Computer Science Major

[Animalk]

I did CS with my MBP.

No major issues. Ofcourse sometimes you need to find workarounds but it was all good fun

If you like computers and plan on really understanding and enjoying them then get one that you will be happy to use.

Go for it! I didn't regret it for a second.

Oh ya one more thing: Good Luck!

 

[jahman]

Interesting,...I would get a mb with an external monitor

would save a ********

Didn't think the difference between a 15" and 17" was so great but, ok, I suppose $500 is a fair bit. I'd still rather have the 17" rather than have to hook up to a monitor taking room on my desk. Can't take the monitor to the library with you either - not realistically at any rate.

Cheers,

jahman

 

[dukebound85]

Didn't think the difference between a 15" and 17" was so great but, ok, I suppose $500 is a fair bit. I'd still rather have the 17" rather than have to hook up to a monitor taking room on my desk. Can't take the monitor to the library with you either - not realistically at any rate.

Cheers,

jahman

What, it is so portable!

I mean if these guys can do it.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKEeHREK2nQ

 

[Stetrain]

I'm currently doing CS and use a 13" Aluminum Macbook for most of my programming work. XCode works great for C and I used Netbeans(cross platform) for Java.

The graders here use an older, sometimes quirky, Windows development environment for C, so sometimes I use Windows in a virtual machine to double check that my code works there too.

 

[mikeo007]

Most of the people here have sound advice, but keep in mind that you're asking the question on a Mac forum. They'll give you 101 reasons why you need a Mac, while if you ask the question on a PC forum, you'll get the exact opposite. But since you're here, it's likely you want a Mac, so just buy one, who cares what people say.

 

[Ritzbitz]

As a computer science major who is into interface design, I find that a lot of the upper division courses at my school are actually having students program iPhone applications, so having some sort of mac would be nice. Also, macs are unix-based which is awesome. I personally don't think X Code is as good as other existing development tools, and I remember that macs in general had some weird problem with using certain libraries when I did a graphics course, but I am sure that they will fix all of that eventually and if not you can always use boot camp or something.

As for which one to go with, the regular macbook is really all you need for programming (unless you are building some super intense ray tracer or something, and even then it should work well enough, it might just be kinda slow while rendering), it really depends on how comfortable you are lugging around a 15" all day if you need it for class or project groups. And regardless of whether you go with a 15" or 13" computer, you will probably want a second monitor anyways, just because having a another screen is sweet for keeping track of say your current references/library info on one screen and your actual code on another.

 

[macgeek18]

Alright, so here is the situation, I am going to college next year with a major in computer science. I have been doing a lot of research on which laptop to get but I just keep going back to the 15" MacBook Pro... It just looks so darn good. Not only does it look good but it actually exceeds many of the requirements for recommended specs of a laptop for my major at the university website.

I have also been looking and I am seeing a lot from both sides. Many people are saying that a MBP would be terrible for computer science and the Think Pad is a better option but others have also said that it works perfectly. I just cant trust anyone because the internet is infested with haters and fan boys. Now I know that many of you are probably fan boys but what do you all think?

I'm going to try to get a 15" MBP for my BA in computer science I'm going for this fall.I'm so excited,I can't wait.

 

[matoch]

Alright, so here is the situation, I am going to college next year with a major in computer science. I have been doing a lot of research on which laptop to get but I just keep going back to the 15" MacBook Pro... It just looks so darn good. Not only does it look good but it actually exceeds many of the requirements for recommended specs of a laptop for my major at the university website.

I have also been looking and I am seeing a lot from both sides. Many people are saying that a MBP would be terrible for computer science and the Think Pad is a better option but others have also said that it works perfectly. I just cant trust anyone because the internet is infested with haters and fan boys. Now I know that many of you are probably fan boys but what do you all think?

What do you know about the program you are going into? At the University of Alberta a lot of the development work was done in Java. There were a few courses using C and C++ and then another one that focused on non procedural programming with Lisp and Prolog. If it's anything like the courses I took you will find that just about any computer can fill the required role. When you want to compile your projects you will probably want to do it on the Lab computers so any difference between your local compiler and the lab compiler are found early.

As for a computer recomendation. I switched to mac when I started my comp sci degree and I was really happy with the decision. I spent most of my time on the laptop in either an xterm for simply terminal.app. If you have the money and want a mac go ahead and buy one. It won't help or hurt you any more then any other computer.

 

[MACMBP]

I am a computer engineering major and the one thing I case say without a doubt is that getting a netbook for coding is not a very good idea. Not because of power (my work compiles plenty fast on my hp mini) but the screen size and resolution suck for when you may want to have two files open side by side and have very little vertical space, also the keyboards are uncomfortable.

I'd say that a 15" MBP is a great machine, but I'd would suggest that you get the high ress screen (it allows you to have more text visible at any time when coding). Also you should look in to having windows on boot camp or on something like VMWare. Since many profesors tend to use visual studio. Though you could probably use Xcode, but in some cases it may be a hassle.

 

[kny3twalker]

MacBook whichever size is a good tool for a computer science major probably more than any other degree. You have a nice and easy to use unix environment and windows is very easy to install via bootcamp. When doing bash scripts and c most of the non mac users are jealous either using vi or pico or having to upload their code to the student servers. I can do it all in Xcode. Also macs have a many preinstalled languages perl, python, php, java, as well as apache web server, etc.... If you think you would benefit from a large external monitor then consider the 13" and a Dell ultrasharp or hp lp series monitor. It will cost about the same as a 15" but your eyes will thank you when using these semi pro grade displays.
I was truly considering a thinkpad when I went to see the apples. What sold me was the unibody, but the more I use this laptop the more reasons I find to like it.

 

[grahamnp]

I'm not a CS major but I end up having to do a lot of programming as part of my engineering degree. The MBP or any Mac would definitely not be ideal, I end up having to use a lot of VMware and Bootcamp but the usability of the Mac outside of classwork and as a day to day machine in general more than makes up for it. It's not the best machine, especially if you are comfortable with Windows, but if you like the way OSX works you can make it happen.

BTW, it just so happens that what I do needs either Linux or Windows, so I guess my situation is the worst possible and yours may be better.

 

[kny3twalker]

I'm not a CS major but I end up having to do a lot of programming as part of my engineering degree. The MBP or any Mac would definitely not be ideal, I end up having to use a lot of VMware and Bootcamp but the usability of the Mac outside of classwork and as a day to day machine in general more than makes up for it. It's not the best machine, especially if you are comfortable with Windows, but if you like the way OSX works you can make it happen.

BTW, it just so happens that what I do needs either Linux or Windows, so I guess my situation is the worst possible and yours may be better.

Mac os is built on unix, so what can Linux do that mac cannot? My guess is not much. And I really think for someone that has to program frequently, you are missing out on the great development environment offered by osx. While Xcode is not my favorite editor, it is very nice and free.
And what's wrong with bootcamp. It's so much easier to setup than dual booting windows and Linux which I have on my desktop at home. And gets the job done just the same.

 

[rjett]

I got through my CS curriculum (2003-2007) using a 12" 1Ghz PowerPC Powerbook just fine. Unless you're planning on doing some heavy graphics work a 15" MBP should last you a while. If you are doing graphics work I'd probably advise getting a desktop so you can upgrade the video card.

But for everything else, I can't think of an instance where a MBP wouldn't suffice. If you need to use some arbitrary tool that you can't find for OS X, you can run Ubuntu or Windows in a VM and you should be all set.

 

[Cali3350]

The Macbook Pro will work fine, but so will a Macbook. And so will a Windows Computer.

You will use some of or all of the following programs in a undergrad CS major:
Eclipse
Visual Studio
Command Line Tools (gcc/ruby/python/flex/bison)

Windows has all of that. For the times you need a Unix environment (there will be times you need one) you can put Linux on there (such as Ubuntu) and get all of the necessary things you need.

Both the Macbook and the Macbook Pro will suffice, however you will likely end up needing to run Windows at some point (and NOT have to run OSX).

Just keep all that in mind and buy what you want.

 

[winninganthem]

When you get past the intro level stuff and do more theoretical work, you'll learn to appreciate that OSX is pretty much a really layer built on top of Unix. When your profs tell you that you gotta learn Unix programs, there's no need to install Cygwin like Windows users do; you do it all from your Terminal .

Once you learn to appreciate Unix, I believe you'll appreciate OSX a lot more as well, and computers in general. Haha.

 

[blake.]

the movement from unix emulation via cygwin to (kinda) native applications if the main reason for my switch to mac.

 

[jclardy]

I am about to graduate with a degree in CS from North Carolina State University. 4 years ago I bought a 13" first gen Macbook that I have used up to now and it has done wonderfully. My only complaints are screen resolution and ram...I had 2 gigs of ram which was fine for a while until you just start never turning of your machine, only putting it to sleep.

Thats why i'm going to upgrade to a i5 15". I will say that I did like the 13" for use in classes that let you use a laptop for notes, a lot of the desks on our old campus are tiny and would not fit a 17" MBP.

Our CS department did a lot of Java and some C. The only class I needed to boot into windows for was Assembly because they used MASM and the grading program that we had to run was a windows binary.

Oh and to those who said you could use a netbook....maybe if you are a masochist. I bought a netbook about a year ago to use for notes and web browsing. I tried running Eclipse on it (We had to use it for a team project) and it was slow as molasses. Not to mention the screen is so tiny you can really only have one view open.

 

[winninganthem]

Just wanted to add one more thing, if you need Windows, most CS university programs participate in MSDN Academic Alliance, giving you free copies of Windows 7, Visual Studio, and a bunch of other really great MS software. You can take advantage of this and put Win 7 on your MBP with Bootcamp and be able to run your MASM projects and anything that you want .