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zip120

Guest
Original poster
Sep 5, 2009
41
0
I've been a life-long pc user, and I'm planning to jump soon to a macbook pro. I'm starting college next year, hoping to double major in computer science or information science and business - so I'll be doing some coding and other computer tasks. Would a copy of windows be useful in boot camp, or will it just be a waste of space on my hard drive?
 

gugucom

macrumors 68020
May 21, 2009
2,136
2
Munich, Germany
Many schools run networks that use Windows based clients, Outlook for mail and the Office suite for presentation. Only a minority will also cater for Apple. So native Windows with Bootcamp looks like a good idea until you can confirm Apple support is available. Check with the school's IT department. This stuff is mostly online available from their web site.
 

Stridder44

macrumors 68040
Mar 24, 2003
3,973
198
California
Since you're a life long PC user I assume you have a copy of Windows to install (because Apple doesn't provide it). If you have the extra disk space, there's relatively little reason not to.

+1

Plus, for you major, being able to dual-boot into both a Windows and Unix platform will benefit you. You've got nothing to lose except disk space, but even you could easily get it back be removing the Windows partition.

What version of Windows do you have/are going to buy?
 

Cboss

macrumors 6502
Dec 11, 2008
388
0
Colorado
Before you buy a copy of Windows check with your college to see if the computer science department offers students free/reduced price software. I got XP for free last year by being in a computer science class at my college and I'm not even a CS major.

In my programming class we used a Windows only program to write C++ code. So if I were you I would put a 500 GB hdd into the macbook so that both OS X and Windows have plenty of room. I also found that having Parallels (also discounted by university) was very convenient when I had to code in Windows.
 

zip120

Guest
Original poster
Sep 5, 2009
41
0
Thanks guys
I can get windows 7 for $29 with the student discount so I'll do that
The 500gb sounds like a good idea.. Would 7200 be much faster than 5400?
I'm planning on waiting until the next upgrade to buy.. So the standards might be higher
 
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