Mac or PC for Engineering Physics Student?

Question

Im doing engineering physics hopefully branching out to nuclear engineering. Ive finished year one and my PC- Laptop crashed.
Now i need a new one and im keen on the macbook pro. I need a laptop for:
1- word/excel/powerpoint 2-messenger/chatting/ etc 3-internet/adobe reader/etc, 4-watching movies/music, 5-other university programs like Flexpde/autocad, etc that i may not know of
So the questions at last.
Should i go for a mac? Is it a hassel to divide and work on both OS's on a mac?Does mac meet my purpose or as an engineering student or should i stick to the PC? Or is this whole mac or PC thing is blown out of proportion and at the end both are good enough for my needs? I cant afford more laptops till i graduate university, so this choice will be my last and i dont mind spending big for the one last time. Please advise.im torn between going out and trying something new, fancy and promising or sticking to the world i know the best with its known ups and downs.Thanks in advace

Answer 1

In all battles there is one winner and in this case its Mac...

Mac bests Windows in every aspect and u can run Windows on Mac cos u and i cant make the world choose Mac..

So get a Mac be Happy

like me :-)

Answer 2

I would certainly go with a Mac. There's no longer any reason not to, now that you can run Windows on a Mac for those rare programs that you have to. But for all the things that you mentioned that you need to use the notebook for, you won't even need a Windows install. Macs excel at everything you need.

It is a common misconception (possibly planted my the PC people) that Macs and PCs are not compatible. That is not true. I use all Macs at home, but my school runs Windows XP. I save all my files from both platforms onto a standard flash drive, and they just work on both ends. No conversions or anything. It just works.

I've had my most recent MacBook (black) for a year. I have restarted it once a month. That's right- I never shut it down. Every month, I reboot once, but otherwise, I just let it go into sleep. Try that with a Windows based notebook and see what happens. Macs just work. And for what you're getting, they are not that much more expensive. It is worth every penny.

I had an issue recently with my other MacBook (white). The hard drive clunked for a while then died. I took it to an Apple Store. They FedEx'd it to Tenessee, fixed it, then sent it back to me- all within two days.

The MacBook Pro is quite nice- I have had extensive experience with all Mac models, and the MacBook Pro is very solid. The only disadvantage I can identify is that if you travel a lot with it, it is somewhat large with the 15" minimum available screen size, but this is also an advantage if you need a screen that large.

To summarize- you'll probably be able to get by with either platform. But if you want to do more than just get by, go with a Mac. Once you figure out the differences, you'll be very glad you did.

Answer 3

Go with the Mac:
1) It has MS Office just like the PC
2) you can put YIM, AIM, and other messengers on there no problem
3) internet, adobe rdr, no prob
4) QTime or use WMV for Mac on it for movies. Itunes is probably the best all in one, easy to use music program around.
5) Not sure what flexpde is, but do know autocad programs work on a Mac.

If you want to run Windows on the laptop, it is pretty easy, I would suggest using the Parallels program. If you go this route though, I would bump up the RAM to around 2GB. You can also buy a 2 button mouse if you like and it will work for the Mac, just like it does on a PC.

Answer 4

For engineering, you generally want PC, or at least Windows capability (especially for any CAD software. These are not designed for macs). If you want to dual boot a mac and you know how, then this should be no problem, and the movies and music will be better on Macs (although, if you're only watching them, they're pretty much the same, Macs are better for editing).

However any programs that you might need to install as you get higher up in engineering will be designed for windows. If you want to do all your work on your own computer, you will absolutely need windows, meaning a dual boot if you get a Mac. If you plan on using the computer labs, then it's up to your preference (which might be a good choice, then you don't have to buy the software).

Answer 5

You should get a PC instead of a Mac, especially if you're an Engineering Physics Student.

Answer 6

Your question is best refrased as"

choose for me,
a. classic Mac non OS X
b. classic Mac OS X
c. Intel Mac running OS X
d. Same as (c) but running Windows
e. PCs

Your criteria #5 limits your choice to d. or e. anything else violates #5 requirement. Emulations don't count as a valid option.

Answer 7

Go for a MAC,

Answer 8

stick with pc

Answer 9

MAC, For sure.