Uni Student - Possible Switcher - Need Advice

[Rokusaburo]

Hey gang.

I'm starting University this year, studying IT/Multimedia and am in serious need of a new computer. At Uni, they use mainly Windows PCs, although they do have one Mac lab (G5 iMacs) for the 'design' side of things.
My parents promised me a new computer as a high school graduation present and I'm seriously considering a Mac Pro (2.66Ghz, 2GB RAM, X1900xt).

A lot of the programs I would be using would be multi-platform, like Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Director, Maya and After Effects, but I would still need to run some Windows only apps like Visual Studio and Adobe Video Production apps (until the new versions are releases on OSX).

My parents can see where I'm coming from, wanting a Mac Pro, but my dad is still fairly hesitant, believing I would be at a disadvantage using a Mac for Uni, where almost all the computers are PCs. He is also not convinced about running Windows XP on a Mac, thinking there would be too many problems.

Is there anyone out there who has been in a similar situation and could offer some advice? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[hopejr]

Hey gang.

I'm starting University this year, studying IT/Multimedia and am in serious need of a new computer. At Uni, they use mainly Windows PCs, although they do have one Mac lab (G5 iMacs) for the 'design' side of things.
My parents promised me a new computer as a high school graduation present and I'm seriously considering a Mac Pro (2.66Ghz, 2GB RAM, X1900xt).

A lot of the programs I would be using would be multi-platform, like Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Director, Maya and After Effects, but I would still need to run some Windows only apps like Visual Studio and Adobe Video Production apps (until the new versions are releases on OSX).

My parents can see where I'm coming from, wanting a Mac Pro, but my dad is still fairly hesitant, believing I would be at a disadvantage using a Mac for Uni, where almost all the computers are PCs. He is also not convinced about running Windows XP on a Mac, thinking there would be too many problems.

Is there anyone out there who has been in a similar situation and could offer some advice? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I switched to Mac while at Uni and couldn't be happier. I did a Bachelor of Engineering in Software Engineering, and was not disadvantaged in any way. All of the lab computers were PCs, but in my last year, some of the CS lecturers switched to Macs in their offices.

I'm running Windows XP on my MacBook and Visual Studio is fine on it. There isn't any disadvantages that I can see.

 

[Amber]

From what I've seen, Windows XP runs better on a Mac than on a PC.

PCs are unreliable. It's ok for the Uni to have PCs because they probably have a full time technician working there. I know we did at my college and he was ALWAYS busy. The fact they have to employ IT technicians says alot about PCs.

Macs are more conductive to creativity. Macs are industry standard.

I don't actually own a Mac yet but about to buy due to all the problems I've had with PCs. It's pretty much put a stop on my work and was always slowing me down. I can't wait to finally never have to a use a PC again.

 

[bozigle]

From what I've seen, Windows XP runs better on a Mac than on a PC.

lol

I did all my software enginer with ... an amiga 1200.
To the amazement of my teachers that were feeling pitty for me.
I found all my compilers (C, C++, ADA 9X, Java) without any problem.
The only problem i could have foresee would be if you were doing Asembly... but since Mac shift for intel processor you won't even have this problem.

The mac has all the development tool you will need, and if your education don't concentrate on specific MS libraries you shouldn't even have to deal with boot camp

bozigle

note: On my last year of university i made the worse mistake ever... i bought a PC... that i gave to someone few years back when i came back to my senses and bought a mac

 

[miniConvert]

Mac Pro sounds good to me, even if it's just so you can see peoples faces when you come to hand in a DVD thrown together in iDVD when everyone else had to use some cheapo windows tosh on the lab machines

Seriously, though - if you can afford to have a Mac Pro for Uni then good for you. They're awesome machines, as good if not better than the Dell Precision workstation range. They certainly look nicer

 

[hopejr]

The only problem i could have foresee would be if you were doing Asembly... but since Mac shift for intel processor you won't even have this problem.

That's if they do x86 Assembly. In my course, we did Motorola 68HC11, but that was a while ago .