Not sure what macbook to get

CrunchyDino wrote:

I will be a mechanical engineering student and not sure what MacBook to get.

E.g. am I fine with a m3 MacBook air or should I go for a m3 pro or a m2 pro from certified refurbished.

(or perhaps a windows laptop)

You should contact the school of engineering at the university you will be attending and ask them what computer you should get for your course of study. The computer needs to be compatible with the required programs, other students, and professors.

I think BobTheFisherman's reply is the best, but I'll add that my son, who finished his master's in civil engineering last spring, consistently said that Windows was necessary for the software that he needed. Boot Camp allows you to run Windows on a Mac, but only on Intel-based models, which are getting old by now. Parallels advertises that you can open Windows on a virtual desktop on a Mac with the new Apple Silicon chips, but that seems dicey for critical software.

Our son made it to his senior year of Computer Engineering school with an old Macbook Pro. Using Terminal, he could do the coding assignments. Not pretty but he got good marks.

Senior year that all changed. The department's senior syllabus required an app that was Windows-only, and he (we) had to buy a Windows laptop.

Only the department knows and, even then, syllabi can change in 4-5 years. Future-proofing leans to the Windows side.

CrunchyDino wrote:

I will be a mechanical engineering student and not sure what MacBook to get.

E.g. am I fine with a m3 MacBook air or should I go for a m3 pro or a m2 pro from certified refurbished.

(or perhaps a windows laptop)

Shop with a Specialist

Browse and shop our products in a one-on-one session with a Specialist at an Apple Store and find what’s right for you.

ref: Shop with a Specialist - Apple

if you are at a loss talk to your "mechanical engineering" department for what is appropriate for your studies.

EX. https://enme.umd.edu/undergraduate/current-students/advising-support

abovdal wrote:

Parallels advertises that you can open Windows on a virtual desktop on a Mac with the new Apple Silicon chips, but that seems dicey for critical software.

Apple Silicon Macs don't support Boot Camp – and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to dual-boot Intel-based operating systems. They'd need ARM-based ones like Windows 11 for ARM.

Virtual machines on Apple Silicon Macs also require ARM-based operating systems like Windows 11 for ARM.

Windows 11 for ARM can run some Windows/Intel applications, but there may be overhead, and there are some limitations (analogous to how Rosetta 2 cannot run macOS/Intel-only kernel extensions). Using Parallels to run Windows 11 for ARM to run Wintel binaries thus involves both virtual machine overhead, and Intel machine code translation or emulation overhead.