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jderm
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I'm starting my freshman year as a physics major this fall and was wondering if a pc or a mac would suit my needs. also, what programs besides ms word and excel would i need?
jderm said:I'm starting my freshman year as a physics major this fall and was wondering if a pc or a mac would suit my needs. also, what programs besides ms word and excel would i need?
chi2cali08 said:Shoehorn, if ppl take your advice and don't get a laptop their freshman year how will they conveniently write papers, check their email, and do research?
chi2cali08 said:I know every school has a library but its a lot easier to just pick up your laptop and instantly do anyone of those things.
chi2cali08 said:Im starting my freshman year in august and will also be majoring in physics. I haven't bought my laptop for school yet but I am leaning toward the macbook pro because it comes equipped with a state of the art graphics card, that will come in handy when looking at 3d graphs, and also a lot of other programs that will be useful.
The downside is that it starts off at $1999, you have to buy MS office separately (an additional 200 bucks), and it cost about $300 to insure.
Shoehorn, if ppl take your advice and don't get a laptop their freshman year how will they conveniently write papers, check their email, and do research? I know every school has a library but its a lot easier to just pick up your laptop and instantly do anyone of those things.
shoehorn said:Almost as amazed as I am by the inevitable handful of cretins who attempt to take notes in a certain well-known introductory quantum theory class using Microsoft Word and -- gasp -- Equation Editor.
vociferous said:Haven't they heard of a tablet PC?
robphy said:Unfortunately, probably not...
It's been a frustration of TabletPC owners and enthusiasts that the TabletPC remains a small niche market. Here is a recent flurry of discussion from http://gottabemobile.com:
http://www.gottabemobile.com/Long+Live+The+Tablet+PC.aspx
http://www.gottabemobile.com/Tablet+Isnt+Dead+We+Just+Need+A+Leader.aspx
http://www.gottabemobile.com/Active+Ink+Tablet+PC+Sales+Expectations+Never+Realized.aspx
http://www.gottabemobile.com/The+Tablet+PC+Has+Not+Failed+Developers+Have.aspx
http://www.gottabemobile.com/A+Former+Tablet+PC+Team+Member+Speaks+Out+On+Microsoft+And+Tablet+PC+Marketing.aspx
Personally, I find it extremely useful in an academic setting... especially when I am working on a calculation or delivering lectures in the classroom.
(Here's an entry on the TabletPC I wrote for the PF-blog in 2006... which has now been migrated into my user blog: https://www.physicsforums.com/blog.php/2006/05/20/tabletpcs-for-science-and-science-teaching/blog.php?b=103 .) I am shopping around for my next TabletPC now. If Apple comes out with a tablet (as is often rumored), I might consider a Mac.
(By the way, on Windows, I use Cygwin for my unix needs.)
vociferous said:I got one from work about four months ago, and it is really useful. It is a couple years old, but in good condition, and I payed only $150 for it. It is a shame that new ones run about $2000 for most models, and that they are such a small market.
BTW, if you have XP Pro or Vista Enterprise/Ultimate, you can install Microsoft's Unix Subsystem, which is a great deal faster than Cygwin (since it is native Win32 rather than an emulation), though it is harder to find Unix utilities for.
chi2cali08 said:Im starting my freshman year in august and will also be majoring in physics. I haven't bought my laptop for school yet but I am leaning toward the macbook pro because it comes equipped with a state of the art graphics card, that will come in handy when looking at 3d graphs, and also a lot of other programs that will be useful.
The downside is that it starts off at $1999, you have to buy MS office separately (an additional 200 bucks), and it cost about $300 to insure.
Shoehorn, if ppl take your advice and don't get a laptop their freshman year how will they conveniently write papers, check their email, and do research? I know every school has a library but its a lot easier to just pick up your laptop and instantly do anyone of those things.
robphy said:The least expensive tabletpcs I know of are at Gateway http://www.gateway.com/convertible (about $1000). There are also some good deals on refurbs from the Dell Outlet on the Dell XT tablets: http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/notebooks?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb . Certainly, high-end tablets can run $2000, or even $3000 (e.g. Toughbook TabletPC).
(By the way... the latest buzz is about a new Fujitsu T5010 that is being recommended at the Virginia Tech engineering school: http://www.eng.vt.edu/academics/comp_require.php )
I use XP/Tablet. I believe cygwin is native... it's not running in a virtual machine on XP. I mainly use it because scripting in bash, perl, and python is often more efficient than using the GUI to do some things. In addition, those scripts are more portable to other platforms (like linux and osx) than .bat or .vbs files. I also use cygwin to write code with gcc... then process the output with scripts.
Crosson said:You should look at using openOffice as a completely free alternative to MS Office. It can create and edit .doc, .ppt, .xls, and it has all the features that any student will need from MS Office. It is available on Windows, OSX, and Linux.
I think a physics major should start using OSX or Linux as early in their career as possible.
I recommend a cheap 500$ Dell laptop that ships with Linux if possible. Otherwise learn to install it to replace Windows.
I also strongly recommend getting the Linux student versions of Mathematica and/or Matlab.
The-herod said:Actually, I see no reason, at least in the beginning, to buy Mathematica. For most students and professors I know who tried Maxima, it satisfied all their needs. For Matlab the possibilities are usually less satisfy, indeed... Although they worth a try (Scilab, Euler, Octave).
I'm surprised to see all the responses against getting a laptop as a freshman. When's the last time any of you were college freshmen? Today it seems fairly necessary to do quite a bit of work on the computer and it is quite convenient to manage and own your own rather than going to the library. Even if you are a physics major, you're still going to be taking English and History classes that are less likely to accept handwritten work, and may have significant required online use.Astronuc said:I got through physics with just a calculator, and actually did my freshman year with a sliderule.
Mk said:I'm surprised to see all the responses against getting a laptop as a freshman. When's the last time any of you were college freshmen? Today it seems fairly necessary to do quite a bit of work on the computer
shoehorn said:If you have the misfortune of finding yourself in a university which requires you -- as a first-year student -- to spend a significant proportion of your time sitting in front of a computer, any computer, you're being short changed. There is no conceivable reason whatsoever why a first-year student should have to have a laptop. None.
I'm horrified at what must be happening at universities in the US if new students are being led to believe that a laptop is a necessary item. (This isn't wanton US-bashing: I'm genuinely concerned by the thought of new students being required to go even further into debt for something which should be seen as an unnecessary luxury.)
loop quantum gravity said:computer is indeed a necessity, cause the lecturers,TAs tend to send information concerning the course which is vital.
Today also TAs (some of them) post their class exercises in the course website, so I don't see how you can bypass it unless they copy it with xerox machines and send the copies to the students.
loop quantum gravity said:computer is indeed a necessity
shoehorn said:If you have the misfortune of finding yourself in a university which requires you -- as a first-year student -- to spend a significant proportion of your time sitting in front of a computer, any computer, you're being short changed. There is no conceivable reason whatsoever why a first-year student should have to have a laptop. None.
I'm horrified at what must be happening at universities in the US if new students are being led to believe that a laptop is a necessary item. (This isn't wanton US-bashing: I'm genuinely concerned by the thought of new students being required to go even further into debt for something which should be seen as an unnecessary luxury.)
Regardless, I stand by the original point that if you find yourself at a university which doesn't have a sufficient number of open-access machines with which to view your online course materials, your university isn't being run well.
n_bourbaki said:If you want a decent laptop that will be of use scientifically (to a physicist, mathematician (I see a lot of Macs at conferences) or even a geneticist), then a Mac is a good choice. It's BSD underpinnings mean lots of useful things like good CLI tools and a proper LaTeX distro exist, and are easy to obtain. Check out surf for fancy graphing, for example, too, or some of the gene sequencers that are written for Mac.
The minimum requirements for a computer for a physics major would include a processor with at least 2.5 GHz speed, 8 GB of RAM, and a solid-state drive (SSD) with at least 256 GB of storage. It should also have a dedicated graphics card and a high-resolution display for running simulations and analyzing data.
Both Mac and PC can be suitable for a physics major, as long as they meet the minimum requirements. However, some physics software may only be compatible with one operating system. It is best to check with your department or professors to see which operating system is recommended for your specific program.
A processor with multiple cores, such as an Intel i5 or i7, is recommended for a physics major. This will allow for faster data analysis and running of simulations. However, the specific type of processor may vary depending on the software and programs used in your program.
A high-end graphics card is not necessary for a physics major unless you are working with complex simulations or data visualization. In this case, a dedicated graphics card with at least 4 GB of VRAM would be beneficial. Otherwise, a standard graphics card will suffice.
While tablets and Chromebooks may be convenient for note-taking and basic tasks, they may not have the necessary processing power and storage for a physics major. It is recommended to have a laptop or desktop computer with the minimum requirements for a more efficient and productive experience.