<p>I'm trying to decide on a laptop for college, and I really like the Macbook Pros, but I'm just wondering if not using Windows would ever be an issue here? (CIT, biomed/chem engineering)</p>
<p>Anyone happen to know what people generaly use? and/or other possible issues with using Mac's @ CMU? </p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>You can install windows on macbook pros so that shouldn't be a concern for you....however the premium you are paying might be. You will be able to put XP on macbooks....I'm not sure about Vista though (next version of windows)</p>
<p>CMU does sell mac's and I know that some of the CS lab's have macs so I suppose you'd be ok with one if you want to pay for it</p>
<p>yeah, i was considering dual-booting, and i think someone has already figured out how to get vista (at least the beta version) to work, my only concern there is the performace comprimise with 2 OS's. A any rate, if CMU sells and uses Macs i guess it shouldnt be an issue. </p>
<p>I would still love to hear from any engineers on whether there is any particular reason I might need a PC.</p>
<p>thanks again</p>
<p>As a CS major, I have plenty of friends who use Macs. There seems to be a much larger bias against Windows users than Mac users; I'm getting quite sick of being told that I should be running Linux. Anyways, CMU makes a big effort to support Linux, Windows, and OS X, so it shouldn't be a problem, whichever way you choose to go.</p>
<p>You don't need Windows. Period. There's far too large of a Mac user base here for them to be able to ignore Mac users. I can't think of any situation in which you might need Windows. Occasionally there may be situations when you need *nix, which Mac OS X provides.</p>
<p>"You don't need Windows. Period. There's far too large of a Mac user base here for them to be able to ignore Mac users. I can't think of any situation in which you might need Windows. Occasionally there may be situations when you need *nix, which Mac OS X provides."</p>
<p>What else would you expect from "ThinkDifferent"? :-)</p>
<p>Yeah...but what I said is true even according to non-Mac users. If you want a Mac, get one and everything will be happy.</p>
<p>
[quote]
yeah, i was considering dual-booting, and i think someone has already figured out how to get vista (at least the beta version) to work, my only concern there is the performace comprimise with 2 OS's.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There is no performance loss with dual booting Windows and MacOS (or any other OS combination) The operating system that you are running is loaded (two OSs are not in memory at the same time), so there is no performance loss. I have 5 OS's installed on my PC and there is no problem.</p>
<p>OS X is quite nice and is a UNIX (R) (well, actually it's Mach which contains code from BSD as well as the BSD userland tools) OS. However, the new version of Windows (Vista) has replicated many of the features of OS X, so you probably would enjoy either one just as much (Although I'm personally a fan of GNU/Linux).</p>
<p>
[quote]
However, the new version of Windows (Vista) has replicated many of the features of OS X, so you probably would enjoy either one just as much
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not the *nix command line...and it's still Microsoft Windows. Ick.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Not the *nix command line...and it's still Microsoft Windows. Ick.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I'm not a windows fan either, but one can still download all the UNIX shell utilities for Windows and run them using Cygwin or another windows port of the Posix API, if one so pleases.</p>
<p>so if I'm an engineering student with a macbook pro, and I need to use autocad, you think it'll work fine through bootcamp?</p>
<p>bootcamp is not an emulator, it allows you to run windows. therefore, as long as you have allocated enough disk space, any windows application will work when you're booted up on windows.</p>
<p>you do of course have to buy a copy of windows for this to work, and possibly autocad, but CMU (may) supply neccessary software?</p>
<p>Though, its possible something won't work, with it being in beta and all.</p>
<p>You can actually run Windows on a MacBook Pro, just as if it were a generic PC, using Boot Camp. So, yes, AutoCAD should work fine.</p>
<p>will I even have to use autocad as a computer (or electrical) engineering student</p>
<p>structural engineering maybe, I'd guess no, but as said above, if you do theres probably an equivalent for osX anyway.</p>
<p>Solidworks is also used a lot here for mechanical designs. MechEs are definitely going to want to have the ability to run Solidworks and thus Windows if necessary.</p>
<p>In general, I would suggest that you people get a Linux-friendly PC laptop or an apple (intel) laptop.</p>