Need a new laptop for school...thinking Mac

[Smith]

I am going back to school to get an Arch. Engineering degree.  I will assume that I'll need AutoCAD and something similar to Word and Excel. I may need something else (not sure yet) but can these three programs be supported easily by a Mac laptop?  What other programs might I wind up using?  I will ask some of my profs in the next week or so so I can make a good purchase, but they won't know whether a Mac will do it...that's where you guys come in.

Why a Mac?  Far fewer virus scares and I always hear how solid they are (fewer crashes).  I don't mind learning the new interface at all as long as I have a smooth running machine.  That is #1 for me.

[cfabe]

Use whatever is popular at your school.

[Dave Markowitz]

If the programs you need are available for Mac OS, then there is no reason to use a Windows machine, IMHO.

I've been using an Apple iBook as my primary machine since December and absolutely love it.

If you're going to be doing graphically intensive work, then get a PowerBook, rather than an iBook, due to bigger and faster hard drives on the PBs.  Also bulk up on RAM.

[Justin]

The bulk of CAD programs run on PC-based machines.

[Ben]

If you're using this for your career, don't think in terms of platform, think in terms of software. What is the most ubiquitous software for your particular discipline or specialty? Be more worried about having a platform that is compatible with the software.

[jefnvk]

Call your school, find out exactly what you will be using.  Plan your platform around that.  Don't go for a Mac, because it is supposedly more secure than Windows, or Windows, because there is more software, or Linux, because it is free, until you know exactly what software you will be using.  FWIW, some of our labs still run on Solaris.

And for CAD software, unless you really need portability, I think a desktop would probably run a bit better.

[Standing Wolf]

On the proverbial "bright side," Macintosh OS X, the supposedly latest and greatest operating system, is nearly as ugly and user-unfriendly as Windows.

That's known as "progress" in Silicon Valley.

[Justin]

And for CAD software, unless you really need portability, I think a desktop would probably run a bit better.

Depends on how much money you're willing to part with.  I run Softimage XSI 4.2 on a DELL XPS Gen 2.  No problems yet, though my preference for doing 3D work is to have a traditional keyboard/mouse setup as the compact notebook one leaves something to be desired.

[jefnvk]

Depends on how much money you're willing to part with

Yeah, that is kinda what I meant.  Probably should of stuck that in there.  My prefrence is to usually put the money that you would have put into a laptop, into a better desktop.  But, I don't need mobility.

[Norton]

I'm a MAC guy and use it almost exclusively, with the exception of our student records system at school.  I've enjoyed using System X and have found it to be pretty trouble free.

That being said.....I agree that you need to plan your purchase around the software that you need to use.  If you were going to audio, you would build around ProTools......web design, DreamWeaver (I guess?), etc, etc.

I'm lucky that I get to pick what I want to use in my classroom since I teach a unique program, but if I had to work in a larger group I may have to reconsider.

[Azrael256]

I agree on basing your decision on software.  Other than that, there's really very little difference.  It's all in what you're used to.  I have a nice G4 right here, and an older Dell Optiplex next to it.  Both are running Gentoo.  Their interfaces are nearly identical.  My home PC is running XP and Gentoo as a dual-boot.  This "anything you can do I can do better" thing between PC and Mac is really silly.  Both are decent computers, both come with a good software base that will allow you to do anything you want, and both will run Gentoo like a champ  PCs are better for gaming based solely on the availability of software, and Mac doesn't make a suite of server software that can  stack up to Windows server.  Macs are really easy to use, look spiffy, turn plenty of horsepower in the CPU department (often more than comparable x86 processors), and are not so suceptible to virus infection.  If I had the cash, I would buy a new PC for my desktop, and one of those spiffy little PowerBook laptops to carry around with me.