I am about to go into college and i am going to be majoring in Computer Science. Mac or PC?

Question

I am mainly going into the field of application programming, and i was wondering do i need a mac or pc, or does the decision not really matter. I have been saving 2 years for a mac (but things have gotten in the way, and i now only have about $600 saved). I recently went to Staples and saw a Windows Vista Laptop that had better specs then the mac i wanted, and was $1000 cheaper. Is there any real benefit for programmers for having a mac or is it more for visual design that a mac is needed? Does it matter? Thanks.

Answer 1

I would suggest going with a PC.



While MAC does have it's virtues, if you don't know how to handle setting up and booting multiple OS'es from a MAC you're better off with a PC.



It has a larger natural compatability than the MAC.

Answer 2

If you are going to a good institution it will make very little difference. I would be hesitant of attending anywhere Windows-only. I know where I went most of the work was on Unix systems (nowadays that probably means Linux) but Windows was used for a few specialised apps. Unix is popular for undergraduate courses because the innards are much more accessible than for Windows - you can do things in shell scripts that would require a device driver under Windows.



However, a good degree will focus more on general concepts than specific platforms. Whatever languages they teach will be available on Windows, Linux and Mac. They will teach very little operating-specific details so it does not really matter if the system you use at home is different to the one you use in your labs.



If budget is not the overriding factor personally I would go for a Mac. You have a comfortable desktop environment but underneath it is another Unix system and that flexibility is there for you to use if needed. It isn't that more trouble to set up a Windows machine to dual boot Linux, or even run them side by side using Vmware or similar, but it is arguably a less convenient set up.

Answer 3

If I were u, I would go with a PC. A lot of programing software is design to run on a windows and u might run into some incompatibilty issue with a mac

Answer 4

I would say a PC but if you were going into like graphics design, video editing or some type of really creative field i would have said Mac.

Answer 5

If your going to be invovled with anything that requires music or video then youll require a mac, macs are for creative use and photoshopping.



In your shoes id get a windows because there better for science as there what most developers use.

Answer 6

If you aren't doing any gaming or heavy 3D apps, then grab yourself a Macbook 2.0 ghz. If the possibility of requiring a mac is in the future then get one. Just get used to the little spinning color wheel, because as virus-proof as a mac is, it has issues with multitasking.

Answer 7

You will learn PC means politically correct or Personal Computer. They come in many flavors.



apple, linux, windows, unix! My mac is Leopard (UNIX).



The Chinese got fed up with Billie G. and windows. China switched to LINUX. They still graduate 300,000 Engineers a year. NOT using Windows AT ALL. They are still programming WITHOUT windows!!!



Fancy that.



Pick the one you like.

Answer 8

sorry mac fans but pc, its more of a struggle and you'll crash it and repair it more often, so you could end up using your computer knowledge.