Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

which MBP for computer eng.?

X

xLink20x

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 1, 2007
9
0
Springfield, OH
I am currently a computer science/engineering major at Miami University of Ohio and a looking at buying my first Apple computer. I am dead set on purchasing a MBP but not sure which version is the correct choice for me. I will be using it for designing and writing software and want to get into video game design. I will defiantly be using Windows on it and would like to know if I should use Vista or just XP pro? And would Boot Camp be the right choice or VM? And my last question is what are the best key points to convince my parents to buy me one?

Sorry for the plethora of questions.
 
For programming VM would be fine - I also do a Computer Science degree and I used Parallel's in Coherence mode to do C stuff and it was just as if it was natively running on my Mac. I'd use Windows XP - Vista only really offers a nicer GUI and security, and you don't need that since you'll be using Coherence mode (or similar mode if using VMware) and you got the security of your Mac - just don't let Parallel's or whatever allow internet connection.

As for video games, Boot Camp. Games will run natively at full speed, where as in a VM you compromise a lot of performance.

Few pointers? Sexiest laptop out there, relatively good value for money (if you actually take into account what it is that makes the MBP so expensive) and the most secure OS in the world.
 
with the 8600 your games and 3d apps will absolutely basically kill anything out there.. the power of that thing is really amazing. in the laptops its an amazing card. that alone is enuf to purchase the mbp.

how much more convincing do ur olds need?
 
get the 2.4 Ghz if you like power. There isn't that much of a difference (40 Gbs more HD, .2 Ghz faster, double VRAM). I got the 2.4 15" just because it's the technical best of Apple's lappys (17"'s graphics gear is taxed more with that big screen. If you don't mind spending an extra $500 on a sotakindamorebetter computer, do it, if not, the 2.2 will be fine.
 
Only real reason to give with mid end is that they have cheaped out on vram in the low end.

But if you don't need 256MB vram, which I guess you probably don't, there is no reason to take the mid end.

If I'd go for anything except low end it would be 17" with 1920x1200 display, because atleast then you get something more for your money (sweet resolution.)
 
Kilamite said:
Few pointers? Sexiest laptop out there, relatively good value for money (if you actually take into account what it is that makes the MBP so expensive) and the most secure OS in the world.
Click to expand...

Most secure OS? Apple is shipping with OpenBSD now? ;)
 
Well.... I would say get the base MBP because I too am a computer engineering student and it does everything just fine. But when you added that you want to get into videogame design I thought differently. Because of that I would say go with the 2.4 GHz due to the doubled VRAM. Also, because of the gaming situation I would say that you should get Vista and use it in bootcamp because It will run at 100% native speeds and because parallels (I believe) can boot windows from a bootcamp partition while in Mac OS X as well. I say Vista also because of DirectX 10 which is important to have in videogame developing. But if you do go Vista route I would suggest upping our RAM as soon as you can afford to do it.

Basically... If ou didn't want to do videogame design I would say go with the base model.
 
I am a returning college student (at 27) as I already have my bachelors degree from the U of Iowa. I'll be heading back to school as a MIS and Computer Science (double major) for the next two years at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL. I am also figuring on what to order as my 1ghz iBook g4 just doesn't cut it anymore (and is kind of falling apart).

I have settled on the 2.4 15" MBP. I kept going back and forth between the blackbook and MBP 2.4 and finally decided that I'm going with the best that I can afford since i have about 3,000 right now, I'll put that toward the 2.4 with applecare, windows XP/vista (not sure which) and finally a nice case. The other option was the blackbook and an iMac, but I simply do not use the desktops (yes with an S) that I have now. One of which is a screaming fast opteron dual core.

Final question, can parallels boot an XP Boot Camp install without a separate installation? I thought no.

spjoneSi
 
I'm in fourth year computer engineering at University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. I just bought a 2.4 SR MBP this term. I chose the 2.4 because it has a better video card which is important to me. In addition I liked that the hard drive was larger as well, but you can upgrade that.

I use dual monitors since it really increases productivity. If you're going to run dual monitors on the windows side don't use vista since for some reason the max resolution supported on the external monitor is 1024x768. I don't know about your university, but at UW students are able to get free copies various microsoft products including XP and Vista, so you might want to check that out before purchasing a copy of either.

I've also found that the mac is really handy because it's based on UNIX. In my degree a lot of the programming is done on Solaris machines. Until now I've connected to a server on campus using various tools on my windows machine. I've always had to install a plethora of third party apps to correctly use graphical tools from the servers. On the mac I just needed to install apple's X11 app and I can use the systems fine.

You might want to look at the student developer program apple offers (http://developer.apple.com/products/student.html). It decreases the cost of the laptop and you'll get leopard once it's released.

Anyways, That's my view as a current Comp Eng student. Good luck with your degree.
 
spjonesi said:
Final question, can parallels boot an XP Boot Camp install without a separate installation? I thought no.
Click to expand...

How about this: do your Windows desktop machines have an internet connection? If so, may want to consider getting Windows Remote Desktop for Mac, and setting up your desktops to allow remote connections. This way you can access Windows without have to worrying about installing it on your Mac. This is pretty much what I do, as I'm in the same boat you're in (MacBook Pro and several Mac workstations that I enjoy using often, and a Windows Desktop that I don't use as much, but s still useful for those occasions I need Windows).

As long as you have a decent internet connection between your workstation and your MBP, there will only be a very slight lag (if you're connecting over a local network, the lag is practically nonexistent). It'll work for pretty much everything but game play.
 
uwguy said:
Yes you can. (http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/feature_matrix/)
Click to expand...


Thanks for the fast replies, people, much appreciated. I will look into the apple remote desktop, but it is in linux now and again...

I've looked into the boot camp partition with parallels but didn't find much (I know, I know, a comp. sci major...) just that it wasn't possible..which I suppose was a while ago. I'll check into it.

spjoneSi
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back