Filed under: Education, Mac Pro
Dear Aunt TUAW: Help me buy a Mac Pro
It's not often that we get to do an advice column here, but let's see how this goes. An email arrived at the office just the other day...
Dear Aunt TUAW,
I know that he is wrong and that there are engineers that use Macs professionally and I can give a few examples to support that. If I am going to win this argument I'm going to need a lot of proof.
Signed,
Mac-lorn Admin
Dear Mac-lorn Admin,
Darling, didn't you realize the Mac Pro is a Windows machine, and a darned speedy one? Last time I checked, Boot Camp + Mac Pro = a Windows dream! The adult in us loves the reliability and UNIX backbone, but the kid in us loves the GUI and tasty frosting! Having a single machine that can do double or triple duty with Mac apps, BSD/Linux engineering power and Windows compatibility would be the envy of any right-minded academician.
Still, we know that logic isn't going to sway that mean ole dean of yours. TUAW readers, can you help Mac-lorn? Leave us your testimonials about using Macs in your professional lives -- particularly in engineering or in higher ed -- in the comments.
Love,
Auntie T.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Anon said 9:48AM on 3-28-2008
I also work in the electrical and computer engineering department at Carnegie Mellon University. You may have heard of it.
FWIW, several of our top faculty use MacBook Pros. I'd share names, but I fear that would be going too far. Tell them this is true within one of the top engineering schools in the world.
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Michael Rose said 9:51AM on 3-28-2008
Go Tartans!
[CMU class of '91]
DJCarbon43 said 10:21AM on 3-28-2008
As an aside, did CMU wind up winning the DARPA challenge?
Anon said 12:41PM on 3-28-2008
CMU won the DARPA Urban Challenge this year, yes. Red Team FTW.
Michael Rose said 11:08AM on 3-28-2008
Yes, the pride of Pittsburgh beat those Cali hippies in the Urban Challenge :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge#2007_Urban_Challenge
DJCarbon43 said 10:45AM on 3-31-2008
w00t! Much love to my western PA brethren. :)
dan said 9:23AM on 3-28-2008
Maybe this will help your cause a little Mac-lorn :)
http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/20/apple-army-hackers-tech-security-cx_ag_1221army.html
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DJCarbon43 said 10:14AM on 3-28-2008
Hold the faith brother mac-lorn. For tonight in Academia we shall light such a fire under your deans arse, as shall never be extinguished!
Best,
D. ^_^
Jitaroo said 12:01PM on 3-28-2008
That can't be true. If it were, why would the military tell the press? Now, all the people who were trying to hack them are just going to try to hack their macs! And don't tell me it can't be hacked, because no one is perfect, and neither is apple, so there has to be a flaw. This just gave them the impetus to find it.
But, the military might just be smart enough to do this, just to throw hackers off track, untill they realize that this isn't true.
Eliot Landrum said 9:24AM on 3-28-2008
I work for a medium size engineering firm in Plano, Texas (Dallas). We have several engineers who use Macs on personal preference (I among them). We find them to be very solid, capable machines that are far more reliable than our PC counterparts. I have multiple VM images to work in various PC-only packages that don't like each other, just like I also did on my old PC. I can't recommend a Mac enough! If you would like specifics, please feel free to contact me.
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undeadbydawn said 9:47AM on 3-28-2008
Dear Auntie T
responding that a Mac Pro *is* a Windows machine is the most negative argument possible. The statement infers that one DOES, in fact, need Windows. May I suggest/request that instead you reply with some comments regarding the pro's of Mac OS X?
The lack of active positives in your response further suggests that *you* cannot think of any good arguments. I urge you to prove me wrong. Please.
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Michael Rose said 9:50AM on 3-28-2008
If the Dean insist that machines be able to run Windows, then Boot Camp/virtualization is an excellent argument in favor of at least considering the Mac. What we want from y'all are examples of engineering schools with Mac populations.
doot4runner said 9:35AM on 3-28-2008
I am currently a graduate student at a large public university studying Statistical Signal Processing. I use a Macbook for all my simulations and everyday work. I am also aware of 3 professors in our group that also use various forms of a Mac. Two use a Mac Pro for simulations and the other a Macbook Pro for mobile use. Macs are everywhere here.
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Chris said 9:51AM on 3-28-2008
It all really depends on what type of engineering you do. If it's CAD and design work, macs are pretty much worthless. All of the major programs are for Windows/Linux only. However, if you're working in the theoretical realm where you're using open source programs and writing most of your own code, it doesn't really matter which platform you're on, as long as it's fast.
I'm in an aerospace engineering department, and people's computers pretty much follow these lines. The more bleeding-edge theoretical guys write their own programs on their macs. Everyone that relies on commercial code uses PCs with Windows/Linux. There is no reason for them to spend the extra $2000 for a mac desktop. (a nearly-as-fast linux box can be built for 1/3 the cost of a mac pro)
Sorry everyone- I love my macbook pro, but unless you need OSX, I think the mac pros are a bit overpriced and hard to justify. When is Apple going to come out with a desktop that is expandable and NOT based on $600 processors?
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DJCarbon43 said 10:22AM on 3-28-2008
Funny you mention that Chris. Specd out a top of the line Dell v. Mac Pro for an argument with my buddy at Wharton, and the mac came in, to the dollar, the same as the Dell. Cept it had the next gen chip, and faster memory... $10,443 for both...crazy.
Ohh, and the Mac is better made, and can triple boot. ;)
James Wedding, P.E. said 10:53AM on 3-28-2008
I'd beg to differ. I'm running Autocad 2009 on my MacBook as I write this. The improvements in virtualization make it almost imperceptible for most users that a VM is in the mix, and gives the flexibility to run whatever app you like, in whatever environment you like.
I teach and train all over the country and have never had a problem with my Mac/VM XP combination.
SB said 1:18PM on 3-28-2008
I must say that i am a Mac fan and am using mac since 1997(Classique). I must agree with Chris that Mac Hardware is way too overpriced. As far as reliability and speed are concerned, An intel based unix is as fast as a mac and as relaiable as mac. An instutution/industry is gonna scrap their computer in 3 years anyway. For this short timespan, there is no justification of paying 3-times more money for a single piece of hardware.
I also work in a mid size lab (70-80 employees). In terms of automation software, mac is a bit pain to interface especially when most of your software persons are mac illeterate.
James Wedding, P.E. said 9:41AM on 3-28-2008
I'm a Civil Engineer working with a MacBook Pro and VMware, and the author of Mastering Autocad Civil 3D. Most engineers will claim cad is the problem application tht they MUST have Wintel for, but it's simply not true. I run Autocad, Civil 3D, Google Earth (yes, I can run that on the Mac, but C3D uses the Windows side for some functions,) and a host of other applications in the virtual machine. On the days where I'm really grinding out modeling or visualization work, the ability to boot into boot camp gives me the best XP box in the office.
While there are some minor issues with firm interoperability and sharing, these are more related to oddities like mind mapping software. We share documents, spreadsheets and the like with no issues.
We also work closely with Autodesk, and I can vouch that a number of their development team members are running Mac laptops and VMWare or bootcamp to handle coding an UI issues for the Civil 3D application.
Good luck!
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Chris said 9:44AM on 3-28-2008
We use Macs to do calculations on spinning neutron stars.
If this doesn't qualify as engineering, I don't know what is.
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Brian Allen said 10:09AM on 3-28-2008
As I remember, they spin to the right on Mac and to the left on PCs.
;)