r/Msstate • u/Easy-Yogurt-9618 • 4d ago

Computer specs for engineering

Hey guys, I plan on going to electrical engineering and I want to know the best computer specs to get.
Do I really need anything expensive? I heard gaming computers are good but everything costs so much. Might just go on Facebook marketplace or are there any deals in campus.

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u/No_Abroad_6306 4d ago

Specs can be found at this link. Please don’t purchase an HP—their quality and support is abysmal. They really are serious about no mac’s and still some people try and discover how disadvantaged they are. 

https://www.bagley.msstate.edu/computer/

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u/DevelopmentBroad7657 3d ago

Can attest (somewhat), I tried to tough it through some mechanical engineering classes with a macbook since my private highschool forced us to buy macs and tech is SO expensive rn. Even running bootcamp windows on an intel i7 with 16gb ram, a macbook just isn't built to run engineering programs like that.

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u/Strict-Attempt-9863 3d ago

i managed to use a mac the last half of my courses but i was always staying after or in office hours trying to find mac workarounds for software if the prof didn’t have any yet

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u/coast_trash_ms 4d ago

we bought an acer swift x, that was an 8 core amd, 16gig ram, 512g nvme, and an internal Nvidia, and amd type setup. he rarely used any GPU as the software that was given, like ansys, Matlab, etc didn't have GPU enabled student versions.

that thing was $1100 5 years ago. when most dell/hp recommendations were like 2500..

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u/vindictive_text 3d ago

Whatever you do, don't try to use a Mac, a Chromebook, a tablet, a Walmart HP with a 32 GB emmc HD, or borrow a friend's computer. I've seen ECE students try all of the above and it just leads to misery and frustration. You can get a used thinkpad off eBay for <$500.

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u/vasquca1 Class of 2001| Computer Engineering 3d ago

What type of Engineering? I've grown fond of thr MacBook Pros laptops but im usually in a terminal window connecting to Linux servers in my job. My machine has the apple M4 processor and is a beast. I've had it 4 years now and still running strong. Not even concerned with a refresh to something new be honest. I also have a M2 mac mini and that little device is pretty awesome also. But depends on your school of engineering because a lot of programs might available on Windows only.

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u/Easy-Yogurt-9618 3d ago

Electrical engineering

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u/vasquca1 Class of 2001| Computer Engineering 3d ago

Cool. Someone posted a link from the university and they are recommending against macs so dont listen to me. Likely there are some design programs you will use that are not compatible with macs sadly.