Reverse Switching

[BDK1022]

Some background info.
I'm going to be going to school as an engineering major next year.
The engineering department at my school uses only PCs.
I have only used macs my whole life, NEVER a PC.

I've seen a lot of topics / websites about people switching from a PC to a mac, but noone talks about switching the other way. Maybe I'm a little paranoid, but today I was thinking that I might be behind because of this. For this reason, and this reason only, I'm thinking I might want to get a PC laptop that I can play around on for a little while instead of the MBP that I've been dead set on for the past month. Am I just overreacting? And should using a PC be pretty seemless after using only macs?

If I do get an intel mac, it is unlikely that I will be installing Windows anytime soon.

 

[Jiddick ExRex]

I am not gonna lie to you, imo I think it will be a tuffy. You have to get antivirus software, anti ad/malware software, registry cleaners and several useful plugins for firefix to make your system secure and stable. Once you do that, and get the hang of it (shouldn't take you more than a week or so), you'll start to get annoyed over other stuff. So good luck

 

[clevin]

there will be something you need to learn, but since u are engineering major, i would assume it would not be very difficult. These are what i can think of
1. hotkeys, there is quite a bit different, if you use them a lot
2. browsers, pretty much same thing, if you were using mac for so long. just use firefox plus whatever extensions you like.
3. security, this is true, but easy to solve, there are tons of free stuff out their, antiVir would keep you safe, or you can try a!vast. Just don't use IE
4. There are so many good stuff are cross-platform, I really don't see how you will have big problem, Also, there are tons of freeware on windows, you don't need to spend anything.

 

[kgarner]

Dude, just get your MBP and BootCamp it. It is the best of both worlds. You can still do all of your Mac stuff and then run that lame Windows software when you need to. Buying a PC instead of a Mac just because you need Windows is kind of pointless since the Mac can run both.

 

[Cameront9]

If you've ONLY used Macs, you will likely get frustrated. Get the MBP, and if you need to install Windows, you can. I know I have only been using a Mac for a little over a year, but I can't stand going back to Windows. So many little things that bug me.

 

[clevin]

well, a new MBP is way more expensive than a usable PC. I guess he dosen't want to spend too much on pc anyway.

 

[kgarner]

well, a new MBP is way more expensive than a usable PC. I guess he dosen't want to spend too much on pc anyway.

Without knowing his school's laptop requirements I kind of doubt that. Sure a MBP is more than an average PC laptop, but I doubt that the school says to go and get whatever low-end model you can find. Most likely he needs a pretty high-end setup for running things like CAD programs and those funky math programs engineers use. "Usable" is far too relative a term to apply to this argument.

 

[clevin]

the only difference nowadays between usable and high-end laptop is graphic card (generally speaking), im not sure if CAD need a top level 3D graphic card tho, but i maybe wrong, since i really know nothing about engineering.

 

[steamboat26]

I agree with everyone else, get the macbook pro and use bootcamp or parallels. In my opinion (and the opinion of many others i am sure) doing almost anything on a mac is much easier than doing the same thing on a pc.

 

[bearbo]

Without knowing his school's laptop requirements I kind of doubt that. Sure a MBP is more than an average PC laptop, but I doubt that the school says to go and get whatever low-end model you can find. Most likely he needs a pretty high-end setup for running things like CAD programs and those funky math programs engineers use. "Usable" is far too relative a term to apply to this argument.

engineering school's system requirement isn't much (if at all) higher than the system requirement of the rest of the campus.. they don't expect you to run those apps (e.g. CAD) on your own computer. for one, no one will buy you the license... this is an example of the system requirement of engr school. your personal computer are for basic personal use, paper, research, etc.
with that being said, the schools computer lab's computer are genearlly well mainteined, it's not very difficult to use. what school are you going to?

 

[Star Destroyer]

What discipline of engineering is it?

I am a Civil Environmental, and i have never had to use more then Excel and Word in 4 years of school. Every other program we had to use on the schools computers because they were to expensive to buy for personal use at home.
I have a macbook now, and its great, never a problem..

If i were you, i would check to see exactly how many programs you actually have to use at home, chances are they are all installed on the comps in the computer labs for your use during labs...

 

[BDK1022]

For the school
http://www.help.neu.edu/configs2005.pdf

For the College of Engineering
http://www.coe.neu.edu/studentservices/index.phtml?go=computer.htm

 

[plinden]

For the College of Engineering
http://www.coe.neu.edu/studentservices/index.phtml?go=computer.htm

XP in Parallels would handle that perfectly fine (I see no graphics card recommendation, which would be the only caveat I would have about Parallels) - the Windows VM in a dual core Mac @ 2GHz runs roughly equivalent to a 1.8GHz Pentium-M (ie. single core) which is roughly equivalent to a 2.6GHz Pentium 4.

Get yourself a MacBook (or Pro) and use Windows only when you really need to. With Parallels you wouldn't even need to reboot.

 

[Star Destroyer]

I agree, you can run C++ compilers on your macbook (pro) and te atuoCAD you will have to use thier PCs at the lab. The rest you can run on Bootcamp or other haha