Laptop for engineering degree?

[Opara]

Hello,

I am due to start a the 2nd year of my electrical engineering degree soon.I am looking for a laptop that I'll be using alongside the university computers.I originally considered a rMBP as with the student discount it came in at £850.However the 13' screen seemed a tad small.

It's mainly for work purposes, I won't be using it for gaming.I had been using a weak Toshiba the last year that has a 15' 720p display, however I found this a bit awkward for multisim as I'd have to scroll around alot even for a fairly basic design.Is this a limitation of the resolution or screen size?

I notice Lenovo do a student scheme so I looked at some of theirs and found this one for £585




Any suggestions? I was willing to go higher for the MBP as they have good resale value, if it was Windows based I was looking a £600 max

Thanks

[tr7v8]

Depends on what software you'd be using, is it Mac or PC compatible. Is there anything in the Dell outlet? You'll get a good deal on one of these, not sure they do student discounts as I don't work in consumer.(I work for Dell by the way)

[nyt]

Lots of students take their laptops to lectures and enter notes directly.

Will a 17.3" be a bit to heavy for this?

Might you be better with a smaller, more portable machine and a large monitor at home?

[Opara]

I never bothered taking my laptop in last year, it seemed a bit cumbersome for the notes I'd be taking as it usually involved diagrams.I don't plan on taking it out very often so I think 17' is doable.


Software wise I believe we'll be using xcode for an application project otherwise it's mainly windows.

[supersport]

I had a 17" (or something close) Sony about 10 years ago, never again would I have some that big, so heavy and cumbersome.

I now have a 15" MBP and I wouldn't want anything bigger. The Retina screen is great, but for the big stuff I use an external monitor.

[nyt]

If you need to run Xcode on a windows machine then you'll have to install a virtual machine and then OS/X.
This isn't approved by Apple so it's not especially easy and it is fiddly.
But I'm sure that you have the knowledge or someone will help you.

Perhaps you need a touchscreen to take notes or a tablet?

[rhinochopig]

Get a cheap 15 or 13 inch and a separate 24" monitor and USB keyboard and mouse for your room.

[Opara]

I'll never be taking the laptop to uni, I prefer to do all my notes on pen and paper.


Why do you suggest a seperate monitor?

[Conor D]

Opara said:

Why do you suggest a seperate monitor?

15" Laptop and a 21/24" eBay monitor will be perfect. Two screens is much easier to use than one really large one, lets you split up your work/get files etc much easier.

External Keyboard & Mouse will let you push your laptop back in line with the other monitor.

[MethylatedSpirit]

If you're never taking it into uni, and already have a laptop then consider a desktop if you have space?

Opara said:

It's mainly for work purposes, I won't be using it for gaming.I had been using a weak Toshiba the last year that has a 15' 720p display, however I found this a bit awkward for multisim as I'd have to scroll around alot even for a fairly basic design.Is this a limitation of the resolution or screen size?

Both are problems, You really need a large screen and good resolution (1080p).


Desktop is going to have a lot more punch for your money. And you can add/upgrade stuff as you go, even get multiple monitors and a decent keyboard.


I recon you could find decent desktop and a 2nd hand laptop for <£700

Edited by MethylatedSpirit on Saturday 20th September 21:34

[Opara]

I decided to go for the rMBP, I've fancied trying one for a long time and worst comes to the worst I have 14 days to return it.A quick question for Mac owners, what are the benefits to running a Windows programme under Parallels or Bootcamp?

[rhinochopig]

Opara said:

I'll never be taking the laptop to uni, I prefer to do all my notes on pen and paper.


Why do you suggest a seperate monitor?

Because it is an order of magnitude easier to type stuff on a big screen using a proper keyboard. Even if it wasn't illegal, you would never find an engineering company where people are typing on their laptops in preference to a decent monitor and proper keyboard.

For spreadsheets, drawing, or even just document editing, a big screen is a godsend.

[Ynox]

Opara said:

I decided to go for the rMBP, I've fancied trying one for a long time and worst comes to the worst I have 14 days to return it.A quick question for Mac owners, what are the benefits to running a Windows programme under Parallels or Bootcamp?

Different options.

Parallels = virtualised environment (so OS X is running under the hood)
Bootcamp = runs natively (so OS X isn't running)

Positives of Parallels - means you're back in OS X without a reboot once you shut down the VM.

Positives of Bootcamp - arguably better performance as Windows is running on physical hardware rather than a virtualised host.

Personally, I'd use neither. If you need Windows, consider using Virtualbox and creating a VM in that. Performance is pretty good and it means you won't have to buy a Parallels license / reboot each time you want to run a Windows app. Whilst it's not as 'nice' and well integrated as VMWare Fusion or Parallels. it's not bad - especially if you're a more technical user.

[Otispunkmeyer]

MutltiSim is such a bh! Properly chugs when you have big designs and that was on a core i7 quad, 8 gb ram.

[Lost soul]

W8.1 is home edition , try and find one with W8.164 pro

[Zad]

Whatever machine you get, consider that you can probably connect it to any recent LCD TV and use that as a second monitor. For CAD work this really helps.

[supersport]

I use Parallels because it let me rip my old Windows 7 machine that I migrated from and I can run windows apps in a window as if they are running natively on the MAC, it works very well and quite nice.

As time has gone on, I find that I use windows less and less, although there are some excel and word documents that just won't open or don't work properly in Numbers or Pages and so then I can just fire up the Windows machine and use word, can then save back to the MAC disk.

It takes literally seconds to wake up the Windows machine.

The MAC is a work machines so I didn't pay for it or the Parallels licence, although it is cheap.

I also use an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. It makes it like using a desktop and there more comfortable for all day use. I think that work will cut people's hands off if they are caught using a laptop on a desk in laptop mode.