PC or Mac for college?

I'm looking to get a new laptop before I go to school, and I was gonna just upgrade my Mac to the most recent model, but I've also been told that getting a PC would be a better decision, since my classes will be more stem heavy (quant type finance).

Most college kids opt for a Mac, but most people who work in Finance use PC. Which one do you guys think I should get?

I'm also kinda into gaming (just fortnite tbh) and making music.

 

I guess the only real reason is because I'm used to it since I've had one since 7th grade and I have an iPhone, but my magnet school gives us Windows laptops to use, so I'm familiar with the OS of both.

 

OP, go to your local Best Buy and try out a Mac, Dell XPS 13 and HP Spectre x360.

As an owner of the HP Spectre x360, I am telling you, you can not go wrong with this PC. Absolutely awesome machine.

As per the poster above me, why would you do that to yourself? (Go to the Computer Lab for school work? What about when you are not near a Computer Lab?). Impractical advice.

 

I don't know about you but I'm sure as shit not paying $24,000 / year for a bloomberg terminal in my bedroom. I'm also not willing to pay for things like a STATA / MATLAB license (they're not that expensive but still why pay an extra few hundred dollars if you can just walk to the lab to do your work).

Now I will say that if you're the type of person hauling ass to the lab at 3am the problem probably isn't the type of laptop you have but that you have shitty time management skills.

 

I'm a college student, I highly recommend the latest MacBook Pro. Great quality computer, excellent OS, very fast and snappy, and no issues.

If you really want the Windows experience then I would recommend Dell's XPS line.

 

Because I major in comp sci, I can only speak from an engineering perspective. The vast majority of students at my school use Mac as it is superior for development.

Both are excellent computers; the biggest different here would be price. While Apple's flagship can run you up to 4000 USD, an equally spec-ed XPS 15 would only cost about half that amount.

Again, I recommend the MacBook. considering this is a computer you will be using for the next four years, you'll definitely want something more reliable. Dell's computers are riddled with issues, while Apple's are hassle-free.

As for games, the Mac will work fine (just run Windows via bootcamp).

 

To be honest it's just light gaming, which i'm sure the latest mac could handle. I'm not that hardcore, and Mac also has slightly more options for film/music editing (which I'm also interested in).

 

Mac will run games just fine, with Windows via bootcamp, it will run even better. Also, Mac has far superior software for fim/music editing (Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro X, etc.)

 

I've always used Excel on PCs so it's hard for me to use Macs. My former company only distributes PCs. Macs were not used by my group.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I had a Dell, but recently got a Lenovo Yoga for personal use and I really like it. Super thin, light, and the touchscreen is way better than the Dell I had.

It was around $1,200.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

I don't see myself paying my own money for anything running Windows for the foreseeable future. The build quality, longevity & general aesthetic value of a MacBook Pro is a great starting point - but frankly I'd rather gouge my eyeballs out than be forced to use Windows for personal use. I'm forced to use Windows all day at work, the last thing I need is more of that at home

"When you stop striving for perfection, you might as well be dead."
 

They've made some huge strides, but if you take them apart and compare, they're still not doing what Apple is doing...and nor could they, for the money, to be honest. It's not worth it to many, but Apple products also hold their value...and again, the software.

I got 6 years out of my last MacBook Pro...then I sold it for 60% of what I paid for it, to someone else who will probably get another 3 years.

My last HP went from a store shelf to being dumpster-ready in 24 months despite being cared for like it was a small child. Luckily I was able to repair it myself and now someone else is getting marginal use out of that too.

"When you stop striving for perfection, you might as well be dead."
 

Honestly, just pick what you like. Mac's excel is 99.999% of Windows' these days and you can always bootcamp or run parallels if you need to boot up in Windows from your Mac.

I've always used Mac for personal use and Windows for my work computer and both are...perfectly fine.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

I used a Mac in college - it really worked great for me during college. However, I will say that if I were to do it again I would get a PC and start learning the Excel shortcuts that you will inevitably need to know.

I was going to do a few financial modelling boot camps from my Mac but then realized it wouldn't be the most ideal situation since I would have had to re learn a lot of it on a PC.

I say go with PC unless you think you really don't need to be an Excel whiz for your job, but if you're posting on here, you probably will.

 

Dont get me wrong I love the aesthetic appeal of a mac, but for just pure work its not going to get you anywhere except if you're a photography major. Macs are literally only good for browsing and streaming content. Not only are they insanely overpriced but if you break something in there or something becomes corrupt you are beyond screwed out of your money. That being said, my Mac has lasted 4 years of school and beyond but its not the workhorse you need to power through spreadsheets.

You will be walking to the computer lab at like 3 AM, wondering why the hell you didn't buy a PC lol

 
Best Response
rockrile15074:
Dont get me wrong I love the aesthetic appeal of a mac, but for just pure work its not going to get you anywhere except if you're a photography major. Macs are literally only good for browsing and streaming content. Not only are they insanely overpriced but if you break something in there or something becomes corrupt you are beyond screwed out of your money. That being said, my Mac has lasted 4 years of school and beyond but its not the workhorse you need to power through spreadsheets.

You will be walking to the computer lab at like 3 AM, wondering why the hell you didn't buy a PC lol

This is utter nonsense. You can do more than browsing and streaming content with an iPad, let alone a MacBook. They're more expensive, which is a very good argument against them, but they aren't "insanely overpriced" - you either pay the extra because you want a Mac or you don't. You also don't get "screwed out of your money" if something breaks - you take it to an Apple store and get it fixed. But they also don't break. I've gone through more PCs than I can count, but I've only had 2 MacBooks my entire life.

You'll never be going to the computer lab at 3am or whatever weird anti-Mac fantasy you have either. You'll be perfectly fine with Mac Excel in 99.9999% of instances, and if you really hate it, you can just run Windows Excel through bootcamp or parallels.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

lol really? hmmm 2 grand versus 700 bucks. Especially for a college student, seems a bit insanely overpriced to me. especially for the power you will actually get from it. And unless you are buying Apple care every 2 years which is absolutely unnecessary, something will break and apple will say its not their fault and require a hefty surcharge to fix it. Youre right they dont break nearly as much but when they do, you are out big time.

Excel in Mac is vastly different than Excel on a windows machine (RE shortcuts) but i guess someone in real estate wouldn't really be able to tell the difference in it now would they.....

 

On the Mac vs. PC debate. I've always used a PC at work and a Mac at home. There absolutely used to be a material difference in the ease of use of excel, it's not that long ago that it was the most frustrating experience using it on a Mac. However, as CRE pointed out, the Mac Office has come a long way and there really isn't a difference anymore. Not only are the shortcuts exactly the same, but it's really easy with Mac to create custom shortcuts which can be very handy. I've been working from home more and more and found that with Office 2016, I actually prefer it and am more productive on my Mac. To the OP, I would buy whatever you are most comfortable with.

Now, whether you get a PC or a Mac, it's a universal thing that working on excel on a laptop suck so I would really recommend a external screen (doesn't have to be a 4K beast, a sub $200 screen will do just fine) & keyboard.

 

The apple tax has gotten beyond stupid recently. I'm a PC user and would recommend going with a speced out Dell XPS or a Microsoft surface product. You can get a PC that will blow a fucking Mac out of the water for a similar if not lesser price.

(I know you said you're into gaming, as others have echoed above I would recommend going with a laptop that has a thunderbolt 3 port if you ever want to attach an external gpu for AAA rated games, as well as a monitor and keyboard / mouse for the sake of having a laptop with a small enough screen / frame to comfortably carry around while having a large enough screen to fit an over-sized excel sheet.)

If you ever break into IB / Finance you'll almost always be defaulted to a PC as an entry analyst. Better to be fluent with a PC. That being said the change isn't that big of a deal so if you really love the Mac then go for it, it's not going to be a make or break factor in anything.

Edit: Also make 100% sure that you get a Microsoft signature PC if you don't go with the Mac. (essentially if you try to get a xps from dell it will likely have bullshit bloatware you don't need. Getting it straight from MSFT will ensure you get the least amount of bloatware with the PC you go for)

 
FinancelsWacc:
The apple tax has gotten beyond stupid recently. I'm a PC user and would recommend going with a speced out Dell XPS or a Microsoft surface product. You can get a PC that will blow a fucking Mac out of the water for a similar if not lesser price.

(I know you said you're into gaming, as others have echoed above I would recommend going with a laptop that has a thunderbolt 3 port if you ever want to attach an external gpu for AAA rated games, as well as a monitor and keyboard / mouse for the sake of having a laptop with a small enough screen / frame to comfortably carry around while having a large enough screen to fit an over-sized excel sheet.)

If you ever break into IB / Finance you'll almost always be defaulted to a PC as an entry analyst. Better to be fluent with a PC. That being said the change isn't that big of a deal so if you really love the Mac then go for it, it's not going to be a make or break factor in anything.

Edit: Also make 100% sure that you get a Microsoft signature PC if you don't go with the Mac. (essentially if you try to get a xps from dell it will likely have bullshit bloatware you don't need. Getting it straight from MSFT will ensure you get the least amount of bloatware with the PC you go for)

I am surprised how many people do not know this. My roommate and I got the EXACT same laptop in college - one was from Microsoft Signature and one was from the OEM. The MS Signature Laptop performed wayyyyy better. MS customs tunes these laptop for optimal performance without any bloatware.

I also love how you you call it the Apple Tax. People have 2008-10 notions about the build quality of Windows Laptops. Dell/HP and Microsoft have, IMO, already exceeded Macs in this regard.

 

Thanks for the SB (assuming it was you). Honestly I didn't even know about the signature edition PC's until I stumbled upon it on MSFT's website. Yeah there are ways to clear out the bloatware but I'm not tech savvy enough to do that myself and would probably end up deleting system32 somehow.

If I really had to praise Apple for something it would be their retina displays for the Mac. I don't care what the PPI / stats say but there is just something about it that makes it look just a bit better. I don't really agree with the whole.

The dell xps line is fantastic and the only reasons I had reservations about picking one up is that the dGPU burns through more battery and the early models had issues with screen flickering. (little shit like this, I'll admit, apple has really perfected in their quality control processes).

But yea, end of the day the Mac Tax these days can be anywhere from $1,500 to like $2k+ which is a little insane. For 4k you could build a good desktop and buy a cheap productivity laptop to haul around with you / take notes / look at pdf's etc.

 

If you are anything other than some sort of business major, I've heard Macs work well. If you are in business (which I am assuming you are), I would highly recommend getting a PC, preferably a Dell.

I've been in many offices for finance, accounting, consulting type roles and have yet to witness a Mac being used. Not to say there aren't offices that do have them, but more likely than not you will never use one.

 

I got a MacBook Pro back when I started college in 2011. I love that thing. It is compact, light, the battery life is long, it is great for taking notes in class, and it is long lasting. My mac is still going strong. I used to use it for when in class or when I wanted to play around with Logic Pro X, now I use it mostly for when I'm traveling since I'm not afraid that it will break.

I did get an MSI for gaming a couple years ago...it is fantastic BUT! I'm perpetually afraid it will break...maybe because of what I paid for it or because compared to the mac it feels not as compact (I don't want to say flimsy). Only I am allowed to use it since I'm afraid others (wife) aren't as careful. The MSI isn't the only PC I've had since I got the mac...it's probably the 3rd laptop but I did have a desktop before that.

 

Started out college in 2014 with the Macbook Pro (non-retina). That model was riddled with issues that Apple knowingly excluded from full replacement qualifications. After replacing the faulty part numerous times I finally switched over to PC (Lenovo X1 Carbon) last year.

Blows away any other laptop I've used. No idea how these would do for gaming, but for any Excel work it's great. In past Excel heavy courses it worked great. I think the work would have physically split my Macbook in half. My friends' newer model Macs struggled, even with running Bootcamp and Windows for PC (which is what companies like Training the Street suggest you do if you own a Mac). X1 Carbon is lighter than a Macbook Air as well. Sticking with PC and not looking back.

-lifelong iPhone user as well

 

Honestly, it comes down to preference. I have a macbook because I enjoy the simplicity of the mac OS system.

I've had my mac for like 5 years and its still in really good condition. Probably the main benefit of the mac is its Build Quality. Macs are pretty durable, look aesthetic, and if you are mainly a apply user (iphone, airpods, etc), then go with mac. But again, youre paying a premium to use a apple product when you can be using something better for a lot less.

But if you want to game and go into finance, go with PC. You get a lot more (in terms of specs) and still pay less than a mac. AND, like the others said, you'll use PC for the majority of your career if you go into finance.

ON a side note, the fact that you cant game on a mac is a blessing in disguise than a disadvantage imo (: .... but if you still want to game on a mac, search up GeForce. its pretty incredible

 

Depends on the Degree: STEM Majors - Windows (best integration with research software ...and other boring shit) Every Other Degree - Mac (Worth the investment, and satisfies virtually all other needs)

"A man can convince anyone he's somebody else, but never himself."
 

depends in STEM, I know for comp sci pretty much everyone's switched to mac. Windows is trying to stay relevant by developing their own linux-based tie-in, but having native *nix base is huge. Also most data/stats heavy things have also gone the way of the mac. I know mechanical and civil are still mostly windows though.

 

OP, Just go with one of these 3. All of them 8th Gen i7; 16GB RAM; 512 GB SSD

HP Spectre x360 ($1399) http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-spectre-x360-13-ae052nr

Dell XPS 13($1999) http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/new-xps-13-touch/spd/xps-13…

Thinkpad Carbon X1 ($2269) https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/ThinkPad-X1-C…)

And whichever one you choose, please clean install Windows 10 from scratch. (That's a point for the Mac fanboys here)

 

It doesn't matter much, but I'd lean towards PC. If you put in a little bit of effort over the four years you're in college, you'll be a wizard of shortcuts by graduation. This is something that you'll pick up when you start full time once you start working, but being comfortable doing literally everything outside of powerpoint without a mouse will make any transition easier and save you a ton of time throughout college.

Again, it doesn't matter much though as Mac's can have a windows partition (this is what I did). Additionally, there are creative / editing platforms where Mac has the edge, but you'll probably never touch them as a business student.

 

I have a macbook at the moment and am funny invested in the eco-system - to the point where I can't go back. All the apps are integrated and everything runs on iCloud.

I would say that you are paying a substantial amount of money for the Apple brand when you buy Apple. The computers are high quality, they work really well, but you can definitely get a superior windows computer for less...

Mac -you don't mind paying for the brand -you have an iPhone -you want a very good computer at a terrible price -you want to look cool

Windows -you want better value -you don't mind if computer doesn't look sexy

It's also worth noting that most high-end systems use the same technology (chips, processors etc)

Good luck!

 

Not saying all windows PCs look bad, there are exceptions like the ones in your links

I think Apple put enormous effort into the design of their products though and overall I think Macbooks look better than majority of windows PCs

 

I study computer sciences and own a mac. As far as quant type activities go: all often used tools are fully operational on macs.

Other than that I believe it's personal preference and your financial position.

 

Everyone in my MBA program who has a Mac wishes they had a PC. None of the professors know how to do shit on Macs and they get frustrated

Not worth it for a cool logo

 

if you prefer OS X you might as well buy a mac so you can enjoy using it. however, excel is absolutely garbage on mac. the team has claimed that they're trying to make it better, but i doubt it. you'll be forced to boot to windows if you want to use excel. having OS X available when you want it and can use it is better than forcing yourself to use a bad laptop. you'll have your macbook for 5-6 years. i can't say the same about the XPS.

the most important point is that you should not buy an air. the non-retina screen is horrible, they're dated, and the line is being killed off soon.

 

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