Need Help From My Disboard Engineering Friends :)

[dairyou]

Hi my DS18 is graduating from high school and about to enter college for Mechanical Engineering. We'd like to get him a laptop for his graduation present. We don't have any clue in what we need to look for in a computer. Ram, gigs, memory, video card? Will he need a better laptop in a few years from now? Should we even think about getting him the best laptop for it to be obsolete 2 to 4 years from now?

Any advice you could give would be soooo....helpful

Thanks!
Deb

 

[jlmarr]

Hi my DS18 is graduating from high school and about to enter college for Mechanical Engineering. We'd like to get him a laptop for his graduation present. We don't have any clue in what we need to look for in a computer. Ram, gigs, memory, video card? Will he need a better laptop in a few years from now? Should we even think about getting him the best laptop for it to be obsolete 2 to 4 years from now?

Any advice you could give would be soooo....helpful

Thanks!
Deb

Maybe get him a gift card and let him configure it himself.

 

[HunnyPots]

If it's in the budget, I'd seriously consider a Macbook Pro.

 

[jlmarr]

If it's in the budget, I'd seriously consider a Macbook Pro.

I have an MBP myself, but I think there probably aren't enough hard core engineering applications on Macs yet (I'd like to see that change, but that's another thread). I'd suggest holding off until he at least has been to the M.E. orientation before he makes his choice.

 

[FoxwithEars]

I am actually a Mechanical Engineer major (Sophomore Year) and I have a Macbook and everything is running smoothly. There are some engineering programs that you can't run on mac but an easy way to solve that is getting fusion (which runs windows on a mac).At first I had a XPS but it broke down in the middle of my semester and it took FOREVER to get all my documents back. Also, the school labs should have the programs on the computers. I LOVE MY MACBOOK

 

[golfgal]

I would contact the school and find out what they require. From what we have found they don't often require anything for freshman but often do for sophomores and above so make sure you ask about what will be needed down the road. Many schools have very specific requirements for laptops. Also, most schools also generally have a discount program for the laptops they require so buying one through their program will save you a lot of money. I know the laptop we are looking at for DS17 is $300 cheaper through the school then just ordering online.

 

[RitaZ.]

If you end up buying a Mac, make sure you use the student discount. We've ordered directly from Apple and have used my student discount.

 

[blana]

I would contact the school and find out what they require. From what we have found they don't often require anything for freshman but often do for sophomores and above so make sure you ask about what will be needed down the road. Many schools have very specific requirements for laptops. Also, most schools also generally have a discount program for the laptops they require so buying one through their program will save you a lot of money. I know the laptop we are looking at for DS17 is $300 cheaper through the school then just ordering online.

Yep. This.

 

[jlmarr]

I am actually a Mechanical Engineer major (Sophomore Year) and I have a Macbook and everything is running smoothly. There are some engineering programs that you can't run on mac but an easy way to solve that is getting fusion (which runs windows on a mac).At first I had a XPS but it broke down in the middle of my semester and it took FOREVER to get all my documents back. Also, the school labs should have the programs on the computers. I LOVE MY MACBOOK

Cool - I had a brain freeze and forgot about Parallels and VMWare Fusion. I don't use them myself, but I understand they work well for the person that absolutely needs a particular Windows app. The advantage of the Mac then becomes that you can write iPhone/iPad apps in your copious spare time.