Macbook for engineering?

[kingnopant]

Hi,

 

I'm going to college this year and thinking about a laptop to use. I was considering about the $800 laptop that Linus has featured in one of his videos, but then I tried out my aunt's MacBook and really liked the mac software. Although Windows software is also great (and don't get me wrong, my life depends on Windows but my PC already handles this), I feel like mac software is crafted with more care and the GUI is more elegant (through my observation, please argue back). I see engineers from many companies use Mac to develop software as well (through a couple of articles I've read, programmers like to use Unix-based systems). Anyway, my main question is, as I'm going to study computer engineering - electrical track, should I buy a Mac for practice writing software? Would it be a good idea to buy a Mac to design circuits? Since my college says some programs they use are only available for Windows, would loading Windows using Bootcamp hurt the system performance significantly?

 

 

TL;DR: As a person who likes Mac software and will be studying computer engineering, Is buying a Mac a good idea for college? I also don't have a multi-thousand dollars budget to buy super high-end MacBook Pro.

 

Any comment is appreciated, I just want to see everyone's personal arguments and thoughts.  

[Mira Yurizaki]

If your courses use Windows based software, then getting used MacBook wouldn't be a bad idea. And Bootcamp doesn't hurt performance since it's natively running Windows, provided of course drivers are available.

 

When I took computer engineering, most of the tools were not available for Mac, save for say gcc/g++ for compiling C/C++ apps.

[Wanpug]

I'm a 4th year CompSci major doing a 5 year BS program I prefer windows over mac, I feel like mac books are just over rated for college, I had a friend who was a civil engineer and she said that since the macbook was given to her as a gift she would use it but if she were to buy herself a computer it would always be a windows machine, you can get same power for less $, and this may be outdated now, since i don't use mac but there maybe less tools out there for mac, but i could be wrong. I think you still can function with a mac but in all of my classes we only have instructions as to how to get software for windows only and the mac users are always bashing their heads against the table.

But i am biased towards apple, never liked their stuff cause it was way too expensive.

 

[kingnopant]

3 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If your courses use Windows based software, then getting used MacBook wouldn't be a bad idea. And Bootcamp doesn't hurt performance since it's natively running Windows, provided of course drivers are available.

 

When I took computer engineering, most of the tools were not available for Mac, save for say gcc/g++ for compiling C/C++ apps.

Thanks for the comment. I would like to ask you another question: would I need to buy a high-end laptop for computer engineering? Cause my university keeps asking me to buy a laptop with at least a core i7 and a discrete graphics. Based on your past experience, did you need to use any very intensive software?

[Wanpug]

6 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If your courses use Windows based software, then getting used MacBook wouldn't be a bad idea

would or wouldn't?

 

7 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

When I took computer engineering, most of the tools were not available for Mac, save for say gcc/g++ for compiling C/C++ apps.

yup all of our mac students had to ssh into college computers to do C coding.

[kingnopant]

2 minutes ago, Wanpug said:

I'm a 4th year CompSci major doing a 5 year BS program I prefer windows over mac, I feel like mac books are just over rated for college, I had a friend who was a civil engineer and she said that since the macbook was given to her as a gift she would use it but if she were to buy herself a computer it would always be a windows machine, you can get same power for less $, and this may be outdated now, since i don't use mac but there maybe less tools out there for mac, but i could be wrong. I think you still can function with a mac but in all of my classes we only have instructions as to how to get software for windows only and the mac users are always bashing their heads against the table.

But i am biased towards apple, never liked their stuff cause it was way too expensive.

 

I know Mac is overrated for college and I'm not considering for the overrated college reason. I just like the macOS in some aspects more than Windows. I thought about a Hackintosh but it would a tedious job to build and maintain that kind of machine. 

[kingnopant]

2 minutes ago, Pangea2017 said:

if you like it and don't do heavy stuff it should work out. If you are on a budget and wan't to do heavy stuff a macbook is one of the worst options. Before you buy it test if the programs are running fast enough.

My parents allow me to be a little bit free when it comes to the budget for college. I also tried out some programs (currently, I tried VS Code, Kite, and GitHub, it works perfectly. I know they are very light programs unless I write like stupidly complicated software, but this is because I don't really know what professors will use). I probably will have to do more researching. 

[Sauron]

It's a waste of money if you ask me, I got through a computer engineering degree with a refurbished 2011 thinkpad x220 without any problems - and those can be found for under 200$. Professional developers sometimes splurge more for a mac because they find it more comfortable but it's by no means necessary or better for software development (unless you're developing iOS apps, in which case it's necessary).

4 minutes ago, kingnopant said:

Thanks for the comment. I would like to ask you another question: would I need to buy a high-end laptop for computer engineering?

No, just make sure it has at least 8gb of ram and an ssd (the first for vms, which you WILL use, and the second for your sanity).

[Mira Yurizaki]

8 minutes ago, kingnopant said:

Thanks for the comment. I would like to ask you another question: would I need to buy a high-end laptop for computer engineering? Cause my university keeps asking me to buy a laptop with at least a core i7 and a discrete graphics. Based on your past experience, did you need to use any very intensive software?

Mine didn't recommend or require any computers because we had a computer lab with all of the tools necessary.

 

Otherwise no, you don't need a high-end machine. You're not going to be running complicated simulations that'll take hours to run. The stuff I did ran just fine on an Athlon X2 3800+ and a Core 2 Duo.

[Wanpug]

2 minutes ago, kingnopant said:

I know Mac is overrated for college and I'm not considering for the overrated college reason. I just like the macOS in some aspects more than Windows. I thought about a Hackintosh but it would a tedious job to build and maintain that kind of machine. 

Fair enough, I will agree with the more elegant UI, though i still struggle with it, its really up to you, you already have a PC so windows stuff is taken care of, So its up to you, as some have already mentioned you can get super cheap laptops and theyll function just fine.

 

2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Mine didn't recommend or require any computers because we had a computer lab with all of the tools necessary.

As for even having a laptop, Ive got a friend who is also a Comp Sci major and doesn't even have a laptop. uses the 15 or so labs our school provides for CompSci students.

[Light Storm]

In my first year of engineering the programs didn't seem to demanding, though I don't know what programs your college will require you to run in the first year. A slightly more powerful laptop may be beneficial to have for the programs you will need to run in the following years, though that may depend on whether the college wants you to be able to run the programs in class or whether they will provide computers to use during the class. If the classes that require more demanding software provide computers in class, along with you owning a decent pc, you could get by with less as far as the laptop is concerned. I would advocate that the precision 5520 served me well last year, providing excellent performance along side a portable form factor, but the price is somewhat high, so I would not necessarily say that is the right choice for everyone. There are less expensive computers capable of running the programs adequately enough. I personally have never liked Apple's pricing, design, or user interface. If I were recommending a computer for engineering, it would be a windows machine, but I would not necessarily say there aren't Macs out there capable enough to use for engineering, and for some people who really like the Mac interface, it could be the right choice.

[wasab]

1 hour ago, kingnopant said:

Hi,

 

I'm going to college this year and thinking about a laptop to use. I was considering about the $800 laptop that Linus has featured in one of his videos, but then I tried out my aunt's MacBook and really liked the mac software. Although Windows software is also great (and don't get me wrong, my life depends on Windows but my PC already handles this), I feel like mac software is crafted with more care and the GUI is more elegant (through my observation, please argue back). I see engineers from many companies use Mac to develop software as well (through a couple of articles I've read, programmers like to use Unix-based systems). Anyway, my main question is, as I'm going to study computer engineering - electrical track, should I buy a Mac for practice writing software? Would it be a good idea to buy a Mac to design circuits? Since my college says some programs they use are only available for Windows, would loading Windows using Bootcamp hurt the system performance significantly?

 

 

TL;DR: As a person who likes Mac software and will be studying computer engineering, Is buying a Mac a good idea for college? I also don't have a multi-thousand dollars budget to buy super high-end MacBook Pro.

 

Any comment is appreciated, I just want to see everyone's personal arguments and thoughts.  

If you are dirt poor student, you should spend like a dirt poor student. Mac can handle engineering but you don't have to get macs. It isn't better than anything  else out there.

Rich students with more money can go ahead and buy whatever they desired. Apple products are luxruly products. People buy them for the same reason as paying thousands for luxury gold/diamond watch over something inexpensive and common that does fine telling the time. 

 

 

[Blade of Grass]

I'm a CS major at a large university in Canada and I see people with everything ranging from old windows laptop and MacBook airs, to brand new MacBook Pros & high end ultrabook laptops, to gaming laptops running Linux. School have computer labs that you can use for anything that's intensive or requires specific software. If the software you use is only on Windows then you might just have an easier time using it on a Windows laptop and not have to deal with dual boot/virtualization or rely on the computer lab, but at the end of the day if you don't find this a big deal then who cares. Get whatever makes ya happy, because trust me, after using it for 8+ hours a day you're really gonna hate it if you already don't like it.

[wasab]

1 hour ago, Wanpug said:

I'm a 4th year CompSci major doing a 5 year BS program I prefer windows over mac, I feel like mac books are just over rated for college, I had a friend who was a civil engineer and she said that since the macbook was given to her as a gift she would use it but if she were to buy herself a computer it would always be a windows machine, you can get same power for less $, and this may be outdated now, since i don't use mac but there maybe less tools out there for mac, but i could be wrong. I think you still can function with a mac but in all of my classes we only have instructions as to how to get software for windows only and the mac users are always bashing their heads against the table.

But i am biased towards apple, never liked their stuff cause it was way too expensive.

 

These people don't know how to use WINE on macs? It isn't that difficult to get Windows apps running.

[genexis_x]

If you really need macOS then your choice is obvious, if not a cheap yet good Windows Ultrabook like UX330UA, Yoga 730 13 and Spin 5 13 will do the job just fine

[TLCH723]

One thing I said is the screen size, get a 15 inch. Doing circuit design on screen, you also probably want to spend money on external monitor