MAC vs Windows vs Linux For Students

[taha116]

Basicly my bro wants a laptop and he aint sure whats best for him as a student who also wants to game on it when he is bored... He really like mac especially after hearing soo much and thier Ads that they use helped as well.

What do you guys think is best for a student in uni?

 

[galaxyAbstractor]

Windows, as he wants to play, unless he means flash games and arcade games.

 

[ichwar]

Linux because students are poor so they can't afford to waste their money on less that usable OSs.

 

[taha116]

He dosent mean flash... but he also wants stability... thats why as i metnioned hes considering mac.... although its allot more expensive... He is luky enonough to have a job that pay almost 19buks an hour... really luky cuz its a comfortable one as a PR for some bank... can linux handle something like counter strike? or does linux happen to only run linux games thru add/remove?

Sorry about nubby question.

The reason my bro is not too into windows is cuz of the stability and he does like to try somthing new. Still he hasnt bought it yet so theres time to prevent any potential mistakes.

 

[ichwar]

Yes, from what I've heard CounterStrike runs fine on linux.

 

[Kayos]

Macs are great if all you want to do is work related things. Recently macs have been getting more games but overall they still are not the best platform for gaming. If school is his primary concern then macs will do.

Linux is not an OS I would recommend to a student or even a gamer. It's fun to play around with but overall it's not something I would like using every day.

Windows is probably the best bet for a student/gamer. It receives all the games and has a plethora of school/work office apps like Word, excel, etc...

Me personally I went to college with Windows on my machine. It worked out great too. LAN parties were a breeze because 99% of the guys who I went to school with primarily used Windows as well.

As to the stability of Windows...I've been using Vista for two years now and had no problems at all. Supposedly Windows 7 is much better than Vista as well. You've got to realize that Windows has like 90% of the PC market - that's millions of PCs. You're obviously going to hear more horror stories about windows crashing then a mac or linux. There are just more out there.

But anyway, my first choice will always be Windows when it comes to gaming, school or work on a PC. Then a mac which as I said is fully viable for a student when it comes to school or work but it lacks in the games department.

And as for Linux, it's great that it's free but I can't recommend it for school or games.

 

[ichwar]

Wow, what you said must of been doubly important. I only read one of the posts though. :biggrin:

Anyways, Linux is better at LAN parties than windows is.

 

[Kayos]

Wow, what you said must of been doubly important. I only read one of the posts though. :biggrin:

Anyways, Linux is better at LAN parties than windows is.

The site timed out while it was submitting and for some reason it posted twice. Oh well.

If you say Linux is better at LAN parties then it must be true. :hahano:

 

[deltavolt]

If he can afford a Mac then that's his best bet - just use Boot Camp to install a Windows partition on it for gaming. This way he'd have the best of both (or by creating a partition for Linux the best of all 3 worlds).

If he can't afford a Mac then he should get a PC with Windows.

If he can't afford that then he should get a PC with Linux on it (unless he's technologically advanced enough to know how to use Linux well, then this goes to option 2).

 

[Smith6612]

Yes, from what I've heard CounterStrike runs fine on linux.

Many Source games run just fine in Linux. I've gotten Steam to actually run on my Linux router (uninstalled now though since that machine takes ages to load Steam via WINE and it's usually signed on via my gaming computer) :biggrin:. Team Fortress 2 which is more recent than Counter Strike has been said to work as well on Linux.

 

[taha116]

I have actually installed WINE on my P3 but was a little confused about that. Couldnt figure out how to properly isntall and run the old lionking game from .exe (For my little cousins... thats excuse).

[Dum question]About having multiple OS how does that work and im guessing i need to have one as primary were id install the others from how would that work out? And is there any issues with the order of instillation??[/dum question]

 

[deltavolt]

I have actually installed WINE on my P3 but was a little confused about that. Couldnt figure out how to properly isntall and run the old lionking game from .exe (For my little cousins... thats excuse).

[Dum question]About having multiple OS how does that work and im guessing i need to have one as primary were id install the others from how would that work out? And is there any issues with the order of instillation??[/dum question]

If you do it on a Mac it's very easy. Your Mac will come with Mac OSX installed so all you do is run BootCamp Assistant and it'll guide you through installing the other OS, it's a very easy process. Then you can choose one of the OSs as a primary (into which it boots by default) and choose the other, if you want, by holding Option during start-up. You can also use Parallels or VM Fusion Ware (or some other similar application) to run the other OS inside of Mac OSX or set it into integrated mode which essentially runs the other OS's software as native software.

 

[taha116]

Thats preaty kool, but is i just as easy to achive the same thing in windows and linux or is mac the best choice for that then?

 

[deltavolt]

Thats preaty kool, but is i just as easy to achive the same thing in windows and linux or is mac the best choice for that then?

If you wish to run Mac OSX without any problems then the Mac hardware is the best choice. The Dell Mini 9 can run OSX decently well (I'm not endorsing it) but by the time you get it's specs to a decent level it'll cost you around the same as Mac hardware. OSX is the best at working with other operating systems and Mac hardware has actually been tested and managed to run Windows faster than equally-equipped PCs.

 

[vekou]

well, if you really have the money, install of them, providing that your hardware meets all of the 3 OS's requirements. then eventually, you will notice the OS that you frequently use will be the one that is best for you.

 

[diamondpc]

Windows is Memory hog.. i like linux but it for a student it really depends on what he/she will be doing 90% of the time.. i say windows. for the office programs.

 

[taha116]

Honestly considering what iv heard i think Mac is a better choice myself now (for my brothers case) as he has a windows vista CD and could just install it onto the mac as a secondary OS if he needs to. That means he gets both.

Just checking he wouldnt have any issues doing it with a vista CD right? since i havent tried multiple OS on one computer yet.

As for most students it looks to me like the best solution depends on your need and abilities...

School and heavy gaming together = Windows .
Mainly school, some gaming and not as many risks = Mac
School, creativity and allot of free time on hands = linux (The most versatile OS in my view)

 

[diamondpc]

True doing a dual boot isnt hard. now is that a Vista cd he bought as a standalone or did it come with a newer pc? if its like mine i got mine threw acer(*&^*^#&@*@) it wont work cause it rewites the whole drive.

 

[ichwar]

Honestly considering what iv heard i think Mac is a better choice myself now (for my brothers case) as he has a windows vista CD and could just install it onto the mac as a secondary OS if he needs to. That means he gets both.

Just checking he wouldnt have any issues doing it with a vista CD right? since i havent tried multiple OS on one computer yet.

As for most students it looks to me like the best solution depends on your need and abilities...

School and heavy gaming together = Windows .
Mainly school, some gaming and not as many risks = Mac
School, creativity and allot of free time on hands = linux (The most versatile OS in my view)

So if he wants to spend the money on a mac, he'll be able to triple boot it with winDos and linux. As long as his winDos disk is not an OEM version, it will run fine on macs. One note to remind your brother, there is only 1 mouse button on the mac, so to right click in windows or linux install on a mac, you need to have to fingers held together touching the touch pad while hitting the button. Just another slow-down to keep in mind when using mac hardware.

 

[vom53xd]

In the changing environment, many students tend to go cheap or with style. I personally would use Windows, but as you know Microsoft has gradually fallen below Apple. I remember in elementary when I was using Mac, but then high school began using Windows. It really matter what your school aims to use as that will benefit students the most.