<p>Mac or PC
I prefer Mac but I don't know if I need a PC because they are much more compatible with programs.
Major: Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>I would consult the department at the school you are attending. Usually they have certain requirements or preferences. </p>
<p>As for Mac, you can get VMWare fusion and run Windows.</p>
<p>isn’t vmware fusion some kind of juice?!</p>
<p>"isn’t vmware fusion some kind of juice?! "
- You just made me rotflol all over myself. Thanks.</p>
<p>I’d go with a PC. That’s just me. You’d probably be alright with either one.</p>
<p>you could get a mac and install windows 7 with bootcamp. I have one and it handles engineering programs like Maya and AutoCAD just fine (depends on your processor and RAM).</p>
<p>Why pay extra for a Mac if you’re just going to be using it to run Windows programs at a performance penalty?</p>
<p>OP said he was more comfortable with a Mac. Plus many engineering programs are made for both Mac and PC.
But it is true that mac’s are a little overpriced.</p>
<p>Buy a Mac IF
- It is a laptop
- you have the money to pay more than a comparable Windows Machine</p>
<p>If you’re getting a mac pro or iMac, build your own computer instead!</p>
<p>home-built ftw!</p>
<p>mac vs. pc…oh nooo</p>
<p>I’m an ME, we got a lot of students with apple’s…it’s not ideal but people still get them, even professors have them. If u reeally like apple’s it won’t be too much a problem. </p>
<p>I roll with a thinkpad t-series…it would pump handle slam those cute macs anytime, imho : )</p>
<p>If you’re going to be exclusively running windows on your mac, just get a PC. There is no advantage to running windows on a mac as opposed to a PC.</p>
<p>Honestly though, you could get by with doing no technical work on your laptop and just spending lots of time in the computer lab.</p>
<p>At my school the CoE just decided to switch to Macs. Their analysis revealed that the long term cost of running Macs was cheaper than PCs. Please keep in mind that there costs include the IT staff to run all the machines in the college. It turns out PCs have many more issues requiring a larger IT staff.</p>
<p>I second the suggestion for the Thinkpad T-series. </p>
<p>As far as Mac/PC goes, I think it depends on what platform the applications you need will run on. If you’re going to spend most of your time in Windows anyways, you might as well save your money and get the PC. That’s just my opinion on that.</p>
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<p>And there are hundreds of other schools that found the exact opposite in their analysis. It all depends on who prepares it and what they assume.</p>
<p>I see both in the CoE here. More PC than Mac, and the PC users seem to have less problems (and get better support since more people can troubleshoot a PC), though.</p>
<p>Get whichever you want. I have a mac and I am junior in EE. There have been a few classes where you may need windows to run the software to do homework but I just go into the computer lab to do the work. This ends up being better because I tend to be more productive in the lab whereas working on my own computer I am tempted to go facebook or gmail or something similar.</p>
<p>Windows is much more efficient hardware wise than a MAC.</p>
<p>Buy nothing until you search the college’s website about what is recommended and what you can get through the college. And if you cannot find it on-line call them. This is not only necessary to assure you get what is needed but many colleges have discount programs with major computer providers and if you purchase through the program you will get a better price.</p>
<p>Very true. Harvard has a deal where you can get 1/3 to 1/2 price on Lenovo laptops.</p>
<p>That is awfully nice of Harvard to contract with a good laptop company like Lenovo instead of the crappy Dells that most places try to push on you. I absolutely love my Lenovo T400.</p>
<p>I would say, without knowing any other information about the OP other than what he said that he is PROBABLY better off getting a Windows PC or Laptop. I have no quarrels with Mac, but they do tend to lag behind in running engineering software. Stuff like Matlab will run, but anything like ProE, SolidWorks, Unigraphics/NX, ANSYS, Abaqus or Fluent will not run without using workarounds that sacrifice a lot of performance.</p>
<p>If you ever think you would want to run any of these kinds of engineering design software packages on your personal computer, then do not go with Mac. If you only intend to use the laptop for Office and Internet and just use a computer lab for any engineering software, then it is really up to you which type of computer you get.</p>
<p>If you want a Mac, get a Mac. If there’s any software that won’t run in Mac OS X, you can install Windows using Bootcamp. There’s no performance drop, you just have Windows on a separate partition and can boot into it instead of Mac OS X.</p>
<p>Anyone talking about performance drops are talking about VMWare Fusion/Parallels which aren’t necessary.</p>
<p>Not necessarily. If you look at equally priced machines, the Windows machine will be more powerful. Consider the following specs:</p>
<p>For $2,124, get the following machine from HP:
Components
• Espresso Black
• Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core™2 Duo Processor T9900 (3.06 GHz, 6 MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
• 50% OFF! 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB ATI Radeon™ HD 4650 Graphics
• 15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768)
• Lightscribe Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
• Webcam + Fingerprint Reader
• Intel Wireless-N Mini-card with Bluetooth
• No TV Tuner w/remote control
• HP Color Matching Keyboard
• 50% OFF!! One 6 Cell and One 12 Cell Lithium Ion Batteries
• No Modem
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0</p>
<p>Or, for $3,299, from the Apple store, get the following:
3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Antiglare Widescreen Display
None
Backlit Keyboard (English) / User’s Guide</p>
<p>The Windows machine and the Mac are essentially the same, but the Mac costs $1,000 more than the Windows machine. Here’s a comparably priced Mac:</p>
<p>For $2,299, get the following:
2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
MacBook Pro 15-inch Glossy Widescreen Display
None
Backlit Keyboard (English) / User’s Guide</p>
<p>We could try the same exercise at the low-end, and maybe it would be different, but I doubt it. I think that price-performance is simply better for Windows than for Mac. Mac users choose to pay extra for Apple’s vertical integration (which is nice, really, but not for everybody), customer support, and because Mac lets them do what they want to do.</p>
<p>Therefore, a $2,200 native Windows computer running Windows will run better than a $2,200 Mac running Windows… seems pretty open-and-shut to me.</p>