<p>What type of comp do engineers need for undergrad studies? I'm thinking about doing Mechanical/Aerospace Engineering at Oklahoma State University</p>
<p>One that works. Get a laptop so you can drag it around when you need to (this will come in handy for team projects). I can say with 99.99% certainty that there will be computer labs on campus that will enable you to do whatever you need, should your personal computer be lacking. You do not need some amazingly powerful machine.</p>
<p>But Mac or PC?</p>
<p>You might want to check with your school’s program but you will most likely need to run Windows, which can be done on either a Mac or PC. The question would be whether or not you want to pay the price premium to have the capability to run OS X (not worth it IMO).</p>
<p>That’s cray lol yeah i will haha</p>
<p>I suggest you get one with enough memory space to add a partition for another OS… for example I have a PC that boots Win7 or Ubuntu (Ubuntu is required for one of my classes)… As for Mac vs PC it doesn’t matter as long as you’re comfortable on it.</p>
<p>Ubuntu (or any version of Linux) will not be required, or even really that useful for a mechanical/aerospace major. You will be fine with Windows, and will a little bit more difficulty, even fine with a Mac. I still recommend Windows from an overall convenience standpoint, but a Mac is certainly doable.</p>
<p>A Mac would probably limit you from being able to use certain software. Most open-source software is built for Windows and *nix systems, and though you may not think so it definitely does come in handy when you really need a program to do something. Besides, it’s a bit like driving stick vs. automatic. Windows gives you a bit more control over how things are run on your computer, and with a few tricks here and there, you can make it run better than any Mac, for a much better price. Upgrading is also a lot easier.</p>
<p>You’re really wasting money if you buy a Mac to run Windows on it. Odds are you’ll need Windows.</p>
<p>Really, all you will need a computer for is wasting time online at your apartment. For anything academic beyond writing a paper, you’ll be better served by computer labs. Moreoever, there are programs that will let you access university networks remotely.</p>
<p>Probably the most important thing in a computer will be great reliable wired+wireless connectivity and portability. I’d sooner invest in a good copy of MS Office with the works… probably available at a discount to you.</p>
<p>My U was all Linux, not a windows or mac system in the entire department not even for professors.</p>
<p>Booted, you were a CS major, so therefore, things are different. For Computer Science, Linux is king. For everything else in a engineering school, it is nearly useless.</p>
<p>well I did CS and CE, but you are right Linux is best or some other Unix like OS. But all of our engineering labs were linux as well, even for the other sub disciplines. Which used VM’s to virtualize windows if needed for certain apps.</p>
<p>The only way that makes sense is if you went to a small school so they just kept them all running the same system for ease of maintenance and/or so that they were all useful for the CS majors as well.</p>
<p>In a lab dedicated to any other discipline (like ME, for example) virtualizing Windows would be inefficient because the programs required for certain tasks are much more computationally intensive than for CS. FEA programs, for example, are very finicky when you mix operating systems.</p>
<p>Quite a large school. It’s just the way it was done.</p>
<p>PC… only because the good games come out on the PC first.</p>
<p>SUNY Buffalo is not that large. Roughly 2,000 undergraduate engineers if I am not mistaken. That isn’t small, but it isn’t huge either. It is rather surprising that they wouldn’t run anything but Linux. There are quite a few programs that really don’t do well on Linux or VM’ed Windows that are useful to other majors.</p>
<p>Perhaps they’re looking to save a few bucks buy not having to buy an entire site license from Microsoft?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>See I thought that too at first, but then I realized that he said they are running Windows Virtual Machines in their Linux boxes, which would require licenses anyway. The only other thing they could be doing is saving money by way of not having to pay for people with Microsoft certification to run their systems. They just need a set of tech support guys for Linux, not one set for Linux, one for Microsoft, and one for Apple.</p>
<p>I know at my undergraduate school we had engineering computer labs running Windows, Solaris and Ubuntu, and they were in the process of phasing out Solaris if I remember correctly.</p>
<p>Do engineering majors not use any AutoDesk stuff?</p>
<p>Other than MATLab, what software is used by engineers?</p>
<p>It varies depending on your major, but I will answer from a mechanical/aerospace perspective.</p>
<p>AutoDesk stuff is largely outdated in many fields. There are some that still use it, but most companies use ProENGINEER, SolidWorks or CATIA instead. Additionally, finite element (FEA) programs are very ubiquitous in industry, and the two biggest names in FEA are Abaqus and ANSYS. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is also a large computational area, and the main player in that in industry is Fluent coupled with GAMBIT or GridGen.</p>
<p>Of course there are others. Looking at my desktop right now, I also see all the Microsoft Office programs, Tecplot360 and LabVIEW.</p>