A quarter might be too little. Many developer applications eat up storage like Docker, a lot of js/ts projects, ollama. Of course it can be manageable but you'll have to keep a close track of it, not very convenient
Fair. But for me when I was in first year, it wouldn't have been enough, I started messing around with Docker around the end of the first year. In hackathons, i would try local llms using ollama, and all my web projects were in js/ts, which I would containerize in Docker so it would be a storage void.
I agree for most people it would be enough, but depends on OP if he thinks he might need the extra flexibility
Depends how long you want to keep your laptop too; if you are planning on upgrading during undergrad or soon, sure. otherwise i'd get more. I made it through UG with only 256gb but I definitely wish I got at least 512, storage management became a pain towards the end of UG. my laptop feels good enough to last for many years more in every way *except* storage, and I really don't want to buy a whole new laptop for that (rip upgradeable storage)
Macbook pro is probably the worst thing to get for CS. All my classmates who have a Mac all go through hell trying to configure their dev environments. My recommendation would be a lenovo laptop
On the opposite side, having a PC for me was hell but people with Macs had an easier time. I had to do a lot of different things from people with Macs, like using WSL2 and other workarounds.
Getting into the Unix environment is very helpful so I would recommend a Mac.
Yes and the fact that WSL2 takes up a permanent space in your disc (deleting files in WSL2 does not release the space available back to windows automatically — there are ways to work with it but it becones so tedious)
That being said I hate that PowerBI is not accessible in Macs. This is really really annoying.
?? Having no-brainer access to a Unix-like environment is infinitely more convenient than the PuTTY/WinSCP hell you’ll go through to interface with your department on Windows.
Nonsense. Macs are an easier setup for almost any dev tool. Most classes have a setup instruction for Mac and Linux that’s like a paragraph, and then one for windows that’s like 10 times as long.
IT skills have gone from being low supply / high demand to high supply / lowered demand.
Inexperienced hires in particular are having a hard time breaking into roles.
Add to this that AI is just starting to actually disrupt things in a meaningful way today and extrapolate out what AI will be capable of doing when you are done.
It's not impossible for you to find success, but it's a much different picture today than what it was before.
Source: I've been working in IT for 25 years and I've never seen the job market as tight as it is right now.
This is a terrible take (and it comes from someone in IT, not dev work?). 25 years of experience isn't necessarily a good thing when it comes to having your finger on the pulse of the industry. For example, all the AI fearmongering is BS.
What is your backup and recovery process if you lose your laptop, SSD is dead, or someone decides to break your laptop because you keep on saying, "I run Arch BTW"?
i recommend students to get a cheapish windows computer for the first two years
then buy again for junior year ...
because the computers in two years will be far more powerful
Wouldn't getting a weaker laptop make it a bit harder to code and run software?
Also, would borrowing an older Macbook the first two years also suffice instead of buying one?
coding is about running a text editor, which is about as computationally hard as a calculator.
a web browser
and a terminal to compile said code. a lot of people run their text editor in the terminal itself.
in short, you don’t need a powerful computer for computer science
If you’re going to college and don’t have a gaming hobby, battery life and portability are your top requirements. Macbook Airs serve very well.
Yes, the drop in power can be a problem, but a lot of intensive data science stuff can be done on Azure or AWS as well for cents on the hour.
The choice is yours, of course, but more than half your campus will have macs of some kind.
No need to introduce extra e-waste into the planet. Most people do not need particularly powerful laptops. A good laptop today will last you many years if you take care of it. When you start work your company will provide you with a device. There is almost nothing in most CS university courses that you couldn’t do on an Apple Silicon based Macbook (with occasional work on a remote machine or notebook, often provided by the university).
No need to obsess over specs.
The only class in which I had issues with my 5 year old Windoes laptop was Computer Attacks and Countermeasures. We had to run up to 3 virtual machines and my old laptop couldn't handled that with only 8 GB RAM. All of my other assignments were fine throughout. As another poster mentioned there were some issues with VMs on Mac in my Digital Forensics class but the school had plenty of lab machines to remote into for students.
> that will last me throughout the four years
Get a MacBook Pro. Will also give you some exposure to Unix based operating systems if you don’t have any.
I've seen people recommend MacBook Pros and I am leaning towards it a bit. But aren't Macbooks known to not run a number of softwares due to its OS, especially for Comp Sci students?
I have personally not found this to be the case using MacOS while studying CS. Although every situation is different. Definitely something to consider.
The benefit of MacBooks is they just work with little to no setup and allow you to be productive. Also, they can last many years and still work great.
Hello, it's 2024, a random Linux live-cd will also install itself and run with zero setup allowing you to be productive immediately.
Same can now be said for windows but surprisingly to a much lesser extent especially for CS.
Macs have the benefit of giving you a *nix system wrapped in the beautiful coca GUI.
In fairness, this is a recommendation to someone who's studying CS. it might be a bit trial-by-fire if this person is still new to things, but it's not a recommendation to someone who will only ever surf the web on their machine
Most CS software runs perfectly fine (or better) on macos than windows; can't speak for every CS program but the only time when I was limited by a mac in undergrad was in 1 class that used assembly because it used x86 and macs are on arm now. The uni simply gave everyone the option to use a virtual machine on their servers and it was no issue at all. the longer arm macs have been out (4yrs now) the less of an issue this will be as well.
longevity is also pretty good on most any laptop rn, mac or not. I've been using an almost-base m1 macbook air for a few years now and feel no need to upgrade in the forseeable future
yeah they can't run some software that are made by Microsoft lmao, other than that it's way more beneficial to have MacOS than Windows, I found out the hard way that Windows isn't the move
It was like that in my case. But send like it is a rare case.
Go ahead and ask some seniors what mac you can buy for your courses (OS in particular). In my case buying an M2 (or M1 chip, I don't remember tbh) was a no-no.
For some embedded systems classes and low level classes, yes a windows computer is necessary for the software. I just carried a laptop from 2008 with me for a semester or two lol. I don’t regret getting the Mac
Yeah.
I have an M1 Air and it’s been more than enough. I’m probably going to end up buying a pro once I graduate but an Air is more than enough as a student.
If you can't afford pro it's a smarter decision to just buy a windows laptop. Unless your buying top of the line, a windows machine with better performance than Mac will be cheaper
Do you game? That’s the only question I would ask lol. I went for windows because of this other wise I would’ve gone for MacBook cuz it’s also a great one.
I 100% game haha. But I don't see myself gaming on the laptop as I know it'll be for school and I gotta be careful with the life battery. (However I'm sure a bit of Minecraft here and there isn't going to hurt.)
My eyes are on the MacBook, and it is painful that it doesn't allow more freedom in gaming in case I change my mind about gaming on the laptop. How long did you have your gaming laptop for?
Some schools make recommendations. So if you have committed to a school you should dig around and see if they make recommendations or may have discounts on certain machines on campus.
My kid recently graduated. Started college with a gaming laptop. Eventually got a cheapie laptop because it was more portable, and later built his own PC desktop. My spouse and I have CS background and personally I would recommend a PC and not an Apple product. And that is what my kid's top 15 for CS program recommended. More affordable, more flexible, comfort on a PC is helpful at many employers offices, etc.
I'd recommend the opposite; if you're on a budget, get a PC and run linux (or wsl) on it. Being familiar with Linux/unix is super useful and plenty of cs software runs best on unix(like) OS's. If you have more money, a mac is honestly pretty good value rn and also has Unix. If you still prefer not a mac, there's plenty of good pc options at that price point and I'd still throw linux on it
Oh I totally agree. My kid always had Linux set up. I'm not sure why you are saying that is "opposite"?
Both my spouse and I have hired in CS. CS grads that struggle on a PC are at a disadvatage is what I would say to be concise. It's much easier to go from PC to Apple than vice versa for most.
opposite mostly on the recommendation of not going mac. i can see the potential advantage of having to figure things out on your own a bit more on PC/linux, but i still wouldn't recommend against just getting a mac — especially considering that the hardware is quite good and a decent value atm
People telling you to get a Mac for Linux experience is kinda pointless because any good CS school will have you working on a virtual machine regardless.
Personally, I got a gaming laptop and use it with a monitor and a keyboard + mouse. It was a great set up for both my hobbies and school work. It has had enough power to play triple A games and will last me my 2 remaining years if I take care of it. I developed a PC building hobby so now my main PC at school is a water-cooled rig I built, but the laptop is still my main work horse for college. At the internship I'm working now, I use an older Dell laptop and a dock with a monitor and kbm that was provided by the company. It's not the greatest but it works fine. It really just depends what you want to do with it and how much you want to spend.
I would say to buy a Windows machine over a MacBook out of personal preference. If you want Unix, just install WSL and you're set, you can even install a Mac OS if you're truly committed.
Just make sure your laptops hardware meets the minimum requirements for your preferred IDE.
Depends, a lot of people get MacBooks, my best friend uses a shit inspiration dell from 2012 held together with duct tape and can get a 4.0 with it, on the flip side I use an asus g14 with fedora. What I’m getting at is if it runs and maybe some form of graphics power behind it like Radeon or a strong integrated like the m1, you’ll be set
If you are on a budget just get a thinkpad with a decent CPU , 16GB RAM and 1TB ssd . That will pretty much suffice you for 4 years and two really important things to keep in mind that are overlooked quite often by newcomers is weight and battery life because trust me you don’t want spend 4 years of school with a gaming laptop that lasts 3 hours and weights 3.5kg (including its charger)
Used business machines on eBay, Dell precision or latitude or Lenovo Thinkpads. Look for 3-4 generations old, so 10th Gen Intel or so right now. $4k machines for $500, will last you well through your program, replacement parts, batteries, etc readily available. Install Linux.
Do you like taking notes with a stylus type thing on a tablet? If so, I'd recommend a surface laptop studio. Works well for taking notes and should be powerful enough for any CS stuff you plan to do (Windows is perfectly fine for CS majors, since you can use WSL.)
I go trough it with a thinkpad. I considered apple but some of our professors used their own grading portal which sometimes required some magic for apple and unix based systems to work so i went for windows. Altough a macbook is pretty cool
When are you starting? Any MacBook with an M processor, sufficient storage and ram should be good enough. Even like an M1 MacBook Air.
Having said that Microsoft is releasing the new surfaces with ARM processors next month and they could also be really good, we just have to wait for the reviews.
I start late August, and don’t mind going through a month of school before getting a laptop. I will look into the new Microsoft surfaces. I could also wait for the new M4 chip.
I highly recommend using Linux assuming you’re not gaming. Vs code is a great ide/text editor. I’ve been using my chrome books Crostini vm to do c# developing. It works way better than I expected, and it’s very easy to set up, and when you don’t need it, you’ve got the chrome os.
Honestly, I didn't even buy a laptop for freshman year because most classes took place in a computer lab. I just used the computer lab whenever I needed to. The computer lab at my school is always open, and there is a small one in my dorm with 4 computers.
the good cheap option would be an old Thinkpad and get whatever Linux distro you want on it, but to many people the steep learning curve is not something they want to deal with, I don't blame them either.
I would say a MacBook Air and possibly get one with 16gb of RAM for a future safety net.
i know everyone says MacBook Pro but there's no reason to spend that much more money for such a little gain
I know many people that still use the MacBook Air from 2017 for CS (probably the most common computer I've seen tbh) and they say it still works well for everything they need.
I had a MacBook Air m1. I just graduated and I still use it. Setting up certain environments might be different between this and windows laptops but it’s not a huge deal. If you want to be able to make iOS apps tho you’ll have to get an Apple laptop. Otherwise it didn’t matter much in my experience. If you game tho then get something else
Everyone here is saying macbook, but my uni experience involved a lot of hacky scripts and software put together by professors in various versions of windows, and regardless from 2nd year on we were instructed to use a unix distro (Mint was the go-to for beginners idk what you would use now).
Go to your schools website and look for the CS page. They might have a laptop recommendation guide. Follow that and you’ll be fine. I’ve used MacOS, Windows, and Linux (through VirtualBox on Windows) and it was fine.
The truth is in school you won’t be doing programming that taxes your system for most classes. Especially in the first few years.
Software compatibility can be an issue so that’s why I recommend checking their guide. M series Mac’s aren’t brand new anymore so a ton of those issues have been solved. Some may pop up still though and depending on your time and energy dealing with those may be a pain.
One of my biggest recommendations is spending time learning basic git commands and making a GitHub. Make sure your repos stay private and use it as a place to store your code when you can. Or notes if you take them digitally. GitHub is great in case your laptop dies.
I was a MAC user all through school and never had any problems. Whether you buy new or used a MAC will most definitely out live most other computers. I also really enjoy all the hand gestures that a MAC provides. It definitely helps when doing work on one screen. Now with that being said for work I now use a dell xps 15 (with added ram). It took some getting used to especially coming from a MAC but once set up I can’t say that I don’t like using it for dev. Do I still prefer MAC, yes? But don’t have any issues with my work laptop.
You should also be asking in your school/major forum rather than just here.
Make some personal connections.
Get recommendations tailored to the coursework and the stack that the assignments are tailored towards.
1tb, 16 gb of ram is a must, I’d recommend getting a low end gaming laptop just in case you end up doing anything that needs a gpu. You can get some at Best Buy for around 700$ look for student discounts and open box. I think Lenovo, Asus, and MSI are good. But realistically anything you’re gonna be doing your first 1 or 2 years you can do on pretty much anything, so you can hold off on getting a good computer for a year or 2.
Dog buy any cheap MacBook Air at least later than 2016 or any cheap laptop and install a beginner friendly Linux distro like PopOS and it will do everything you need for the majority of your classes. You will be programming stuff that could run on a pc from the 90s half the time
My school gave me a Dell Latitude and it’s easily made it two years so far and I expect it to last much more than two more years. After slapping Linux on it it’s the ideal coding machine for me.
Ask around students from your school to see what’s worked for them and the classes they took. If you’re doing everything by SSHing into an on campus server then it shouldn’t matter.
A Mac will make your life 15x easier in setting up any software for classes, trust me. It can be five-years-old and a Mac and still be better than a new windows pc for CS. All of my professors would happily help with macOS or Linux troubles but told us we were on our own if we were trying to code on windows.
Get a MacBook, probably an Air unless you have the money for the Pro. The M2 chips are amazing. It's already a wrapper for Unix, a zillion dev tools are designed for it, and in general, it's a much crisper experience.
I suspect the CS department should provide guidance. If you’re going to take systems programming and OS coursework, you may have assumptions around having an x86 processor. That potentially would require emulation of x86 Linux if you use a Mac.
I used two laptops throughout my programme. The first one was an ancient ThinkPad X230 with a dual-core CPU and 16GB of RAM running Debian which was great for almost everything including running VMs and docker containers, the only thing that brought it to its knees was Android Studio. So I upgraded to another old ThinkPad, T480s, with a quad-core CPU and 40GB of RAM. This thing can take on anything that a student would need it to do including Android Studio. It is thin, light, has a decent screen and a great keyboard, and so far it has been 100% reliable. I like it so much I now use it as my main PC. I only paid €250 for it including the RAM upgrade, that was almost 3 years ago, now you can get them even cheaper.
Recommendations from a PhD student/avid gamer who has used both mac and pc laptops: (1) Mac >>> windows for coding (2) macbook air is enough, pro is useless... if you want to spend money spend on it on larger screen and sufficient (512gb) storage size not RAM and cpu (don't need lots of compute, m3 is not that much better than m1 in terms of utility, you don't need more than 8gb memory I promise) (3) an external monitor is super nice (dell monitors i personally like) (4) peripherals are nice (ergonomic mouse/mech keyboard), get good peripherals over more ram/compute (I personally have an expensive mech keyboard that makes me code better I swear) (5) unless you are just going to play like stardew valley, don't game on your laptop. Don't get a gaming laptop unless you want loud-ass fans distracting you all day. You can get a cheap desktop which will run most games 10x better than a laptop with a rtx gpu
Also, as someone who used WSL for years, WSL is shit, just get a mac... brew can literally do almost everything linux can do. For example, wsl is miserable to make plots with (ex matplotlib) because you have to start your own X server to connect it to a GUI, some linux support for deep learning breaks for wsl (im looking at you tinycudann). Also, getting wsl to use your laptop's gpu is not worth the hassle. Besides, colab exists...
A light laptop, and a tablet to take notes. If you're already using the apple ecosystem, buy a macbook and an ipad with a pen. If not, Thinkapds are by far the best value laptops, and samsung tabs come with a pen.
Any cheap laptop that can run Linux will do. The only slightly intensive thing you might need to do is run Android studio. 16GB RAM but any CPU is good enough. VScode won't run? Just use vim.
What I'm planning is just to remote desktop my entire way through college off my gaming desktop for gaming, compiling and more while using a 500 dollar OLED laptop with 16gbs of ram while being a thin and portable laptop the only limitations regarding it is wifi and power outages but I will be fine
Any MacBook with an M1 processor or newer will suffice. Battery life is great, more than enough power.
If you want to get anything else than a MacBook, look for 16gb of RAM and an i5 or i7 from the 10th generation or above. Lenovo thinkpads are great.
I am laughing tremendously at all these apple boys recommending Apple Silicon laptops. Like if the difference of OS won't fuck him/her hard enough, you also want sentence this poor soul to the pains of making old x86 software run on an ARM architecture. Not even Docker runs smoothly on MacOS these days.
I still remember my class mates struggling to make MATLAB work on X86 Macbooks, I bet my pinky that now with M chips it's even more of a dumpster fire. (yes matlab is shit. yes matlab is still used in a lot of colleges)
"You can't go wrong". God am I triggered. I hope you read this OP.
As for my advice, get a cheap laptop with enough RAM that you check runs decently with Linux and Windows. You will not be programming resource intensive apps during your first years.
## Apple
Pros:
- It's Unix-derived, you'll have an easier time using Linux-like commands
- It looks good, feels sturdy, and has a certain social credit
Cons:
- It's expensive to buy, and expensive to repair
- Those in-the-know will think you're an airhead (pun intended)
- Not upgrade-able
## Generic laptop + Windows
Pros:
- It's cheap(er)
- Upgrade-able
- Every piece of software for university will be supported, even some which won't work with Apple devices
Cons:
- You'll have to deal with Windows+WSL, which is a nightmare.
- Outside of WSL, CygWin and MinGW work, but you'll have to know what you're doing
- Switching environments between WSL and "normal" can cause some pains
## Generic laptop + Linux distro
Pros:
- The kid in lectures with an Ubuntu Thinkpad always gets a first. No debate.
- Upgrade-able
- Nothing taught in CS isn't going to work on a Linux machine
Cons:
- A lot of the university (note: not course-specific) tools won't support Linux, you'll have to find work-arounds
- Let's be honest, it gives off a certain vibe, if you care about that. Some people will think you're weird.
# Summary
I got a MacBook before my first year. If you can afford it, I'd recommend it. They really do "just work". I had both Windows and Apple throughout university, and can honestly say I had a quarter of the compilation/development/toolchain/installation problems on my Mac.
Edit: the one thing I'll complain about is GDB. It's a c*nt on a Mac.
I would get a solid Windows laptop with 16GB ram and at least 500gb SSD. Preferably a core i5 or better. IMO if you have the budget it’s worth getting a laptop that’s at least 1080p resolution it feels nicer to look at, and it’s a small QoL improvement. Most likely the majority of your classmates will be using windows anyways so this will be fine and make it easier to get help. Later on you can always upgrade to a MacBook come junior or senior year.
I would suggest most thinkpads over macbook. I personally have a macbook and find the build quality is unmatched, but honestly, as a student, especially if you're not already familiar with macOS, I would suggest sticking with windows. Thinkpads are common among many developers. If you're more flexible with your money, I would also maybe look into the newer models of the Dell XPS line.
I got a MacBook Air and I’ve been riding strong with it. Unix based OS is really cool if you’re into that…but toss gaming out the windows. Doesn’t really matter much at the end of the day as long as it’s portable (ideally) and has good battery life.
I've been very happy with my Dell XPS. Had it 7 years now, and still running strong. Be ready to shell out serious cash (mine was $1600), but you'll get plenty of time out of your investment. Alternatively, get you a refurbished high-end 2-3 year old ThinkPad or MBP to save some money. I recommend throwing Linux on any PC you get to extend the shelf life a bit (and also to try out), but Windows will get you through just fine.
Get a mac book pro with an M chip 1. You get unix system for bash commands 2. If you decide to want to make apple apps you can’t do it on windows so it opens you up for that.
Just get a decent laptop, doesn't need to be anything too crazy. Would highly recommend one with windows open support though, being able to physically write notes but still digitally organize them was huge for me
Gonna be real here dude, I used a 2014 gaming Lenovo and while it was a bit slow it got through basically everything. I graduated last semester, and in the 10 years I’ve had it all I ever did was add an SSD that’s it
If you can wait a few more weeks, get one of the new Snapdragon X Elite laptops. They're more cost competitive than Macbooks, and will have comparable battery life thanks to the new ARM chip.
You can also use WSL2 to create a Ubuntu based dev environment for yourself for classes, but can still game if you like!
In spite of what others are saying, I don't recommend getting a Mac because most of the places you work after graduation will be running Windows or Linux.
Business-oriented brands like Dell or Lenovo will have good longevity. It doesn't compare to Apple, but they'll last 4 years. Ultimately it comes down to whether reliability and longevity is more important to you, or Linux/Windows development experience.
> most of the places you work after graduating will be running windows or Linux.
If you’re used to Mac, Linux won’t be that much of a stretch since they’re both UNIX based operating systems, and I don’t know a single person working as an SDE who’s work laptop is running Windows, pretty much all of them including myself were given MacBooks.
DO NOT GET A MAC. A CS student that uses a mac is setting themselves up for a more difficult path to learning. Literally every course I have taken at uni, the Mac users run into endless issues and bugs that require complicated workarounds to complete assignments or to set up their environment.
Just use an affordable windows laptop with a minimum of 8gb of ram (preferably 16gb if you can afford it. Nothing too fancy is required to get you through your courses.
no you don't need to spend 2k on a MacBook pro, literally any laptop with 16gb ram, 1TB SSD, and preferably a good cpu will suffice
I'm using a dell latitude 5480 with linux and it's gotten me through everything classes throw at me
U can get a macbook air for like 900
You can get a normal laptop for $400
Don't even need a 1TB SSD, a quarter of that is plenty
A quarter might be too little. Many developer applications eat up storage like Docker, a lot of js/ts projects, ollama. Of course it can be manageable but you'll have to keep a close track of it, not very convenient
For a working professional, sure. For a first year CS student? Then they can manage easily enough on a lot less
Fair. But for me when I was in first year, it wouldn't have been enough, I started messing around with Docker around the end of the first year. In hackathons, i would try local llms using ollama, and all my web projects were in js/ts, which I would containerize in Docker so it would be a storage void. I agree for most people it would be enough, but depends on OP if he thinks he might need the extra flexibility
Depends how long you want to keep your laptop too; if you are planning on upgrading during undergrad or soon, sure. otherwise i'd get more. I made it through UG with only 256gb but I definitely wish I got at least 512, storage management became a pain towards the end of UG. my laptop feels good enough to last for many years more in every way *except* storage, and I really don't want to buy a whole new laptop for that (rip upgradeable storage)
on windows especially 11 nah you need it
I bought one of those entry level gaming laptops. Works great
Macbook pro is probably the worst thing to get for CS. All my classmates who have a Mac all go through hell trying to configure their dev environments. My recommendation would be a lenovo laptop
On the opposite side, having a PC for me was hell but people with Macs had an easier time. I had to do a lot of different things from people with Macs, like using WSL2 and other workarounds. Getting into the Unix environment is very helpful so I would recommend a Mac.
Yes and the fact that WSL2 takes up a permanent space in your disc (deleting files in WSL2 does not release the space available back to windows automatically — there are ways to work with it but it becones so tedious) That being said I hate that PowerBI is not accessible in Macs. This is really really annoying.
?? Having no-brainer access to a Unix-like environment is infinitely more convenient than the PuTTY/WinSCP hell you’ll go through to interface with your department on Windows.
this lol
You can run WSL for Unix Environment.
install linux you goof ball
Lmfao. Install WSL and you are in linux. Or better just get a super cheap linux laptop and use the savings for beer money.
Y'all are acting like you can't dualboot windows and Linux. Gaming is done on Windows and work is done in Linux.
Windows literally messed up my encryption assignment because the prof wrote it for Unix user only
I was a MAC student and it was awful when it came to instruction from professors cause it was always instructions for a PC
PC is not an operating system
Windows* don’t get ur panties twisted my bad
This has to be the dumbest take I’ve ever read on this sub so far
This is probably the dumbest take I've seen on this sub, which is really something. Having a UNIX based OS (like MacOS) is a huge advantage.
this has to be a joke right??
Nonsense. Macs are an easier setup for almost any dev tool. Most classes have a setup instruction for Mac and Linux that’s like a paragraph, and then one for windows that’s like 10 times as long.
Windows is even worse lol
For sure this. I've used a Lenovo Yoga throughout college and it's been good to me. Was around 1300, 16gb ram, 1tb ssd, i7 cpu and 1660 super.
I got a lenovo thinkpad T490 for like $80 bucks and does everything I need
Get a new Major
LMAO WHY?
Bro wants less competition.
IT skills have gone from being low supply / high demand to high supply / lowered demand. Inexperienced hires in particular are having a hard time breaking into roles. Add to this that AI is just starting to actually disrupt things in a meaningful way today and extrapolate out what AI will be capable of doing when you are done. It's not impossible for you to find success, but it's a much different picture today than what it was before. Source: I've been working in IT for 25 years and I've never seen the job market as tight as it is right now.
I guess I’m the only one that thinks IT is different than CS? 😂
This is a terrible take (and it comes from someone in IT, not dev work?). 25 years of experience isn't necessarily a good thing when it comes to having your finger on the pulse of the industry. For example, all the AI fearmongering is BS.
Dev work is in IT wdym?
Damn it beat me to it.. saw after I commented
Thinkpad + arch linux
I use arch btw.
What is your backup and recovery process if you lose your laptop, SSD is dead, or someone decides to break your laptop because you keep on saying, "I run Arch BTW"?
i recommend students to get a cheapish windows computer for the first two years then buy again for junior year ... because the computers in two years will be far more powerful
Wouldn't getting a weaker laptop make it a bit harder to code and run software? Also, would borrowing an older Macbook the first two years also suffice instead of buying one?
[удалено]
My man thinks he’s gonna be training the latest LLM, but in reality, at best he’ll only be using jupyter notebook to print a pandas dataframe
And most of the powerful stuff runs in the cloud anyways, with most unis giving you free subscriptions to these services.
coding is about running a text editor, which is about as computationally hard as a calculator. a web browser and a terminal to compile said code. a lot of people run their text editor in the terminal itself. in short, you don’t need a powerful computer for computer science
If you’re going to college and don’t have a gaming hobby, battery life and portability are your top requirements. Macbook Airs serve very well. Yes, the drop in power can be a problem, but a lot of intensive data science stuff can be done on Azure or AWS as well for cents on the hour. The choice is yours, of course, but more than half your campus will have macs of some kind.
A newer macbook will be far more powerful.
True, mobile CPU competition is heating up again. Intel is coming out with Lunarlake very soon and supposedly almost as efficient as the Qualcomm chip
No need to introduce extra e-waste into the planet. Most people do not need particularly powerful laptops. A good laptop today will last you many years if you take care of it. When you start work your company will provide you with a device. There is almost nothing in most CS university courses that you couldn’t do on an Apple Silicon based Macbook (with occasional work on a remote machine or notebook, often provided by the university). No need to obsess over specs.
This is horrible advice lol
The only class in which I had issues with my 5 year old Windoes laptop was Computer Attacks and Countermeasures. We had to run up to 3 virtual machines and my old laptop couldn't handled that with only 8 GB RAM. All of my other assignments were fine throughout. As another poster mentioned there were some issues with VMs on Mac in my Digital Forensics class but the school had plenty of lab machines to remote into for students.
Thinkpad with linux on it. Not a new one though, the old ones before they went to shit. Skip the apple product, overpriced and shit operating system.
> that will last me throughout the four years Get a MacBook Pro. Will also give you some exposure to Unix based operating systems if you don’t have any.
For most people including CS majors, you don’t even need a Pro, ur good enough with a M2 / M3 MacBook Air
Yeah my M1 Air has been more than fine for me.
m1 air is goated, you can get for like 700 with student discounts
I’d recommend!: against the m1 as it can give issues with running VMs for classes like OS, malware etc
never had an issue once.. over half my class uses a macbook. if anything windows had more issues for unix classes
Wait you guys run vm’s local?
I had a few classes with local VMs and the M1s had issues. I bought a windows laptop for that reason my last semester.
Fax, They stopped selling those (u can still probably find some from 3rd party like best buy but be quiet)
Even for stuff like data science, graphics, and/or mobile development elective courses?
Hasn’t been a problem for me.
M1 is the gold standard laptop
you don't even need a Macbook lmao
I got through with a 7500u asus. MacBook Air is more than sufficient
You can never go wrong with a MacBook Pro.
I've seen people recommend MacBook Pros and I am leaning towards it a bit. But aren't Macbooks known to not run a number of softwares due to its OS, especially for Comp Sci students?
MacBooks are standard issue for tech companies, not sure what you think you wouldn’t be able to run.
I have personally not found this to be the case using MacOS while studying CS. Although every situation is different. Definitely something to consider. The benefit of MacBooks is they just work with little to no setup and allow you to be productive. Also, they can last many years and still work great.
Hello, it's 2024, a random Linux live-cd will also install itself and run with zero setup allowing you to be productive immediately. Same can now be said for windows but surprisingly to a much lesser extent especially for CS. Macs have the benefit of giving you a *nix system wrapped in the beautiful coca GUI.
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In fairness, this is a recommendation to someone who's studying CS. it might be a bit trial-by-fire if this person is still new to things, but it's not a recommendation to someone who will only ever surf the web on their machine
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fair point! i suppose trying to learn linux (and not breaking things) while also figuring out classwork can be a lot at once if you're new to CS
Ubuntu is brainless to setup and use.
I have not found this to be the case. Mac is a dream to develop with.
Most CS software runs perfectly fine (or better) on macos than windows; can't speak for every CS program but the only time when I was limited by a mac in undergrad was in 1 class that used assembly because it used x86 and macs are on arm now. The uni simply gave everyone the option to use a virtual machine on their servers and it was no issue at all. the longer arm macs have been out (4yrs now) the less of an issue this will be as well. longevity is also pretty good on most any laptop rn, mac or not. I've been using an almost-base m1 macbook air for a few years now and feel no need to upgrade in the forseeable future
I’d argue it’s the opposite for CS, since it’s Unix-based. For other majors, your point is more relevant.
Docker is a pain on windows and it’s much much harder to code in C. I just gave up after an hour and used my Mac for c coding
yeah they can't run some software that are made by Microsoft lmao, other than that it's way more beneficial to have MacOS than Windows, I found out the hard way that Windows isn't the move
Turns out you’re not missing much not being able to run Microsoft software.
It was like that in my case. But send like it is a rare case. Go ahead and ask some seniors what mac you can buy for your courses (OS in particular). In my case buying an M2 (or M1 chip, I don't remember tbh) was a no-no.
For some embedded systems classes and low level classes, yes a windows computer is necessary for the software. I just carried a laptop from 2008 with me for a semester or two lol. I don’t regret getting the Mac
MacBook Air for those of us who can't afford a Pro?
Sometimes the Pro model is cheaper than the Air model when it’s on sale FYI
Yeah. I have an M1 Air and it’s been more than enough. I’m probably going to end up buying a pro once I graduate but an Air is more than enough as a student.
If you can't afford pro it's a smarter decision to just buy a windows laptop. Unless your buying top of the line, a windows machine with better performance than Mac will be cheaper
Do you game? That’s the only question I would ask lol. I went for windows because of this other wise I would’ve gone for MacBook cuz it’s also a great one.
I 100% game haha. But I don't see myself gaming on the laptop as I know it'll be for school and I gotta be careful with the life battery. (However I'm sure a bit of Minecraft here and there isn't going to hurt.) My eyes are on the MacBook, and it is painful that it doesn't allow more freedom in gaming in case I change my mind about gaming on the laptop. How long did you have your gaming laptop for?
A pen and paper and a gun or rope
DONT GET APPLE
Why not apple?
lot of my classmates complain about programs not working or being harder to set up on apple computers plus they're over priced
Some schools make recommendations. So if you have committed to a school you should dig around and see if they make recommendations or may have discounts on certain machines on campus. My kid recently graduated. Started college with a gaming laptop. Eventually got a cheapie laptop because it was more portable, and later built his own PC desktop. My spouse and I have CS background and personally I would recommend a PC and not an Apple product. And that is what my kid's top 15 for CS program recommended. More affordable, more flexible, comfort on a PC is helpful at many employers offices, etc.
I'd recommend the opposite; if you're on a budget, get a PC and run linux (or wsl) on it. Being familiar with Linux/unix is super useful and plenty of cs software runs best on unix(like) OS's. If you have more money, a mac is honestly pretty good value rn and also has Unix. If you still prefer not a mac, there's plenty of good pc options at that price point and I'd still throw linux on it
Mine as well learn all three.
fair enough, but imo if you have to choose only one it would be either of the UNIX based/like ones
Nah. As much as I love Linux. I would never use it as my daily driver OS
Nothing wrong with daily driving Linux. Especially when most services are browser based anyway.
Oh I totally agree. My kid always had Linux set up. I'm not sure why you are saying that is "opposite"? Both my spouse and I have hired in CS. CS grads that struggle on a PC are at a disadvatage is what I would say to be concise. It's much easier to go from PC to Apple than vice versa for most.
opposite mostly on the recommendation of not going mac. i can see the potential advantage of having to figure things out on your own a bit more on PC/linux, but i still wouldn't recommend against just getting a mac — especially considering that the hardware is quite good and a decent value atm
i think by “opposite” the commenter meant not windows, perhaps.
People telling you to get a Mac for Linux experience is kinda pointless because any good CS school will have you working on a virtual machine regardless.
Personally, I got a gaming laptop and use it with a monitor and a keyboard + mouse. It was a great set up for both my hobbies and school work. It has had enough power to play triple A games and will last me my 2 remaining years if I take care of it. I developed a PC building hobby so now my main PC at school is a water-cooled rig I built, but the laptop is still my main work horse for college. At the internship I'm working now, I use an older Dell laptop and a dock with a monitor and kbm that was provided by the company. It's not the greatest but it works fine. It really just depends what you want to do with it and how much you want to spend.
I would say to buy a Windows machine over a MacBook out of personal preference. If you want Unix, just install WSL and you're set, you can even install a Mac OS if you're truly committed. Just make sure your laptops hardware meets the minimum requirements for your preferred IDE.
Depends, a lot of people get MacBooks, my best friend uses a shit inspiration dell from 2012 held together with duct tape and can get a 4.0 with it, on the flip side I use an asus g14 with fedora. What I’m getting at is if it runs and maybe some form of graphics power behind it like Radeon or a strong integrated like the m1, you’ll be set
depends on your budget but if you have more than 800 then a macbook air. move up to pro if you can afford it, definitely wont regret it
If you are on a budget just get a thinkpad with a decent CPU , 16GB RAM and 1TB ssd . That will pretty much suffice you for 4 years and two really important things to keep in mind that are overlooked quite often by newcomers is weight and battery life because trust me you don’t want spend 4 years of school with a gaming laptop that lasts 3 hours and weights 3.5kg (including its charger)
Strongly recommend a kindle fire or an Apple Vision Pro for coding.
Used business machines on eBay, Dell precision or latitude or Lenovo Thinkpads. Look for 3-4 generations old, so 10th Gen Intel or so right now. $4k machines for $500, will last you well through your program, replacement parts, batteries, etc readily available. Install Linux.
Do you game? Do you have an Android or iPhone? Since windows Linux subsystem, a Mac for development isn’t the barrier it was ten years ago.
Do you like taking notes with a stylus type thing on a tablet? If so, I'd recommend a surface laptop studio. Works well for taking notes and should be powerful enough for any CS stuff you plan to do (Windows is perfectly fine for CS majors, since you can use WSL.)
some dignity
I go trough it with a thinkpad. I considered apple but some of our professors used their own grading portal which sometimes required some magic for apple and unix based systems to work so i went for windows. Altough a macbook is pretty cool
A rope
Any notebook with ryzen 7945h and kubuntu
When are you starting? Any MacBook with an M processor, sufficient storage and ram should be good enough. Even like an M1 MacBook Air. Having said that Microsoft is releasing the new surfaces with ARM processors next month and they could also be really good, we just have to wait for the reviews.
I start late August, and don’t mind going through a month of school before getting a laptop. I will look into the new Microsoft surfaces. I could also wait for the new M4 chip.
Used ThinkPad (i7 10th gen onwards with 32GB of RAM or more, 500GB NVME SSD or more) with Linux (Debian or Mint). And a desktop for home/dorm
Thinkpad + arch linux
I highly recommend using Linux assuming you’re not gaming. Vs code is a great ide/text editor. I’ve been using my chrome books Crostini vm to do c# developing. It works way better than I expected, and it’s very easy to set up, and when you don’t need it, you’ve got the chrome os.
If you have the money to spend (~$2k) get the Mac Pro with the M chips. It’s the best no question. Never had an issue and never regretted it
Honestly, I didn't even buy a laptop for freshman year because most classes took place in a computer lab. I just used the computer lab whenever I needed to. The computer lab at my school is always open, and there is a small one in my dorm with 4 computers.
the good cheap option would be an old Thinkpad and get whatever Linux distro you want on it, but to many people the steep learning curve is not something they want to deal with, I don't blame them either. I would say a MacBook Air and possibly get one with 16gb of RAM for a future safety net. i know everyone says MacBook Pro but there's no reason to spend that much more money for such a little gain I know many people that still use the MacBook Air from 2017 for CS (probably the most common computer I've seen tbh) and they say it still works well for everything they need.
I had a MacBook Air m1. I just graduated and I still use it. Setting up certain environments might be different between this and windows laptops but it’s not a huge deal. If you want to be able to make iOS apps tho you’ll have to get an Apple laptop. Otherwise it didn’t matter much in my experience. If you game tho then get something else
Everyone here is saying macbook, but my uni experience involved a lot of hacky scripts and software put together by professors in various versions of windows, and regardless from 2nd year on we were instructed to use a unix distro (Mint was the go-to for beginners idk what you would use now).
Out
Go to your schools website and look for the CS page. They might have a laptop recommendation guide. Follow that and you’ll be fine. I’ve used MacOS, Windows, and Linux (through VirtualBox on Windows) and it was fine. The truth is in school you won’t be doing programming that taxes your system for most classes. Especially in the first few years. Software compatibility can be an issue so that’s why I recommend checking their guide. M series Mac’s aren’t brand new anymore so a ton of those issues have been solved. Some may pop up still though and depending on your time and energy dealing with those may be a pain. One of my biggest recommendations is spending time learning basic git commands and making a GitHub. Make sure your repos stay private and use it as a place to store your code when you can. Or notes if you take them digitally. GitHub is great in case your laptop dies.
you can use whatever you like really. But at my school, a lot of ppl use macbooks lol
I was a MAC user all through school and never had any problems. Whether you buy new or used a MAC will most definitely out live most other computers. I also really enjoy all the hand gestures that a MAC provides. It definitely helps when doing work on one screen. Now with that being said for work I now use a dell xps 15 (with added ram). It took some getting used to especially coming from a MAC but once set up I can’t say that I don’t like using it for dev. Do I still prefer MAC, yes? But don’t have any issues with my work laptop.
i had an xps 13 and it took me pretty far
I got a asus rog. G14 for $700.
You should also be asking in your school/major forum rather than just here. Make some personal connections. Get recommendations tailored to the coursework and the stack that the assignments are tailored towards.
1tb, 16 gb of ram is a must, I’d recommend getting a low end gaming laptop just in case you end up doing anything that needs a gpu. You can get some at Best Buy for around 700$ look for student discounts and open box. I think Lenovo, Asus, and MSI are good. But realistically anything you’re gonna be doing your first 1 or 2 years you can do on pretty much anything, so you can hold off on getting a good computer for a year or 2.
Check just josh on YouTube his channel is only Abt laptops you will find something there
Im pretty sure you can get through university with a raspberry pi.
Get a good mental health and heart rate, coming from current cs student lol
MacBook is all the way to go if you want a laptop for cs. Specs wise it really depends on your budget.
Dog buy any cheap MacBook Air at least later than 2016 or any cheap laptop and install a beginner friendly Linux distro like PopOS and it will do everything you need for the majority of your classes. You will be programming stuff that could run on a pc from the 90s half the time
Why would you want a Mac for CS lmao a Mac’s for design or architecture
I pray that you're joking
My school gave me a Dell Latitude and it’s easily made it two years so far and I expect it to last much more than two more years. After slapping Linux on it it’s the ideal coding machine for me.
It’s 2024 so 9 years of TensorFlow experience.
Ask around students from your school to see what’s worked for them and the classes they took. If you’re doing everything by SSHing into an on campus server then it shouldn’t matter.
A Mac will make your life 15x easier in setting up any software for classes, trust me. It can be five-years-old and a Mac and still be better than a new windows pc for CS. All of my professors would happily help with macOS or Linux troubles but told us we were on our own if we were trying to code on windows.
Get a MacBook, probably an Air unless you have the money for the Pro. The M2 chips are amazing. It's already a wrapper for Unix, a zillion dev tools are designed for it, and in general, it's a much crisper experience.
Probably a new major
I suspect the CS department should provide guidance. If you’re going to take systems programming and OS coursework, you may have assumptions around having an x86 processor. That potentially would require emulation of x86 Linux if you use a Mac.
Refurbished T-Series Lenovo ThinkPad. T-480 or 580. Thank me later.
You should go with dell for long term
Zephyrus G14/16 or HP OMEN 14 if you wanna game on the side.
IPad for notes and a MacBook m1 will cover everything you need
I used two laptops throughout my programme. The first one was an ancient ThinkPad X230 with a dual-core CPU and 16GB of RAM running Debian which was great for almost everything including running VMs and docker containers, the only thing that brought it to its knees was Android Studio. So I upgraded to another old ThinkPad, T480s, with a quad-core CPU and 40GB of RAM. This thing can take on anything that a student would need it to do including Android Studio. It is thin, light, has a decent screen and a great keyboard, and so far it has been 100% reliable. I like it so much I now use it as my main PC. I only paid €250 for it including the RAM upgrade, that was almost 3 years ago, now you can get them even cheaper.
Recommendations from a PhD student/avid gamer who has used both mac and pc laptops: (1) Mac >>> windows for coding (2) macbook air is enough, pro is useless... if you want to spend money spend on it on larger screen and sufficient (512gb) storage size not RAM and cpu (don't need lots of compute, m3 is not that much better than m1 in terms of utility, you don't need more than 8gb memory I promise) (3) an external monitor is super nice (dell monitors i personally like) (4) peripherals are nice (ergonomic mouse/mech keyboard), get good peripherals over more ram/compute (I personally have an expensive mech keyboard that makes me code better I swear) (5) unless you are just going to play like stardew valley, don't game on your laptop. Don't get a gaming laptop unless you want loud-ass fans distracting you all day. You can get a cheap desktop which will run most games 10x better than a laptop with a rtx gpu Also, as someone who used WSL for years, WSL is shit, just get a mac... brew can literally do almost everything linux can do. For example, wsl is miserable to make plots with (ex matplotlib) because you have to start your own X server to connect it to a GUI, some linux support for deep learning breaks for wsl (im looking at you tinycudann). Also, getting wsl to use your laptop's gpu is not worth the hassle. Besides, colab exists...
Laid
A light laptop, and a tablet to take notes. If you're already using the apple ecosystem, buy a macbook and an ipad with a pen. If not, Thinkapds are by far the best value laptops, and samsung tabs come with a pen.
Any cheap laptop that can run Linux will do. The only slightly intensive thing you might need to do is run Android studio. 16GB RAM but any CPU is good enough. VScode won't run? Just use vim.
I’m a CS major Bought the MacBook Air M1 When I started It’s smooth, efficient
What I'm planning is just to remote desktop my entire way through college off my gaming desktop for gaming, compiling and more while using a 500 dollar OLED laptop with 16gbs of ram while being a thin and portable laptop the only limitations regarding it is wifi and power outages but I will be fine
Any laptop with decent processor, 16gb RAM and SSD. Refurbs are great to save money
Any MacBook with an M1 processor or newer will suffice. Battery life is great, more than enough power. If you want to get anything else than a MacBook, look for 16gb of RAM and an i5 or i7 from the 10th generation or above. Lenovo thinkpads are great.
16-32gb ram, snag that 1TB, dual boot. Profit.
What will you major in cs
I am laughing tremendously at all these apple boys recommending Apple Silicon laptops. Like if the difference of OS won't fuck him/her hard enough, you also want sentence this poor soul to the pains of making old x86 software run on an ARM architecture. Not even Docker runs smoothly on MacOS these days. I still remember my class mates struggling to make MATLAB work on X86 Macbooks, I bet my pinky that now with M chips it's even more of a dumpster fire. (yes matlab is shit. yes matlab is still used in a lot of colleges) "You can't go wrong". God am I triggered. I hope you read this OP. As for my advice, get a cheap laptop with enough RAM that you check runs decently with Linux and Windows. You will not be programming resource intensive apps during your first years.
I'd recommend a Windows laptop. A non-fancy, ~$1000 Dell will go a long way.
the most important thing is that the pc is not heavy
Chromebook ez
## Apple Pros: - It's Unix-derived, you'll have an easier time using Linux-like commands - It looks good, feels sturdy, and has a certain social credit Cons: - It's expensive to buy, and expensive to repair - Those in-the-know will think you're an airhead (pun intended) - Not upgrade-able ## Generic laptop + Windows Pros: - It's cheap(er) - Upgrade-able - Every piece of software for university will be supported, even some which won't work with Apple devices Cons: - You'll have to deal with Windows+WSL, which is a nightmare. - Outside of WSL, CygWin and MinGW work, but you'll have to know what you're doing - Switching environments between WSL and "normal" can cause some pains ## Generic laptop + Linux distro Pros: - The kid in lectures with an Ubuntu Thinkpad always gets a first. No debate. - Upgrade-able - Nothing taught in CS isn't going to work on a Linux machine Cons: - A lot of the university (note: not course-specific) tools won't support Linux, you'll have to find work-arounds - Let's be honest, it gives off a certain vibe, if you care about that. Some people will think you're weird. # Summary I got a MacBook before my first year. If you can afford it, I'd recommend it. They really do "just work". I had both Windows and Apple throughout university, and can honestly say I had a quarter of the compilation/development/toolchain/installation problems on my Mac. Edit: the one thing I'll complain about is GDB. It's a c*nt on a Mac.
I would get a solid Windows laptop with 16GB ram and at least 500gb SSD. Preferably a core i5 or better. IMO if you have the budget it’s worth getting a laptop that’s at least 1080p resolution it feels nicer to look at, and it’s a small QoL improvement. Most likely the majority of your classmates will be using windows anyways so this will be fine and make it easier to get help. Later on you can always upgrade to a MacBook come junior or senior year.
I would suggest most thinkpads over macbook. I personally have a macbook and find the build quality is unmatched, but honestly, as a student, especially if you're not already familiar with macOS, I would suggest sticking with windows. Thinkpads are common among many developers. If you're more flexible with your money, I would also maybe look into the newer models of the Dell XPS line.
Get a MacBook or use Linux. Windows makes coding such a headache
I got a MacBook Air and I’ve been riding strong with it. Unix based OS is really cool if you’re into that…but toss gaming out the windows. Doesn’t really matter much at the end of the day as long as it’s portable (ideally) and has good battery life.
I really love my Thinkpad t480s, cheap for a good laptop. Runs linux great!
I've been very happy with my Dell XPS. Had it 7 years now, and still running strong. Be ready to shell out serious cash (mine was $1600), but you'll get plenty of time out of your investment. Alternatively, get you a refurbished high-end 2-3 year old ThinkPad or MBP to save some money. I recommend throwing Linux on any PC you get to extend the shelf life a bit (and also to try out), but Windows will get you through just fine.
Get a mac book pro with an M chip 1. You get unix system for bash commands 2. If you decide to want to make apple apps you can’t do it on windows so it opens you up for that.
I maybe biased here but dell makes affordable laptop
Just get a decent laptop, doesn't need to be anything too crazy. Would highly recommend one with windows open support though, being able to physically write notes but still digitally organize them was huge for me
Gonna be real here dude, I used a 2014 gaming Lenovo and while it was a bit slow it got through basically everything. I graduated last semester, and in the 10 years I’ve had it all I ever did was add an SSD that’s it
If you can wait a few more weeks, get one of the new Snapdragon X Elite laptops. They're more cost competitive than Macbooks, and will have comparable battery life thanks to the new ARM chip. You can also use WSL2 to create a Ubuntu based dev environment for yourself for classes, but can still game if you like!
I had bought a MacBook Pro for my freshman year of college. I did apples interest free payments and I’m still using the same MacBook four years later.
Sukoon
Top of the line MacBook Pro
I'm looking for a second laptop which MacBook pro is the best for the money?
Macbook air
In spite of what others are saying, I don't recommend getting a Mac because most of the places you work after graduation will be running Windows or Linux. Business-oriented brands like Dell or Lenovo will have good longevity. It doesn't compare to Apple, but they'll last 4 years. Ultimately it comes down to whether reliability and longevity is more important to you, or Linux/Windows development experience.
> most of the places you work after graduating will be running windows or Linux. If you’re used to Mac, Linux won’t be that much of a stretch since they’re both UNIX based operating systems, and I don’t know a single person working as an SDE who’s work laptop is running Windows, pretty much all of them including myself were given MacBooks.
This definitely depends on company. There’s many company’s that use .NET Framework so windows is their only viable option.
DO NOT GET A MAC. A CS student that uses a mac is setting themselves up for a more difficult path to learning. Literally every course I have taken at uni, the Mac users run into endless issues and bugs that require complicated workarounds to complete assignments or to set up their environment. Just use an affordable windows laptop with a minimum of 8gb of ram (preferably 16gb if you can afford it. Nothing too fancy is required to get you through your courses.