<p>I'm going to MIT next fall and I'm looking at laptops. </p>
<p>I have an eMac at home and I love it...all my PC experiences have been bad. Would you suggest a PC or a Mac for MIT? I'm worried about compatibility and such, especially because I'm planning on majoring in engineering and I'm concerned about special eng dept requirements for laptops. Also, I'm not that great with computer troubleshooting, so if I buy a Mac, compatibility may be an issue. </p>
<p>I would appreciate any advice! (esp. from current MIT students)</p>
<p>I'm also wondering approx. what percentage of the student body has Macs and what percentage has PCs.</p>
<p>I would use MAC instead of PCs. Less virus, and also easy to use. :] That's kind of a good question btw! :]</p>
<p>I'm a prefrosh, but a guy at CPW told me that most course 6ers run either Linux or Mac (for the Unix, of course :-P ). Everyone tells me that anything you bring will be compatible (well, within reason, I'm sure. I doubt IS&T does much with BeOS or Haiku!).</p>
<p>If you're used to Mac and you like it, why switch? That said, I switched to a Mac/Linux combo from a PC/Linux combo ... although I don't consider myself a Mac user ...</p>
<p>OK, so after doing a little more research and consideration, I'm pretty much set on a Mac...so New Question: 12 in PowerBook or 14 in iBook?</p>
<p>I'm worried the 12 in screen is too small but the iBook won't have the capabilities and portability of the PB. I'd appreciate any advice!</p>
<p>Why 14in iBook- you get the same low resolution and only larger pixels? I think if you are looking between 12in iBook and 12in Powerbook, I would go w/ iBook for 5 reasons: </p>
<p>1) More durable- powerbook gets dented easily
2) Longer battery life (~4 hours vs 2.5)
3) A lot cheaper- $500 less (I would get stock configuration for ~950 w/ discount and add in 100 dollars of RAM myself- 768 ram)
4) Does everything pretty much that the powerbook can. Right now, powerbooks just really aren't that great in terms of price vs power.</p>
<p>And of course: Mac/Linux ;).</p>
<p>Thanks, I appreciate the advice. :)</p>
<p>I'm going to be course 6 and I bought myself a 12 in iBook...</p>
<p>Love it too :)</p>
<p>lol -- I dislike Macs... ;) and the rumors that Windows have more problems with viruses is not true! There are more possible viruses out there for windows because windows is the more popular OS, but that doesn't mean a Windows user is more susceptible to viruses provided s/he has anti-virus software. Ironically, I have never had a virus problem and my Mac-user friend has had continuous issues with formatting his HD due to spyware/virus/etc.</p>
<p>I totally agree! Macs are not without their own issues ;). I see a good mix of both on campus. Either way, you can't go wrong. My personal preference is the PC</p>
<p>As far as I know, both computers are compatible with MIT campus networking, etc. But why would you not want a PC at MIT? LAN parties, w00t. All the great games are on PC!</p>
<p>SDFriend,</p>
<p>That's really strange that a friend of yours is having problems with his/her Mac.</p>
<p>I'm a computer consultant, and I get calls daily because people have viruses/spyware on their PC (often it's so much that people can't even use their PC). Never have I seen a Mac virus. I know that some exist, but I've never come across any.</p>
<p>I also disagree with your suggestion about anti-virus software--I find that often times they don't work. I have gone over people's houses who are running MacAfee and Norton and they still have malicious software. And despite those programs' ineffectiveness, they are BIG resource hogs.</p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, I totally agree that PC's are cool (I'm using a XP computer right now). I like the software selection, and, of course, the games. But, when it comes down to it for the average computer user, I think the maintainance required to run a PC far out weighs any cons for Apple (a little more expensive, less software).</p>
<p>After all, OS X is *nix and you are headed to MIT :)</p>