MacBook for a Math Major?

Nulifax · Jan 27, 2008

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum and have been a lifelong PC user. I am a Sophomore Math Major and I am looking to pick up a new laptop this Summer. I am currently debating between a Tablet PC, or a Black Macbook. I have about $1600.00 saved up and I want to know if a Macbook will be a useful tool for a Math Major. I have really wanted to jump in and try Macs, but I don't want to buy one if it will not be useful to me in school. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

Nagger Pumper · Jan 27, 2008

A Black Macbook is a great computer for college. Keep in mind you can in stall a version of Windows via Bootcamp if needed. What programs/applications would you like to run on it ?

Nulifax · Jan 27, 2008

Nagger Pumper said:
A Black Macbook is a great computer for college. Keep in mind you can in stall a version of Windows via Bootcamp if needed. What programs/applications would you like to run on it ?

Thanks for the quick reply. So if I ever need to use a program that will only run on Windows, I can use Bootcamp to run windows and that program? I'm not sure yet of which specific programs I will be using. I have heard of MatLab and Mathematica, but I'm pretty sure that those have Mac versions for users.

The Vindicat3d · Jan 27, 2008

Correct, Except bootcamp is used to install windows on a partition of your mac not run it, so you install it and than hold the option key when you start up to chose if you want to start up the Mac OS or the Windows OS

Discerptor · Jan 27, 2008

Nulifax said:
Hello everyone. I am new to this forum and have been a lifelong PC user. I am a Sophomore Math Major and I am looking to pick up a new laptop this Summer. I am currently debating between a Tablet PC, or a Black Macbook. I have about $1600.00 saved up and I want to know if a Macbook will be a useful tool for a Math Major. I have really wanted to jump in and try Macs, but I don't want to buy one if it will not be useful to me in school. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

I'm a junior math major in college, and I've been using a PowerBook my entire time here. All of the major commercial programs you might use (MATLAB, Maple, Mathematica) have Mac versions, except possibly AutoCAD, but you said you were a math major, not an engineering major, so I'll assume you won't be using that. Furthermore, open source stuff like Python and its math/science-oriented modules like NumPy, SciPy, and matplotlib are all relatively easy to get running on your Mac.

Of course, seeing as you have to eventually do a thesis, you're probably also interested in TeX and Beamer, which you'll be using to type up documents and presentations in the future. A Mac distribution of TeX Live, called MacTeX, is available in an easy-to-use installer available for free download, and it even comes with some nifty GUI frontend TeX editors.

At least two of the math professors here use Macs, and they seem to not have any problems. I can definitely say that getting a Mac will not hinder your ability to do math stuff with your computer in the slightest unless your university has student-distribution site licenses only for the Windows versions of expensive commercial software you need to use.

I personally prefer using my Mac over using a Windows PC for math-oriented stuff at this point (probably because it's far more UNIX-y and I've grown to really like the awesomeness of actually having a useful Terminal), but your mileage may vary. So I'd definitely try out as much as possible from both camps before making the decision, especially if you haven't used a Mac before. There IS a learning curve, though it may be lessened if you stick solely to the GUI stuff. I hope that helps. And if you decide to get a Mac, feel free to ask me about any mathematical computing-related stuff you might like to know.

Nulifax · Jan 27, 2008

Discerptor said:
I'm a junior math major in college, and I've been using a PowerBook my entire time here. All of the major commercial programs you might use (MATLAB, Maple, Mathematica) have Mac versions, except possibly AutoCAD, but you said you were a math major, not an engineering major, so I'll assume you won't be using that. Furthermore, open source stuff like Python and its math/science-oriented modules like NumPy, SciPy, and matplotlib are all relatively easy to get running on your Mac.

Of course, seeing as you have to eventually do a thesis, you're probably also interested in TeX and Beamer, which you'll be using to type up documents and presentations in the future. A Mac distribution of TeX Live, called MacTeX, is available in an easy-to-use installer available for free download, and it even comes with some nifty GUI frontend TeX editors.

At least two of the math professors here use Macs, and they seem to not have any problems. I can definitely say that getting a Mac will not hinder your ability to do math stuff with your computer in the slightest unless your university has student-distribution site licenses only for the Windows versions of expensive commercial software you need to use.

I personally prefer using my Mac over using a Windows PC for math-oriented stuff at this point (probably because it's far more UNIX-y and I've grown to really like the awesomeness of actually having a useful Terminal), but your mileage may vary. So I'd definitely try out as much as possible from both camps before making the decision, especially if you haven't used a Mac before. There IS a learning curve, though it may be lessened if you stick solely to the GUI stuff. I hope that helps. And if you decide to get a Mac, feel free to ask me about any mathematical computing-related stuff you might like to know.

Wow, thank you so much. You have been a great help and I cannot thank you enough. Thanks to everyone for helping me out. I will purchase my new Black Macbook soon

The Vindicat3d · Jan 27, 2008

Nulifax said:
Wow, thank you so much. You have been a great help and I cannot thank you enough. Thanks to everyone for helping me out. I will purchase my new Black Macbook soon

and you don't have to worry about your computer and your data being taken and destroyed through viruses! ;D

saxnbass · Jan 28, 2008

May I just point out that with a black MacBook you are paying $150 extra just for the black color. If you configure the white MacBook to the same specs, it'll be $150 cheaper.

Just saying.