A few questions

Mister Man

Hi everyone.

I've accepted my course (Industrial Design) in the IT, and I need a few questions answered if possible!

1- So to start off, I'm going to be guying a laptop. I'm looking at getting a Macbook Pro 13inch i5 version. Would this machine be good for the course? I plan on running Windows 7 via boot camp or Vmachine for any programs that are only PC. I am still open to maybe a powerful laptop (and maybe a netbook on the cheap for taking notes/internet browsing) instead of the mac. (Budget would be 1,200 or bellow) I'm thinking of the MBP 13inch as it's small enough to be portable, 7hour battery, and still powerful.

2- What programs are used? And do I pay for them? If so, are they at a discount price? I've a bit of experience with Cinema 4D, and i've played around with a trial of 3Ds Max a while back.

3- I live out in Palatine. Which is too much of a distance to walk to and from the college. I don't drive, and a taxi costs 10-15 quid from my house to town. So I was wondering if it would be a better choice to maybe look to rent somewhere? My parents work from early morning (between 6 & 9 everyone is gone) and aren't normally finished until 6 or later. I wouldn't really fancy just standing around doing nothing if a class is cancelled, or if I have a hour or more break. Advice on this would be great, as I can just see myself getting sick of waiting around all the time, and just staying at home and failing the course.

4- Are you aloud your laptops on during lectures/classes for taking notes? (and maybe surfing the net if your being sneaky lol) This may seem like a stupid question, but my brother said he wasn't aloud his on during some of his classes in college.

If anyone could give me advice/answers for these questions, that would be great!

Protagonist

I can't really say anything about the course you're starting as i have no experience with it.
For a budget of €1200 you'll have no trouble finding a top-notch laptop/mac. I honestly think you'd be better off saving your money though. Buy a decent laptop for under €500 which will be more than capable of running any program you'd require and use the saving to sort out your other problem.
Could use the left over money to buy yourself a cheap moped, or something similar to get into college in the mornings.
If you don't like the driving option you could also get yourself a room in town for about €50 a week.

Computers and probably any program you'll need are available in the college library/computer rooms. And there's always torrents...(I'm not condoning it, just saying it's an option.)

Mac's are great for design, google for reviews.

Yes, you can bring them into class's and maybe some lectures.

Rivalcore

Mister Man wrote: »

1- So to start off, I'm going to be guying a laptop. I'm looking at getting a Macbook Pro 13inch i5 version. Would this machine be good for the course? I plan on running Windows 7 via boot camp or Vmachine for any programs that are only PC. I am still open to maybe a powerful laptop (and maybe a netbook on the cheap for taking notes/internet browsing) instead of the mac. (Budget would be 1,200 or bellow) I'm thinking of the MBP 13inch as it's small enough to be portable, 7hour battery, and still powerful.

Honestly, it's up to yourself but for the first 2 years of the course you won't be using computers a significant amount (with the exception being for writing and some 2d graphic work). The 13" MBP would probably suit your needs, and Windows will be a necessity.

2- What programs are used? And do I pay for them? If so, are they at a discount price? I've a bit of experience with Cinema 4D, and i've played around with a trial of 3Ds Max a while back.

Typically you'll be introduced (and I can't stress this enough) to the Adobe Photoshop and Solidworks. You won't be using any polygonal based software at all since it's all parametric-based CAD programs in industry.

A piece of advice I would give would be to not limit yourself to what is introduced. There's a myriad of software packages that are invaluable tools such as Adobe Illustrator and inDesign, Rhino, Keyshot, Modo, ProE...the list goes on.

There are student licenses for Solidworks (they should be 2011 this year which finally works with Windows 7), and you will be using computer labs during first/second year for CAD. They typically don't supply software to students, so you'll have to find it through...ahem...other means.

3- I live out in Palatine. Which is too much of a distance to walk to and from the college. I don't drive, and a taxi costs 10-15 quid from my house to town. So I was wondering if it would be a better choice to maybe look to rent somewhere? My parents work from early morning (between 6 & 9 everyone is gone) and aren't normally finished until 6 or later. I wouldn't really fancy just standing around doing nothing if a class is cancelled, or if I have a hour or more break. Advice on this would be great, as I can just see myself getting sick of waiting around all the time, and just staying at home and failing the course.

Get a bike and a decent backpack, seriously. It's only ten kilometres, grand bit of exercise.

4- Are you aloud your laptops on during lectures/classes for taking notes? (and maybe surfing the net if your being sneaky lol) This may seem like a stupid question, but my brother said he wasn't aloud his on during some of his classes in college.

I honestly wouldn't advocate using a laptop to take notes for the classes (since with the exception of 2 subjects, you won't probably need notes). Since you're going to be in a studio for the majority of the course, you'll have plenty of time to surf the web. Just don't be a prat and be on Facebook while someone is trying to explain what Injection Moulding is.

Mister Man

Cheers guys.
Anyone know what the connection speed is like in the college, and are you aloud download programs via the college connection? My internet here isn't fast enough to download anything, can't even watch a video on it anymore!

RealistSpy

Mister Man wrote: »

Cheers guys.
Anyone know what the connection speed is like in the college, and are you aloud download programs via the college connection? My internet here isn't fast enough to download anything, can't even watch a video on it anymore!

Last time I was there it was 30mb - 50mb connection speed. Sure you are allowed to download... college stuff.