Using a computer for Physics:

I have seen many-a-time on different forums that different computers and operating systems are used for a physics degree (and employment). Currently, I know my computer is not suitable for the course, so what would you recommend using computer-wise and OS-wise, (if it's Linux, what distro, specifically?)

Thank you ^-^

Reply 1

Sinnoh

You can get by just fine with a laptop running Windows. If you need to use a Linux environment for whatever reason, you'll likely be able to set up a virtual machine on your computer.

Reply 2

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by WMCA05

Hi @WMCA05

I had a Dell Windows laptop and that got me through an undergraduate physics degree just fine with quite light usage to be honest. I used my laptop for accessing online textbooks, writing up reports on latex etc. From second year I also started to learn some coding in python, and for my master's project did some analysis in python but that all ran fine. If you go on to do a coding heavy project in particle or astrophysics then your choice of machine might start to become more important but I did not know of anybody that had any issues with that. Usually, if you need a lot of memory for a particular project then you will be able to use a supercomputer or other precautions should be in place for you.

Hope that helps!

- Tineke
Lancaster Student Ambassador