my opinion it is worth it. I have been involved in the computer technology industry almost my entire life, and Apple clearly has the highest quality products, especially in the past few years. </p>
<p>boneh3ad, you can install multiple operating systems on a Mac through a simple program called Boot Camp. Right now, I have Snow Leopard, Windows 7, and Ubuntu on my MacBook Pro. You switch between them by restarting the computer. Macs can run any software a PC can.</p>
<p>I am well aware of Boot Camp. There are a lot of programs that don’t run at all in Mac OS and don’t run very stably via Boot Camp (e.g. any CAD software).</p>
<p>Fact: Macs are quality pieces of hardware with some really nice software to go along with it.</p>
<p>Fact: Even with Boot Camp, Macs still have some limitations when it comes to programs, particularly those used in engineering.</p>
<p>To be fair, you may not want all that software on your laptop anyway since it will all be provided in computer labs.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice. I am finding generally everyone has some what different experiences with different brands. No one ever owns similar models from every company across the board. All I can go off of for advice are trends I see across the board while talking to people. One of which was Dells poor customer service. Now not everyone may have experienced this but I have heard it from enough people and people I trust that I though it could be an issue. So even though the UofM has a deal with Dell I just couldn’t jump on it. As for other brands I looked at it seemed hard to match the deal I would get when I customized an HP or Dell directly. More importantly I couldn’t match the warranty (HP’s went up to four years). I also really listened to one customers at work’s advice. He’s a regular and I’ve talked with him before. He used to work for NASA and is really up to date on tech things. Anyway he also mentioned Dell was having a down period in customer service and gave me some more buying advice.</p>
<p>Anyway I ended up purchasing an HP dv6 Select Edition
HP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition customizable Notebook PC
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core™ i5-520M Dual Core processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 switchable graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 640GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010
• Norton Internet Security™ 2010 - 3 Year (activation required)
• One 6 Cell (standard) and One 9 Cell (over-sized) Lithium Ion Battery
• 15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768)
• No TouchScreen (includes HP TrueVision Webcam)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• Backlit Keyboard with Fingerprint Reader
• Computrace LoJack for Laptops, Four Years from One Year
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope</p>
<p>What really sold me, outside of everything I heard from people on here and around me, was a $200 off coupon I found that went on top of the $150 instant rebate. I also got $170 off of the warranty, and free upgrades on the HDD, RAM, and Lowjack. In the end I saved around 30% on the entire laptop and warranty bunlde.</p>
<p>Comparison between dell and apple:
[Dell</a> Back to School - Apples to Apples Comparsion | Dell](<a href=“Computers, Monitors & Technology Solutions | Dell USA”>Computers, Monitors & Technology Solutions | Dell USA)</p>
<p>Of course it’s a bit biased, but u get the point…</p>
<p>A bit biased? It’s on Dell’s website for goodness sake. The thing with tech-spec comparisons is that that’s all is compared - the specifications of the hardware in terms of speed & memory - not quality of material or anything else. What doesn’t get emphasized is Apple’s strong focus on making sure every material is made with green in mind, so it has to jump through loops & holes to make sure it can follow through with this commitment. Its screen type is very different and many other things that I can’t say off the top of my head. Computer companies like Dell, HP, don’t have to deal with maintaining, improving, providing, developing an operating system, etc.</p>
<p>Honestly, I would go with PC because I don’t get hung over the hype behind Macbook’s and in terms of speed/memory you get more bang out of your buck, but no one ever argues for Apple so I might as well.</p>
<p>Many colleges offer not only laptop purchase programs (through major PC vendors), but they also offer fantastic 4 year warranties. These warranties are written to cover both laptop defects and normal college kid accidents (like spilling beer on the keypad).</p>
<p>Our son bought his laptop through his college and he also bought the $169 warranty. It’s come in handy twice already.</p>
<p>I have similar wants to the OP, what do y’all think of this one?</p>
<p>[Micro</a> Center - Asus N61Jq-X2 Laptop Computer - Dark Brown N61JQ-X2](<a href=“http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0335283]Micro”>http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0335283)</p>
<p>(By the way I’m a computer science major, but i will be running programs like AutoCAD and the Adobe Master Collection)</p>
<p>Mldwoody - how much was the laptop and where’d you get it from?</p>
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<p>Do you know this for a fact? I thought that Boot Camp enables you to run Windows natively (i.e. not through layers of emulation in OS X) on an Apple computer. Apple
hardware is the same architecturally as pc hardware nowadays, so I don’t know why you’d run into problems.</p>
<p>I know for a fact that everyone in my lab who has tried to run SolidWorks, for example, on Boot Camp has failed. It apparently crashes all the time. I suppose that isn’t first hand experience, but perhaps second hand is good enough?</p>
<p>I don’t know why it happens, only that it does. Don’t shoot the messenger. I actually have nothing against Mac.</p>