Laptop for College

[Adam Taylor]

I'm starting college this fall and plan on majoring in Meteorology and was wondering what type of laptop I should get. I'm really interested in getting a MacBook but I'm not sure if there are special programs I need that will only run on windows. Any suggestions?

 

[J Kinkaid]

Check out a forum like notebookforums and look at the bargain sites like slickdeals.net and fatwallet.com for red hot deals on one . I would pick up a DELL XPS 1330 or XPS 1510 cause there are some great deals on them right now for less than $800. You can also bargain with Dell and get a 4 year complete care warranty for cheap. That will cover those times when you spill a beer on your laptop

 

[Anthony Petito]

The Dell Outlet can usually net some deals as well, so long as you don't care about having a refurbished laptop or one that is labeled as scratch and dent.

 

[Adam Taylor]

Thanks for the quick replies. Money isn't too much of an issue. I have a little over $1000 set aside for a laptop. A dell was definatly something I was looking at.

 

[Michael P. Morris]

I have had a couple of Dell computers, and my wife still uses the one I got when I first came to college 6+ years ago. However, I have had a couple of issues, namely the battery life is good to start with but rapidly deteriorates. I also had the screen separate (it literally busted apart at the seams on both sides!) on the one I am using now. I plan on purchasing a Toshiba for my next one, FWIW.

Realistically, most any modern computer will be appropriate. I have typically eschewed Macs because they're more pricey than comparable PC's, but Mac has the built in advantage that you can tinker around in the Linux shell to familiarize yourself with the environment and teach yourself how to script and code (valuable skills that could be useful come internship time) and you can also run Windows through Parallels or Boot Camp.

 

[Jerry Prsha]

I'm starting college this fall and plan on majoring in Meteorology and was wondering what type of laptop I should get. I'm really interested in getting a MacBook but I'm not sure if there are special programs I need that will only run on windows. Any suggestions?

Go with the MacBook! You can run the Mac OS and if you need to, still run Windows as well on it just when needed. It'll probably last you a lot longer than a Dell or other brand as well...

 

[Adam Taylor]

Thanks again for all the advice. I'm really leaning towards a Macbook now that I know I can run windows with it if I need to.

 

[Jerry Prsha]

Adam,

I'm an Apple Consultant. Feel free to drop me a note if you have any questions I might be able to answer...

 

[Ross Kimes]

Here is another vote for the Mac. I have a MacBook Pro and I love it. I have Vista that I can run through VMware if I need to run Windows programs, but you will find that most programs that you need to run can be ran on OS X. The only reason that I keep Vista around is for GRLevel3. Just curious, where are you going to go to school?

 

[Adam Taylor]

I'm going with a MacBook. Thanks for all of the help! It looks like through their back to school offer I get a free Ipod touch too. Which is pretty cool. I do have one question though. What exactly do I need to run windows on it?

 

[Greg Blumberg]

You need a Windows XP or Vista installation disk (non OEM). Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard already has Boot Camp (an application), which is the equivalent of the PC dual booting.

There is also the virtualization software, which allows you to run OS X and Windows side by side. There are two good options that I know of (both cost $$). They are Parallels Desktop for Mac, and VMWare Fusion.

 

[Ross Kimes]

What programs do you plan on running in Windows? If they are not too graphic heavy, then I would recommend VMware. If they are, then Boot Camp is the way to go.

 

[Anthony Petito]

+1 for VMWare Fusion. Wonderful program.

 

[Josh Durkee]

any testimonials for VMWare Fusion vs. Parallels?

also, anyone successfully run GRLevel 2AE on a mac?

 

[Ross Kimes]

I only tried Parallels for a little bit. It did not have any DirectX support (as of a few months ago, I do not know if anything has changed), but Fusion supports up to DirectX9. Another good thing about Fusion is Unity mode, which allows you to run the Windows apps inside Mac like it was a normal Mac app.

I assume that GR2AE would run fine on any computer that can run smoothing on GR3. With the new Fusion Beta (which supports cell shading), the option for smoothing not grayed out like it was in prior versions of Fusion, but when I check the box, the radar image disappears off of the screen.

I have done too much to try to fix this problem. I assume that this is very close to working considering it is not grayed out anymore, and when this works, GR2AE should work too. Does GR2AE require any more resources than smoothing in GR3?