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Mac or Pc for Engineering student

I'm hopefully going to study engineering at oxford next year and am looking into buying a laptop in the near future, which I will take with me to university.

I know everyone has there own opinions about which is better and any information would be good, but I'm specificaly looking to find out whether one is more suited to engineering? Are there programs that I'll need that are only available on one platform?

I will also contact oxford directley but I would love to find out current students views?

Reply 1

Schadenfreude

What type of Engineering?

It'll also depend on the uni, so yes, ask Oxford directly what programs they use and whether you will need to run them outside of computer labs.

In general, the uni will probably provide ample computing facilities so that you won't need to run the programs on your own computer (and this also saves you buying them, engineering programs are VERY expensive)

The uni's computers will also be better suited to running these programs, as they can be very resource hungry, and so you'd need a powerful laptop to run them anyway.

So basically, whatever you prefer the sounds of! I mean, I adore my ThinkPad, but I can see the appeal of Macs, just depends what you think would suit you better!

Reply 2

help please!

OP

General Engineering, specialising after 2 years but I have no idea what specialism!

Reply 3

User68322

If you're doing engineering then you'll be doing AutoCAD and Matlab etc...therefore:

PC > Mac for you.

Reply 4

shuvle

12

maple/matlab/autocad/sketchup

therefore PC >> mac IMHO

Reply 5

jackbourne

BUMP, Was just thinking exactly the same thing about the same course and uni.

Reply 6

shuvle

12

jackbourne

BUMP, Was just thinking exactly the same thing about the same course and uni.

What more would you exactly like to know?

edit: your PC spec is almost exactly the same as mine. You'll be able to run anything you throw at it. Maybe upgrade the Ram to 4GB and buy an extra screen if you've got the spare cash.

Reply 7

jackbourne

No, This is a PC.
I want a laptop for lectures and in the "workshops" or whatever they are called.
Will I be needing eng programs on there or is it just best to run them from PC?
I already have a 20" beast (oh yeah and a screen too :lol:

)

Reply 8

shuvle

12

jackbourne

No, This is a PC.
I want a laptop for lectures and in the "workshops" or whatever they are called.
Will I be needing eng programs on there or is it just best to run them from PC?
I already have a 20" beast (oh yeah and a screen too :lol:

)

I had a laptop in my first year, but I never used it. I'd say the only reason I would get one would be if started to travelled lots. If your taking your PC anyway, I would wait until your there, check out what sort of computer facilities your uni has and then make the decision. There’s no rush to get one before you start. With regards to engineering programs, you could probably run most on a low end laptop, although for AutoCad/ sketch up you might wanna stick to your PC.

oh and if we're comparing "beasts", I have a 24" Samsung SyncMaster widescreen with a 19" Samsung SyncMaster either side. :cool:

Reply 9

jackbourne

Thanks for the advice. I will hopefully be getting DSA for dyslexia and so was wondering what sort of machine they would give me.

and Nice, but I only have compatibility for 2 screens at the moment. Mine is a syncmaster as well 2032bw. :biggrin:

Reply 10

maturemaud

Thanks for starting this one. I have also been wondering what to get. Keen to hear what current engineering students have to say

Reply 11

azhao

3

Get a PC, much easier to find programs that run on it and are usually cheaper than macs.

Reply 12

CJN

17

If you like macs, then get a mac. With bootcamp you can run any Windows alongside Mac so if you need to use specialist apps like CAD etc. then you can easily just boot in windows and do what you need.

I'm getting a mac to study either physics, electrical engineering, astrophysics/aerospace or computer science/engineering (I may reconsider for the last course though).

If your doing computing then Mac bootcamp may not be as great, as in very advanced things the intel processors are similar but a bit different - not sure too much about it though,

Reply 13

maturemaud

Thanks for that CJN I'll look into what you say.

Does anyone on here already do engineering who has one and has had no/problems because of it? I figure if I am going to spend money on a laptop I may as well get one that can run osx as well as windows, especially as I hate vista with a passion. But if it's going to be problematic for my course, that is definately worth knowing in advance.