[nath.w]

Hey all,

So i'll be going to uni in September to study civil engineering and was wondering which which is more suitable for uni, at the moment i'm leaning towards a Mac of some sort. Right now I have a 13' Macbook pro, but I feel this is way to small to work with and also a custom pc which has an Intel i5 CPU, mostly a standard rig. Ideally I would like to have an iMac but would I spend a lot of time in the library and would I need to have a laptop at hand? As a side note, I do game a bit (WoW, D3). If anyone does own a mac and uses it for moderate gaming in uni then I would love to know what you think.

Thanks!

[audi_turbo]

There's currently a reduced price of this laptop in PC World: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lenovo...84717-pdt.html.

The reason I'm recommending it is because I have a similar version and it works very well. I understand that you've got a MacBook, however this laptop is very robust and reliable and also it's got a fully aluminium case which is nice. I find that performance wise it's quite good too.

However, this is just my suggestion, it's up to you.

[Camoxide]

Hook your Macbook Pro up to a 23/24 inch 1080P screen when at home. It's what I do.

[Norton1]

(Original post by Camoxide)
Hook your Macbook Pro up to a 23/24 inch 1080P screen when at home. It's what I do.

[Mad Vlad]

(Original post by nath.w)
Hey all,

So i'll be going to uni in September to study civil engineering and was wondering which which is more suitable for uni, at the moment i'm leaning towards a Mac of some sort. Right now I have a 13' Macbook pro, but I feel this is way to small to work with and also a custom pc which has an Intel i5 CPU, mostly a standard rig. Ideally I would like to have an iMac but would I spend a lot of time in the library and would I need to have a laptop at hand? As a side note, I do game a bit (WoW, D3). If anyone does own a mac and uses it for moderate gaming in uni then I would love to know what you think.

Thanks!

Civil Engineering = AutoCAD = a proper desktop with a good quality screen. Laptops don't really cut it. Again, if you're interested in gaming, then a custom desktop is the order of the day. You're not going to get any benefit from a Mac with your requirements. It sounds like you're already pretty set up. Just get a second monitor and take your desktop and handbag to uni with you.

[Camoxide]

(Original post by Norton1)

Also: I have a wireless keyboard and mouse, you can see the 2nd mouse bellow my desktops mouse.
The monitor is also hooked up to my desktop. Click of a button and i'm back on Windows. I do my uni work on my Mac and do gaming, general browsing on my desktop.

Edit: See I got negged just for using the word Mac.

Edit 2: Seriously? what are the negs for?

[nath.w]

thanks for the replies! I considered just going with a desktop pc but is it a hassle having so much wires and cables flying around whilst in uni? I'm trying to avoid a laptop, I just can't stand the small keyboard that I have to work with.

[alexkol]

(Original post by nath.w)
thanks for the replies! I considered just going with a desktop pc but is it a hassle having so much wires and cables flying around whilst in uni? I'm trying to avoid a laptop, I just can't stand the small keyboard that I have to work with.

hey man, I am using Autocad on my mac and it works fine

[Mad Vlad]

(Original post by nath.w)
thanks for the replies! I considered just going with a desktop pc but is it a hassle having so much wires and cables flying around whilst in uni? I'm trying to avoid a laptop, I just can't stand the small keyboard that I have to work with.

No.

[poohat]

(Original post by Camoxide)
Hook your Macbook Pro up to a 23/24 inch 1080P screen when at home. It's what I do.

this is the best advice imo

If your problem is just that the macbook is too small, then going to a 15" screen isnt going to make a huge difference. There's no point downgrading to a PC laptop or spending £1000+ on a new macbook just to get a 2-4" bigger screen.

Desktop PCs are cumbersome and the iMac is obscenely priced for what it is. Just get a good monitor (~£200-250), and a good bluetooth keyboard and trackpad (~£120) and you can have the best of both worlds. Put a SSD in the laptop if you need it to boot up faster when you plug the screen in.

[Mad Vlad]

(Original post by poohat)
this is the best advice imo

If your problem is just that the macbook is too small, then going to a 15" screen isnt going to make a huge difference. There's no point downgrading to a PC laptop or spending £1000+ on a new macbook just to get a 2-4" bigger screen.

Desktop PCs are cumbersome and the iMac is obscenely priced for what it is. Just get a good monitor (~£200-250), and a good bluetooth keyboard and trackpad (~£120) and you can have the best of both worlds. Put a SSD in the laptop if you need it to boot up faster when you plug the screen in.

I'm sorry... what? Stop being such a fanboi. This is nonsense. A desktop PC just sits in one place and is a far superior option to a laptop. It being "cumbersome" is not even a consideration.

[nath.w]

relating back to my original question - will I find myself in the library more due to the facilities? or is working in my room most of the time perfectly fine? in that case, i'd definately go for a desktop.

[M4LLY]

Dell Inspiron

[RollerBall]

(Original post by nath.w)
relating back to my original question - will I find myself in the library more due to the facilities? or is working in my room most of the time perfectly fine? in that case, i'd definately go for a desktop.

Nobody can tell you that, it'll depend almost entirely on personal perference. Some people like working in the library, others hate it. Different strokes for different folks.

I have a rig in my room (specs in sig) and then use a netbook when I hit the library, I'm not doing a degree which requires specialist software though I just play video games quite a lot.

[Repressor]

(Original post by nath.w)
relating back to my original question - will I find myself in the library more due to the facilities? or is working in my room most of the time perfectly fine? in that case, i'd definately go for a desktop.

Which uni are you doing civ eng at?

For my civ eng course, I've never needed to use the computers on campus. Nor have I ever needed to have a laptop in the library or whatever...

[nath.w]

(Original post by Repressor)
Which uni are you doing civ eng at?

For my civ eng course, I've never needed to use the computers on campus. Nor have I ever needed to have a laptop in the library or whatever...

Exeter as my first choice, although might try and apply to Birmingham if I get better grades.

[ishan777]

(Original post by nath.w)
Hey all,

So i'll be going to uni in September to study civil engineering and was wondering which which is more suitable for uni, at the moment i'm leaning towards a Mac of some sort. Right now I have a 13' Macbook pro, but I feel this is way to small to work with and also a custom pc which has an Intel i5 CPU, mostly a standard rig. Ideally I would like to have an iMac but would I spend a lot of time in the library and would I need to have a laptop at hand? As a side note, I do game a bit (WoW, D3). If anyone does own a mac and uses it for moderate gaming in uni then I would love to know what you think.

Thanks!

**** thang man. Once you start college, please do talk about how hard your course is, i really need to know lol..

[djshine88]

As an Apple fanboy - im keen to say mac. but since you are doing engineering, i would say go for windows. Many engineers (even architects) favour windows because of the range of software out there.

Also, as surprising as it is with the whole ios scene, Mac's aren't the best for games. They are on the rise, but they're not brilliant at current. Yes you can play WOW on it, and Minecraft, but in terms of blockbuster games - it's not as compatible.

My advice is to get a 15.4 mac - and put windows on it via bootcamp, so you have the best of both worlds. At least with a macbook, you won't have to reformat the computer every so often or buy a new laptop every so often etc.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Nick Longjohnson]

Build a full power mini-itx desktop to save space. There are mini-itx boards that can handle the most powerful processor in your budget, and I doubt you'll be getting more than 1 gpu down the line.

[117r]

(Original post by djshine88)
As an Apple fanboy - im keen to say mac. but since you are doing engineering, i would say go for windows. Many engineers (even architects) favour windows because of the range of software out there.

Also, as surprising as it is with the whole ios scene, Mac's aren't the best for games. They are on the rise, but they're not brilliant at current. Yes you can play WOW on it, and Minecraft, but in terms of blockbuster games - it's not as compatible.

My advice is to get a 15.4 mac - and put windows on it via bootcamp, so you have the best of both worlds. At least with a macbook, you won't have to reformat the computer every so often or buy a new laptop every so often etc.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

OK. Why would you do this? Just why?

15" Macs are £1500. The equivalent laptop is about £700. I have no idea what you're talking about with the reformatting business, but surely any problems to do with non-Mac laptops would be down to Windows, so if you were going to install Windows on the Mac anyway, I don't see why you'd have an advantage?

Even if we do accept that Macs are more reliable, then after years you could buy another laptop with updated specifications and still not hit the original £1500 you would have paid for the Mac...

I am at a complete loss as to why you are actually SO keen to get a Mac. For £1500 you could get a gaming laptop, or indeed a ridiculously good desktop. Or indeed a ridiculously good desktop and then a laptop...

I don't even know why I'm commenting on this thread, but whatever.