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Laptop for Uni

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-WZ-
Posts: 3600 - Karma: 6,582
Im midway through my first year in Engineering and I definitely need a laptop for school. So far my proposed budget is $1000-1500. I've always wanted a mac, but I know a lot of people don't really recommend them as you can get better specs for a cheaper price with Windows. The other thing is in engineering there's a lot of programs which ive heard are a bitch to run on OSX so I'd most likely have to dual boot with windows if I went down that path. Also, I commute by bus so I only have a backpack with me and can be at school for 10+ hours so it needs to be lightweight, minimal, as well as having a great battery life. The main uses are going to be
1) homework
2) Engineering programs
3) Netflix
4) Newschoolers (might do a bit of video editing here and there)

Some of the options I've looked at are:
Macbook Air
Dell XPS
Asus Zenbook
Windows Surface

In all honestly I know next to nothing about specs but Ive been told I should be looking for something with a minimum i5 processor or equivalent, 8gb ram, and a 256gb hard drive. Resolution would also be nice as Ill be watching a lot of movies on it aswell.

If anyone could give me insight, advice or even break down the tech specs a bit better for me, especially with the models I listed, would be great. Also wondering about buying used... Good or bad idea? Thanks guys!
Jan 12 2016 12:21PM
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kung_powpow
Posts: 1990 - Karma: 3,671
if you decide to take the macbook route then I wouldn't do the Air. Its dual core i5, 4gb ram, and 128 or 256gb hard drive. I would go with a macbook pro, mine is quad core i7, 16gb ram, and 256gb hard drive. I used to be an engineering major and had no problem running Solidworks and shit in Parallels. You should prolly just get a windows tho
Jan 12 2016 12:53PM
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KravtZ
Posts: 6637 - Karma: 2,629
I wouldn't go macbook air honestly. Its small and the memory isn't much.

That being said...I would suggest a macbook. I have had mine for 8 years and it still runs really really well no complaints. The only problem is the software eventually cant be updated which causes some minor issues unless you spend a lot of $.

Get the MS office package. Everything is great besides excel which sucks if your a power users (use school computers than).

It will out last PC any day of the week. Best for movie watching / internet surfing.
Jan 12 2016 12:56PM
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byubound
Posts: 1636 - Karma: 9,870
I know a few people with the surface book and they all love them. Dual processors will handle all your engineering programs. Only issue I've heard is that it requires a reboot when you reattach the keyboard to the monitor side, but it doesn't sound like you are really gonna use it as a tablet so not a huge deal.
Jan 12 2016 1:03PM
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Funkadelic
Posts: 1967 - Karma: 391
I wouldn't go Mac if you're an engineering student. I had (still have) a Macbook when I was in college and needed to run programs on my computer that were Windows only. Partitioning the hard drive and then switching back and forth between windows and OSX was such a pain. I also think it over worked my hard drive, which caused it to crash several times. I was constantly replacing my hard drive.

If you know you're going to be running programs that are Windows only, don't bother getting a Mac. The pain to run Boot Camp and partition the hard drive, then constantly be restarting your computer to switch back and forth between Windows and OSX is just not worth it. And in my experience it takes a toll on your hard drive.

If you feel you HAVE to get a Mac, don't get a Macbook Air. Go for bigger hard drive and RAM. You'll need something more powerful and a larger hard drive to partition.
Jan 12 2016 1:33PM
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elcornholio
Posts: 797 - Karma: 1,556
If you go with a MacBook Pro, Go with one of the retina display models. It's not the display that makes it good. The normal pro is has not been updated since 2012.
Jan 12 2016 2:31PM
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Whalefail
Posts: 101 - Karma: 17
I am a senior in mechanical engineering and I have friends who use macbook pros to run solidworks, mathcad, matlab, and other engineering programs just fine. I personally prefer my XPS though
Jan 12 2016 2:39PM
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mike759
Posts: 882 - Karma: 1,975
I jave a probook which is a stepdown from the hp elitebook, but ive heard good stuff about them and u can get up to i7 processor http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16834260464&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile-_-pla-_-Notebooks-_-N82E16834260464&gclid=Cj0KEQiA5dK0BRCr49qDzILe74UBEiQA_6gA-mlny9GwfDJOCyvskYC4XEaA0OuTBC0CzKpPKZJn3pIaAg198P8HAQ&gclsrc=aw.ds
Jan 12 2016 4:59PM
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mike759
Posts: 882 - Karma: 1,975
or buy MSI, http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1139159-REG/msi_pe70_2qd_062us_i7_4720hq_16gb_1tb_2_6g_windows_8_1_17_3_silver.html
Jan 12 2016 5:07PM
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FrenchFry
Posts: 969 - Karma: 3,432
I would never buy a Mac desk top ever. But i love my Mac book air. I use it in almost all my classes, and most profs post their lectures on Blackboard(site my uni uses)so it's easy to follow along. Get an air. So light.
Jan 12 2016 5:10PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51738 - Karma: 163,453
Asus can lick my balls.
Jan 12 2016 5:14PM
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Kooky_Lukey
Posts: 1002 - Karma: 1,966
Don't get a mac if you're in engineering. Yeah you might eventually be able to get everything to run on it but you'll waste so much time just trying to get things installed and working correctly that you will hate your life.

Just get a Zenbook or a Surface book. Both of those are just as aesthetically pleasing as a mac and you can still run any program and play any game you want. And better specs than a mac. I have a mac and love it for computer science type programming, but for engineering programs I would rather pull my fingernails off with a pair of pliers.
Jan 12 2016 5:24PM
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gnar_whal
Posts: 1286 - Karma: 3,788
Yeah I wouldn't suggest getting a mac for engineering. I use inventor on my computer at school(windows) and in order for me to do that on my mac I would have to run bootcamp and double-boot, which is a pain in the ass. I would assume it would be a similar situation for the programs you're running
Jan 12 2016 5:36PM
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7springsprod
Posts: 2661 - Karma: 3,181
I would suggest a Sony Vaio if they were still making them but they're doing the whole tablet/book bullshit now. I love my laptop I have a Sony M series
Jan 12 2016 6:38PM
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TheSteezyKoala
Posts: 352 - Karma: 198
If you do end up getting a Mac, definitely get it through Apples certified refurbished. They're a good 200-400$ cheaper and are pretty much like new. I got my Macbook Pro 256 gb SSD for like 990$ i think a while ago. I've had no problems and it was pretty much like new. The only downside is it doesn't come with the full packaging.

But a PC would probably be easier for running the engineering programs and would be less of a pain.
Jan 12 2016 10:42PM
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90053
Posts: 2565 - Karma: 3,728
Dont get a mac, the majority of software available, at least free provided software, is on windows. Obviously there are ways of getting around this but its just not worth it. (ChemEng 3rd year)
Jan 13 2016 8:27AM
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-WZ-
Posts: 3600 - Karma: 6,582
Alright so macs have been crossed off my list. Can anyone compare the XPS with a Zenbook?
Jan 13 2016 7:59PM
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dyer
Posts: 619 - Karma: 964
MacBook Pro is a power house tho
Jan 13 2016 8:33PM
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shibby
Posts: 7088 - Karma: -19
Microsoft Surface book
Jan 14 2016 7:10PM
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skittiti
Posts: 172 - Karma: 434
i would suggest macbook, and get windows bootcamp software for all the engineering programs you need. Buddy of mine uses bootcamp for a few finance related programs and they run very smoothly. Overall, Macs are much better machine, in my opinion, especially for all the things you plan on having to do.

Side note, had my mac stolen last year (luckily recovered it a week later) and had a windows operated computer for the interim and had nothing but troubles with it. granted it wasn't the most expensive model, but I found the operating system to be a pain in the ass and for streaming videos it was incredibly slow, but again this is probably due to it being relatively cheap ($500).
Jan 14 2016 8:11PM
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pdeans
Posts: 5 - Karma: 10
If you have that budget range and I can say that amount will be enough for a high performance laptop. You could go through checking laptops for engineers and see what fits for your usage. :)
Nov 20 2016 5:18AM
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TroyAntipasta
Posts: 444 - Karma: 535
-WZ-Alright so macs have been crossed off my list. Can anyone compare the XPS with a Zenbook?


I can't directly compare the two, however I think one you should take a look at is the HP omen
Nov 20 2016 9:12AM
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90053
Posts: 2565 - Karma: 3,728
I finally gave up on my mac and purchased a lenovo thinkpad p40 yoga, at least for chemeng you absolutely need a windows unless you want to partition, software just isnt available for macs
Nov 20 2016 10:44AM
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90053
Posts: 2565 - Karma: 3,728
90053I finally gave up on my mac and purchased a lenovo thinkpad p40 yoga, at least for chemeng you absolutely need a windows unless you want to partition, software just isnt available for macs


serious deja vu
Nov 20 2016 10:45AM
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Casey
Posts: 7872 - Karma: 24,641
90053I finally gave up on my mac and purchased a lenovo thinkpad p40 yoga, at least for chemeng you absolutely need a windows unless you want to partition, software just isnt available for macs


I just bought a yoga as well. The full size touch screen is nice, and a decent little machine for the price. A surface with similar specs is like 400 dollars more, windows is becoming apple I guess
Nov 20 2016 11:53AM
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a_pla5tic_bag
Posts: 9217 - Karma: 5,399
That new thinkpad is really nice. I'm not sure exactly which one it is, someone where I work got one for bioinformatics stuff. It has a 1tb ssd and a nice screen. No video card obviously but that's life now. Got it dual booting linux mint and windows 10.

I believe it's this http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/yoga/900-series/yoga-910/?menu-id=yoga_910
Nov 20 2016 12:49PM
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Twinjibber77
Posts: 6239 - Karma: 2,355
Don't get a fucking Air.


Idk about engineering programs, but i'll MBP4Lyfe. The '09 still bangin'.
Nov 20 2016 2:50PM
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Tinga
Posts: 11349 - Karma: 2,333
Do not go apple. Especially if you're going to need to run a bunch of specific engineering programs. The compatibility issues just aren't worth it.
Nov 20 2016 8:33PM
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cosmia
Posts: 46 - Karma: 62
My college has a Citrix account that works like a charm. I your uni uses something like Citrix you can't go wrong with a new mac
Nov 20 2016 11:02PM
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IanAvery-Leaf
Posts: 9932 - Karma: 9,411
I love my MBP but if I were in your shoes I would go with a PC, since bootcamp is a pain in the ass. I've heard great things about the Surface Book, although the GPU is on the weak side
Nov 21 2016 10:07PM
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whoa-dere
Posts: 10596 - Karma: 7,105
labview doesn't work on macs and you'll probably need to use labview
Nov 21 2016 11:14PM
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chicken
Posts: 6843 - Karma: 2,121
whoa-derelabview doesn't work on macs and you'll probably need to use labview


labview works on macs
Nov 21 2016 11:57PM
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AgitatedHiatus
Posts: 319 - Karma: 1,053
I have a zen book and I love it. 4k screen, touch screen, relatively okay battery life (could be better), looks sleek, runs fast. It isn't that loud.


I'm a business major though so I run completely different programs than you.


http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/asus-zenbook-pro-ux501-v
Nov 22 2016 12:15PM
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taylornicky
Posts: 2889 - Karma: 2,579
MacBook Pro. I'm a chem major and run many programs on my laptop. I've also used my laptop for coding. Compatible with the majority of systems.
Nov 22 2016 12:17PM
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chicken
Posts: 6843 - Karma: 2,121
Kooky_LukeyDon't get a mac if you're in engineering. Yeah you might eventually be able to get everything to run on it but you'll waste so much time just trying to get things installed and working correctly that you will hate your life.


OSX you get the power of unix out of the box. Then just install homebrew or macports and you will get 90% of the packages you need running immediately from the terminal.

Most of the proprietary stuff you might want/need (MATLAB, simulink, labview, mathematica, excel) will install to osx. You might need to dual boot for CAD software or some other specific packages, but the power you gain from having OSX is worth it.

Windows is a pain in the ass to get set up nicely. And if you need a unix specific package it can be a nightmare to build from source with cygwin. Although you can always dual boot or run linux virtually.

My brother did his undergrad in mechanical engineering. He did 95% of his work in OSX on his macbook pros. Dual booted for the other 5%.
Nov 23 2016 12:17PM
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Bumblesteeze
Posts: 3092 - Karma: 748
Let's hope he found a laptop by now. Thread was created in January..

Let's talk laptops I guess, I use a Dell XPS 13 and it is a solid laptop overall.
Nov 24 2016 11:35PM
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Mingg
Posts: 13990 - Karma: 49,553
I know next to nothing about computers and I'm not in engineering. However, I have a mac and can't do a lot of my school work on it.

For my Information Systems class, we do a lot with Microsoft Access which doesn't have a version for mac so I have to connect remotely or do my work on campus which is a hassle sometimes.

I also have to build a website for my marketing class and when I work on it through my mac it adds stuff to the code that my instructor doesn't want so I have to work on that on school computers.

However, for most things it works really well. Honestly for personal use it's great and for the price I got it at I can't complain. Battery is super nice. I can work all day and use 20-30% of my battery and often go a couple days between charging it. It's user friendly and for like basic assignments it works great.

Not sure if this is relevant for you, but I thought I'd throw it out there. Some schools have a suggested laptops/desktops for students section on their site. I'd look there to get some ideas too!
Nov 25 2016 9:49PM
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Mingg
Posts: 13990 - Karma: 49,553
god damn it i just saw the date and i'm an idiot and i'm sorry ns. byeeeee
Nov 25 2016 9:50PM
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