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MacBook Pro || For a Computer Science Degree? Yes or No

MacBook Pro-- Good for Computer Science (please don't vote if you are guessing)

  • Total voters
    126
I've practically finished my first year in CS.

The MBP would be a fine choice. As a student you should be able to get pretty much all windows software for free. Bootcamp was overkill for me so i use both a linux and win 7 64 in a virtual machine.

Its a good idea to get the development environment that your uni\lecturer suggests/provides as if you need any help/support they will know exactly how to use it.

I was using xcode and had to re write loads of programs in c++ after my ancient ibook expired a week before a deadline!:eek: Now thankfully i have a new imac.

My course has consisted of: Programming (C++ & a Java), Networking, computer systems fundamentals, systems analysis and design (assignment, exam and project) and some professional skills garbage.

I really only use windows for visual studio/.net and visual paradigm everything else i do in osx.

Go for it.

HTH
 
Just curious: it looks like small minority are saying "Don't do it." Not to start a flame ware or anything, but would someone want to pipe up and describe their rationale for saying no?

I mean I can understand if you're doing something like ASP.net development exclusively, but otherwise...?
 
I'd go with the MBP

I'm starting on a degree in Computer Science, and my choice was simple. If you need OS X programs, you can run it. Windows? Got it! Linux? Sure, why the hell not?

It's always better to be OVER prepared. If you use mainly windows, then you can run it. You might've been able to save a couple $ if you went with a Dell or whatever, but still worth the extra $ to make sure you are prepared for whatever your professors throw at you.
 
The only bad thing about a MBP in college is that you might get it stolen if you aren't careful. I would never leave my MBP unattended anywhere at a university.
 
Just to be controversial, I'm going to say 'no'. Use your existing laptop or go buy a 2nd hand one and dual boot it with Linux. Save lots of money and go on snow boarding trips during the college breaks, weekly cinema visits, or whatever whets your appetite.

If money is no object, then go for it! Cannot see how a MBP would not be suitable for your degree course. Only drawback is that you'll get into too many Windows vs Apple discussions and arguments. *yawns*
 
CS Major here for my undergrad and graduate degree, a mac will be just fine for you.

I just had a small xp VM with virtual box (free by the way). Pair that with the MSDNAA program (free windows), and a Mac will be great. Plenty of stuff for a mac/linux environment.
 
bigjobby said:
Just to be controversial, I'm going to say 'no'. Use your existing laptop or go buy a 2nd hand one and dual boot it with Linux. Save lots of money and go on snow boarding trips during the college breaks, weekly cinema visits, or whatever whets your appetite.
Click to expand...
Great Option!

For the most part I'm platform neutral, but prefer my MBP as my personal machine. This one is only a few days old, soon I will be setting this up as a dual boot machine with Ubuntu 10.04. Having used a variety of Linux distros over the years I like this new version, as Ubuntu has a huge following thus there are lots of resources and programs available. It's also a great OS now, as they have it very refined and easy for new users.

To our OP, a great used laptop choice is a ThinkPad T60 or T500 if you want widescreen. They are reasonably priced and the most linux friendly laptop available. I've been using ThinkPads and PowerBooks/MacBook Pros for years and Linux has served me well.

Here's a great reliable source of used ThinkPads
http://forum.thinkpads.com/index.php

Here is a great Wiki
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki

Here is Ubuntu
http://www.ubuntu.com/

Here is a great Ubuntu Forum
http://ubuntuforums.org/

So there's your "Linux Guide"

Cheers... :)
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I'm not saying money is no object, I would love to save a K or so and buy a PC with about the same specs, but working where I have been the past year has spoiled me.

I hated macs guts before that, I was one of those youtube trolls raiding all the mac videos :)

but now well...

Software wise I can get everything I need for a pretty big discount ;) but I just wanted to double check and get some opinions about OSx for CS. Seems that it should be okay for the most part.

I also emailed one of the professors and he gave me a pretty positive response
(posted earlier)
 
i completed a three year bsc in computer science with my macbook.

xcode was brilliant for c/c++ and i used netbeans for java. the only time i needed bootcamp was for a visual basic module i had to do, but i doubt your uni will be as bad as to put you through that!
 
Well, you guys convinced me, just got home with it.

Got the 2.53 i5 since I can't see the need for the small i7 boost, nor will the extra vram help unless I am gaming on a external monitor.

IMG00040-20100502-1618.jpg
 
Now I just have to wait for this to be official so I can fail out of uni faster.

Screenshot2010-05-02at53432PM.png
 
I have a CS degree and a mac is totally appropriate.

You can write C++ code in xcode, not just objective-c...

If you dont like xcode you can always drop to the command line to use GCC.

Remember, OSX is unix and unix is big in universities :)
 
I'm curios why is my battery life seem so low? It has been fully charged for a while and that's what I get right off the battery. Will that go up?

all I am doing is some file sharing and web browsing. Thought these got 8 - 9 hours?

Screenshot2010-05-02at80451PM.png
 
Blizzardman said:
I got a CS degree using only a Mac as my main computer and I can say it is very easy. You of course have bootcamp if you need to code using a certain IDE or language (I had to do some C#/Visual Studio coding) and most of the popular IDEs are available on Mac (NetBeans/Eclipse).
Click to expand...

I got a Comp Sci degree also only using a Mac... an iMac G3. If I could do it back then, there's NO issue now. :)
 
rmbrown09 said:
I'm curios why is my battery life seem so low? It has been fully charged for a while and that's what I get right off the battery. Will that go up?

all I am doing is some file sharing and web browsing. Thought these got 8 - 9 hours?

Screenshot2010-05-02at80451PM.png
Click to expand...

It should go up. If you haven't done so, consider calibrating the battery. I have the same model you do, and after a calibration I'm getting 7.5-8 hours consistently.
 
rmbrown09 said:
Thanks for that, unless I missed something , all that was saying is to let it run without AC, turn off unnecessary things(Bluetooth), etc?
Click to expand...

Well, to Calibrate a battery:

- Charge it fully and leave the mac plugged in fully charged for 2 hours.
- Then unplug, and let the battery run down completely. Use your computer as your normally would, you don't need to shut off anything like bluetooth.
- When the battery runs down and the computer puts itself to sleep, let it stay sleeping for 5 hours.
- Charge it fully again. Your battery is calibrated.

You do this early on when you first get your MacBook Pro and about once every month, and it helps the battery meter stay accurate keeps your mac aware of the battery's current health status.
 
scaredpoet said:
Well, to Calibrate a battery:

- Charge it fully and leave the mac plugged in fully charged for 2 hours.
- Then unplug, and let the battery run down completely. Use your computer as your normally would, you don't need to shut off anything like bluetooth.
- When the battery runs down and the computer puts itself to sleep, let it stay sleeping for 5 hours.
- Charge it fully again. Your battery is calibrated.

You do this early on when you first get your MacBook Pro and about once every month, and it helps the battery meter stay accurate keeps your mac aware of the battery's current health status.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, just unplugged it (here at work now) says 4:24
well see :)
 
TxMacAddict said:
One recommendation though. Set you dock to autohide and give yourself some more desktop space.
Click to expand...

Personally I much prefer to have the dock on the left hand side of the screen.

MBPs are widescreen so its better to eat up some of the horizontal space than the vertical space.

Autohide just annoys me :p
 
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