Anyone here take Computer Science and use a Mac?

Ok so I pretty much have my heart set on getting an apple laptop, I am still undecided whether to go macbook or macbook pro. Now in september I will be taking computer science at a community college for 2 years and then transfering and although I may not be required to have a laptop I want one. I went dell and that didn't work out so now I want something fresh and new that I have never used before and macs also look like they are quality machines. I am wondering if a mac will turn out to be a big headache for me? I know I can use boot camp (thanks for all the answers in my other thread) to put vista on and I can use vmware to use linux if I have to, so to me it looks like a good idea but I read posts where some say a mac is a bad choice for computer science and I read others that say a mac would be great for computer science. So right now I don't know what to do.


Thanks,
Bcb

 

Don't just get a Mac to use with Windows only. You can get great PC-laptop with Windows Vista for a fraction of the cost. Most likely you'll be using either Linux or Windows to do development work with only.

Now, if you do want to learn Mac OSX, then it's a whole different story. But you make no mention of Mac OSX in your post so it doesn't look like Mac's are a good choice in your situation.

 

my computer science professor for the last two cs classes i took used a macbook. much of the programming will be done through an IDE and or the Linux operating system. java is usually a starting language (though i think python is becoming the norm for beginning languages) and those both have IDE's that work with Mac.

if you're programming windows applications, then you would want the windows OS on there, otherwise, the majority of the program you do until higher level cs courses can easily be done on a macbook using the standard mac OS.

 

No thats the thing I do want to learn mac OSX but I am afraid that if I buy a mac then I am going be like screwing myself over. My plan right now is to use OS X and then use windows when and if I need to, which I figure I will have to at some point. I also don't feel like I am overpaying for a mac. I paid $1400 for an m1330 and it did have some better specs than the macbook (t9300 processor, 8400 gs card, and led screen) but the one I got had stupid problems like skipping sound, bad headphone jack, high pitched noise, and the screen was crap. Now when I went to the apple store and played around with the macbook and mbp they both felt durable and I really don't expect to have these stupid little problems with them.

 

Not sure if it's related but my co-worker does part-time university for a computer sciences course. Mainly he's just doing programming courses right now but uses the Macbook Pro. He has Virtual Machines for Windows XP \ Ubuntu. I know he has no problems but I can't really indicate how much time he spends in the OS X environment. I just know he prefers that for his every day use.

Again like I said not sure if it helps.. But that's all I got!

 

I don't see any reason why you would be screwing yourself over with a Mac...there's no real disadvantage in Computer Science if you plan to boot in Windows or Linux as it is necessary anyway. Then its just any other PC, with a nice design and features. So if you have your heart set on it, I see no reason why it wouldn't be good for Computer Science!

 

Thanks for the input, it is really appreciated. Now do you guys think that if I do indeed get a mac, should I get the macbook or pro?

 

If you can afford it, there's no major reason not to get the MacBook Pro. Its only a little heavier (0.4 lbs) and only a little larger in size, but offers a lot more. You get the larger, brighter screen with higher resolution, a dedicated graphics card, backlit keyboard and multi-touch trackpad, and its even a little thinner than the MacBook.

 

If you're only running Linux in the VM, then I suppose the MacBooks would be alright. But wireless won't work properly if you try and install Linux natively on any of the new Macs.

 

I'm a CS major at Carnegie Mellon University and I say those posts are BS . As a matter of fact, so far, every single programming class that I have taken have taken place in Mac computer clusters.

 

Thanks for posting makes me feel much more confident about getting a mac. I am almost 100% sure I am going to get a mac now thanks to this thread. Do you find that the 8600gt would be a necessary upgrade for the classes you take or do you think that that would be unneeded. Also would a bigger screen benefit a programmer?

 

I'm a CS Major at University of Wollongong and I say it all depends on what school you go to. On my campus, the programmers all use Linux machines (unless you're doing directX programming). Macs are hardly used at my university. We have Linux terminals for most things, some windows/linux machines for CS students, and windows machines for arts students.

 

Actually I've hardly used the 8600gt at all. Gaming took a back seat to college and it won't be till my junior year that I will be taking classes involving 3D graphics. In CS, all you really need is a notebook capable of running a text editor. I stepped up to the MBP mainly for the nice bigger LED back lit display and the aluminum exterior. Ever since I've gotten a Lian-li case for my desktop, I've fallen in love with aluminum

 

Thats exactly what I am having trouble with, I love the look of the MBP and the size, weight, etc. but I don't know if I can justify the $600 dollar difference.

 

macbook pro vs macbook?

would you prefer: bigger, brighter screen, backlit keyboard, better graphics and video performance, CUDA, better internal speakers,

OR

$600

having a GPU might be useful seeing as programming on the GPU might be something interesting that takes off while you are in college. not having a GPU will sort of limit your ability to participate in that.

still, its not necessary to have as a CS student. a macbook would be fine, and its totally up to you. I recommend getting a big hard drive if you plan on triple booting linux / windows / osx.

you can get wireless working in linux, it just doesn't work out of the box, you have to install the driver...

 

I just finished a BSc. (Hons) Degree in Computer Science at a UK university. All of our programming has been for the windows platforn, and especially in the final year where they took the focus away from Java and other languages and focussed mainly on .NET

I am however going to buy a Macbook soon and I have never had a Mac before. I want OS X to use for every day stuff and also for photoshop and some website design work, but I will boot into Windows to write my Web Application side of the sites I do.

If MS would bring the .NET framework and Visual Studio 2005 / 2008 to Mac OS X that would be fantastic. I don't mind booting into Windows as and when I need it though.

If your course is anything like mine was then you won't be doing anything OS X specific. Only 1 guy on my course had a Macbook, everybody else including myself stuck to Windows based PC's including the lecturers (I don't know about in their personal computing, but all our University computers are Windows PC's, apart from the in the Design and Art sections where they recently bought a new suite of iMacs.)

The only thing we had to do with Linux was where we had to do a research report into an area of programming, one of the suggested areas was getting .NET applications to run on Linux, but I opted to write a report on Web Services (Easy one lol)

 

NB: You can still access the "graphics card" if you have integrated. It doesn't stop you in any way unless you want to use advanced techniques which I don't see anybody jumping straight into.

I'm going to buy a Macbook because of the size mainly and also price. A macbook pro here starts at about £1,300 I think, where as a Macbook is £700 (or £600 with student discount for the base spec).

The real thing that annoys me about the Macbook is that they don't even put in a DVD-RW in the base spec model, this would cost pennies more but its obviously there to tempt you into getting the next spec up which is about £100 for a faster cpu, bigger hdd, and a DVD-RW drive. Not bad for £100.