college: mac question

[zulgand04]

Hey everyone, well im finally done with high school so im looking for a laptop. Im leaning towards the powerbook 12", though im alos reluctently looking at a dell 600m. Well the concern i have is that i am majoring in Computer Information Science at Western New England college, im not sure what programs i will need for the major which is concerning me, i really wnat a power book because i absolutly love my imac that i have but i woundering if the dell will end out working better in the end. well i dunno what do you guys think any body have experiance in my major? id appreciate all the help i can get.

-NEAL

 

[Jo-Kun]

maybe you can find someone who is following that study allready and ask him wich programs they need... and decide on that info

or just hang on to your mac's you have now and decide when you start ;-)

I think you can survive the first weeks by using the mac's you do have now...

in this case 'wait and see' is the best option ;-)

but I'm afraid you'll need WindBlows XP to run your programs... but thats just a guess... so than it will be a dell...

 

[7on]

I have a friend who does some computer science and he had a Mac (had as in he is a gamer and had to sell his powerMac). While he was Mac only he did stuff in the computer lab and he was alright with that.

Though I'd suggest a Mac laptop and a windows desktop. Since you'll be needing the most power from your Windows apps, this is why I configed it this way. And I suggest VPC on the laptop. If you can afford that much.

 

[Krizoitz]

Many computer science programs are programming Java these days so a Mac is perfectly compatible with that. I too majored in a Computer related field and have used Macs the whole five years (just finished up my degree today, whoo hoo!). Occasionally I have needed to use a Windows machine, but there were plenty of computer labs on campus in that case.

 

[mkrishnan]

Hey everyone, well im finally done with high school so im looking for a laptop. Im leaning towards the powerbook 12", though im alos reluctently looking at a dell 600m. Well the concern i have is that i am majoring in Computer Information Science at Western New England college, ....

Totally find a contact for someone at the department and e-mail them. They shouldn't mind at all, if it isn't already spelled out on their web page. Cuz if they're very specific, like if they use Visual Studio or something, it will be a huge pain-in-the-butt. But if they use gcc or Java, then you should be golden, or at least wishing XCode did better code completion for Java.

 

[zulgand04]

thanks you guys, i was thinking of vpc i used it in the past for a VB course i took last year, it was vpc 5 im hopeing vpc7 will improve greatly. i was going to email the school but there are so many people in the department i wasnt sure which in would be a good choice. also if i do use vpc can i connect to the schools network through it? im very new with the program just used it to run Visual studio and aol a few times. Thanks again for the help and replys

-Neal

 

[Soc7777777]

so here is my 2 cents..

i am in the same situation as you.... i will be a finance and computer science major in college next year and i wanted to decide between the 12" powerbook, 12" ibook, 12" dell 300m and 14" dell 600m...

so my first step was i emailed the department head... he told me that i could choose any of the computers and if i run into compatability issues then i can use the school computers... but he also said that there was not ANY mac using faculty in the math and comp. sciecne department... and few mac using students...

this is why i chose a pc (why i choose 12" over 14" is another story) but, i woudnt have had a problem bringing a mac to college had i know as much about macs as the poeple on this forum do.. but i dont... so if i had problems... i woudlnt be able to talk to any of the comp. science teachers..

If you know macs really well then i wouldnt worry about it... but if you are buying only your first or second mac then i think you should make sure that some of the faculty at the school are mac users...

as for the advantages/disavanages of getting a mac... that list is too long to compile... but as an fyi... i want a powerbook for personal use (damn $$$) and will probibly buy a powermac with student developer discount sometime during my time at college... and that comp. will last me through grad school...

but DEF talk to the head of the comp. science department... i emaild the guy and got a reply in 45 min...

but since im in the mood for being long winded... if you are getting a dell, i would suggest the 300m... i would also suggest waiting till they have 2 deals overlap (usually 12 hours or so both deals are good, they dont tell you that)... i ended up getting my 1.2 ghz p-m 640mb xp home 30 gig hd ext. cdrw/dvdrom for 1380 with 4 year at home parts/labor warrentee... i love this machine...

the powerbook... wow... probibly the most stylish computer to ever be on the market... its hardware IS lacking... but os x rocks and more than makes up for it... the 1.5 ghz pentium m is much much faster than the 1.5 ghz g4....

but yeah if i were you i would buy a dell 300m now... then in 2 years.. buy a powermac rev c or d g5 or rev a g6 with developer discout and then you have a very very thin and light notebook and a very very powerful desktop with the compatability of any OS for the last two years, when you will be doing the most intensive work...

I know im going to be attacked for this post... as i am for any post now... apparantly to some mac fanatics here there is no excuse for buying a comptuer other than a mac, and the fact that i want an ultraportable computer means that i am a very very small minority and do not matter and do not have any logic or intelligence at all... maybe i dont... just take this thread how you should... as just another random guy's opinion...

 

[zulgand04]

well i found a class schedual that they gave me as an example of the course and, what i've seen there is java, html, xml,java script, sql, network design, data communications, database work a couple of finance and economics class. i dunno if this may help in narrowing types of programs. also if it comes down to it, i'll still have my imac with me so i won't be completely mac-less if i ened up getting that i hate to say it dell lol.


-Neal

 

[zulgand04]

Thanks for the info Soc7777777, the fact that you do have the experience in this major it really helps, i've been useing macs since i was 10 my mac IIse what a fun computer that was but anyways like i said in my last post i'll have my imac so buying the dell isnt so bad, and i know what you mean (no offence people on the site) some do take it a lil too far if you need a certain computer then thats what your gonna use. So yeah the dell 600m is what it looks like i may head towards, i'll have to see how vpc 7 improves speed lol. i love this site everyone here is so helpfull even after a disapointing up not unexspected update today.

:rays for pb lol::

-neal

 

[zulgand04]

well in the end im going to go with the dell 600m, after talking to my uncle i figured i might as well. im happy though that my imac will join me lol thank you everyone for your help and opions.

-Neal

 

[Calvinatir]

I am a computer science major and i got my 17" PB and LOVE IT! My comp sci prof has hte 15"! lol! works beautifully

 

[grapes911]

Many computer science programs are programming Java these days so a Mac is perfectly compatible with that. I too majored in a Computer related field and have used Macs the whole five years (just finished up my degree today, whoo hoo!). Occasionally I have needed to use a Windows machine, but there were plenty of computer labs on campus in that case.

Many (if not all) computer science programs are programming in many different languages. Typically you will learn C++ (maybe C as well), Java or C# (yes, C# is gaining ground), and a form of lisp. Usually another random one is learned too. Other languages may be available, but those three are the most common.

Any school only using java probably isn't much a school. I feel sorry for anyone who only learns java. You're missing out.

 

[zulgand04]

I know that if i was a computer science major i would't be worrying since there are many diffrent ways to program various formats. the thing is im going to be a computer information science, which is more of a busness type major, and what im worried about are busness type programs that i won't be able to run. any opions on that?

-Neal