SEAS - apple vs pc

<p>PC
-more engineering programs on windows but...
-vista sucks</p>

<p>APPLE
-more user-friendly but because of this...
-not the best option for an engineering student because it doesn't support as much software, however...
-there are programs like bootcamp to run mac os and windows simultaneously on an apple computer (i realize windows would still be vista)</p>

<p>personally, i'd rather have an apple because i don't wanna work with vista 24/7. if i get a macbook and bootcamp, is this my best choice for a computer? am i missing out on any major pros and cons?</p>

<p>also, idk if this changes anything, but i’m a bioengineering major. if i change my major, it’d most likely be into chem eng.</p>

<p>you’ll be fine with a mac in bioengineering; matlab runs on mac</p>

<p>however there are some little incompatibilities between office 08 for the mac and office 07 for windows (mainly centered around font embedding and layout) that you’ll have to deal with</p>

<p>you can also do XP instead of Vista. I just got a macbook pro (wharton) and I was going to do parallels or vmware fusion with XP, not vista…then I decided I would just stick with the one OS</p>

<p>Ok, let me see… Mac is UNIX on the background, you have at least the following applications available:</p>

<p>R, Octave, PARI/GP, Maxima, SAGE, Otter (free)
Matlab, Mathematica, Maple (commercial)</p>

<p>and you also have every single scripting language like Python and Perl and the whole GNU programming toolkit like gcc. You also have easy access to all math related libraries like GMP etc.</p>

<p>Installing the same programs in an environment that easily integrates with Windows is not possible, not at least in the way it happens on a UNIX computer. However, if you want to dual boot, the best option is probably to dual boot Windows with Linux and do programming and calculations with Linux mainly, but for booting only one OS, the Mac actually has better software support.</p>

<p>Regarding Office, I would recommend any engineer who needs to write anything with mathematical formulas to learn LaTeX and scrap Office as fast as possible.</p>

<p>I prefer macs but I’d like to point out that Windows 7 is coming out very soon and so far the release candidates have had great reviews overall.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t get Windows 7 for at least a few months after it comes out. The latest thing will always have bugs and you don’t want to deal with that. </p>

<p>Most engineers I know have PCs. Some have Macs and they work just fine. If you’re hardcore you’ll use Linux. Just go to a Mac store for a few hours. If you like Macs and want to spend the extra cash, get a Mac. If you dislike them (like me) then buy a PC.</p>

<p>BTW, Vista doesn’t suck. I like a lot of stuff about it. I’d probably be happier with extra RAM. The only real problem I’ve had with my computer was Symantec Antivirus which Penn gave us for free.</p>

<p>Most engineers I know have Linux or Windows 7. The others have Macs :-)</p>

<p>Part of your engineering education (regardless of discipline) will involve learning to become amazing with computers, and learning how to program. You’ll be fine on any platform. (For what it’s worth, the engineering computer labs are SuSE Linux and Windows XP).</p>