6 questions from a 1st year grad student

[Abstract]

@MacPassion: Which Uni?

Oh......I'm a PhD student (1st year) at Wollongong doing something Physic-y, but not nearly as complicated as what you're doing, but I find what I do as more rewarding than pure physics. Personal opinion, that's all.

Anyway, I have a PowerBook. I'd seriously recommend just using a laptop and NO desktop. Forget the desktop. If you have number crunching to do (for me that would be Monte Carlo simulations), I send all that stuff out to a huge cluster that gets stuff done lickety-split.

Reason for telling you to use a laptop exclusively........you always have your work with you. You don't have to worry about making sure your desktop and laptop are both in sync, nor do you have to worry about carrying everything in a portable HD if you were to use that as your main HD for all your research data (which would actually be useful if you WERE to have a desktop and laptop). I have a 12" PB, and my Uni bought me a Dell 3.4GHz Pentium 4 HT with 2 GB of RAM and a 17" LCD!! Funny thing is that I only use it to post at MacRumours, and never use it for Uni work.

I like doing all my work on my PB and find it annoying to move things around. I also find myself moving to different places to work, even at my own Uni.

And right now, don't bother getting a 12" PB with the way the specs are now. Get an iBook instead. A 12" PB won't be faster than a 12" iBook, although the keyboard on the PB is better. How much is that worth to you?

BEST THING TO DO: Wait for now and get an Intel PowerBook when they arrive. That way you can run Windows as well, and any type of Linux.

SECOND BEST THING: Either get a 12" iBook, or get a 15" PowerBook. That'll replace a desktop for sure and yet is still portable.

 

[MacPassion]

@MacPassion: Which Uni?

BEST THING TO DO: Wait for now and get an Intel PowerBook when they arrive. That way you can run Windows as well, and any type of Linux.

SECOND BEST THING: Either get a 12" iBook, or get a 15" PowerBook. That'll replace a desktop for sure and yet is still portable.

Hi! I'm in Sydney....and doing Management...so much less mathematics and statistics than you....I've a PC desktop too at uni...It is 2 months old and I was thinking to keep it for simulations and that sort of things...Then I have a 6 months old HP laptop that I was thinking to sell and get a PB. If I wait the Intel PB i guess I'll not get money at all from selling my HP....

Do you use an external monitor with your 12'' PB? I've spend an entire afternoon at Myer in the city and I was not really convinced...Then I spend a late night shopping evening at DJ and still did not like it that much...The resolution is too low: how long do you resist on that machine? On the other hand, a 15'' is pretty expensive....definitely expensive...I agree with you about the ibook 12'': i would find it very hard to get a 12'' PB at this stage given that the screen quality appear the same to me....

Running Windows and Mac OS X on the same machine will definitely be great!

Thanks!

 

[Phatpat]

Some random thoughts

I'm a big fan of the powerful desktop + cheap laptop combo. I'd go with the iMac. You'll appreciate the power, and you can get a new battery for your laptop and use it to do low-level stuff.

Matlab runs just fine on macs. X11 isn't pretty, but it seems to do everything I need it to.

I'm a mechanical engineering student, and I do feel like a 2nd-class citizen using a mac. Most CAD/CAM programs aren't really designed for it. I use Pro/E and AutoCAD heavily, and Windows just seems like the best environment for it, so I have a Windows box on the side. I look forward to the days of x86 macs, and the ability to dual boot Windows/OS X.

 

[MacPassion]

Some random thoughts
I look forward to the days of x86 macs, and the ability to dual boot Windows/OS X.

Are we really sure it will be possible to dual boot? Would it be possible only for Apple machine or even for Pc? If the former, why just for Apple?

 

[Abstract]

Hi! I'm in Sydney....and doing Management...so much less mathematics and statistics than you....I've a PC desktop too at uni...It is 2 months old and I was thinking to keep it for simulations and that sort of things...Then I have a 6 months old HP laptop that I was thinking to sell and get a PB. If I wait the Intel PB i guess I'll not get money at all from selling my HP....

I'd STILL sell the HP and get an Intel 12" PB. You may still get $1000 (AUD)for a PC laptop after a year. It depends on the specs and original price, of course.

Do you use an external monitor with your 12'' PB? I've spend an entire afternoon at Myer in the city and I was not really convinced...Then I spend a late night shopping evening at DJ and still did not like it that much...The resolution is too low: how long do you resist on that machine?

I use it everyday, and although the lower resolution bugs me a lot if I have a Word and PDF document open at the same time, its definitely more than tolerable and simply takes some getting used to. This is going to be a problem no matter what 12" laptop I get. I don't think a higher resolution 12" screen is the answer (eg: Dell 12" widescreen has higher resolution), as the text is just too small at that point. I think widescreen 12" that keeps text and icons the same size is the answer.

And I never use an external monitor, although that 17" Dell LCD my Uni bought me could work. I'll try that one day.

 

[MacPassion]

I'd STILL sell the HP and get an Intel 12" PB. You may still get $1000 (AUD)for a PC laptop after a year. It depends on the specs and original price, of course.

Hey! You might have convinced me! I got offered almost twice that amount today for my HP...I definitely need to look some more into the PBs tomorrow! and hurry up with the sale....