<p>My S will be entering the Petroleum Engineering program in the Fall. He has been using a Mac laptop in high school, and we were planning on getting him a new laptop for college. My question is, should we get him a Mac or a PC? That is, will there be any specific software he needs for his engineering courses that will only run on a PC and not on a Mac (or vice versa). Thanks, JR</p>
<p>Nope, doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>S1 agrees with izelkay. They mainly use them to log into websites and other computers where the software they need is already installed.</p>
<p>My personal bias is that engineers will be expected to know how to use a PC as that is likely what he would have at an internship and/or permanent employment so if he has only use Mac’s I’d go with a PC.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input! JR</p>
<p>My son and I asked the same question when he was an incoming freshman. Most (if not all) people told us he should get a PC. He did. In fact, he got kind of a high-powered PC laptop. He’s been very happy with it. He’s in an engineering degree other than petroleum.</p>
<p>I just spoke with him and asked him if he thinks it makes a difference and which he would recommend. He said it doesn’t really make a difference – he has friends with Macs and friends with PCs. Some of his profs use Macs, but most use PCs. He really prefers the PC route and is glad that’s what he chose. He says that all of the programs he and his classmates use so far are available for both PCs and Macs. But he likes knowing that just about any program he might need in the future will definitely be offered for his PC.</p>
<p>Students in his major use a lot of Matlab, Solidworks, and Labview, and all of those programs, plus more, are on the computers in the campus computer labs. For instance, my son elected not to put Matlab on his laptop, so every time he needs to use Matlab for an assignment, he goes to the computer lab.</p>
<p>He did say that two of his friends who have Macs have had some trouble with the large Excel files they’re required to access. Often, when his two Mac friends try to open those very large files, their laptops temporarily crash. So, when they have a group assignment, they have my son use his laptop instead of theirs. My son can open any file so far with ease. The two friends he’s referring to have “standard” Mac Pros. He thinks that the PCs are a better value – you can get more bang for the buck, and you can get a wider variety of features, versus the more narrow list of “standard versions” available in Macs.</p>
<p>He opted for a really good PC laptop that is much more high-powered than a lot of his friends’ Macs for the same amount of money. He also thinks that all of the various programs he uses for homework and lab assignments operate seamlessly together and are very user-friendly and accessible on his PC. (That’s not to say they wouldn’t be on a Mac.)</p>
<p>It’s just one opinion, but I hope it helps! :)</p>
<p>Glad somebody else had this question. I was just wondering the same thing.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. I opted for a MacBook Pro. Based on the issues with large files, I decided to upgrade to the fastest processor and most RAM. We’ll see how it works.</p>