Ask Slashdot: Choosing a Laptop To Support Physics Research? 385
An anonymous reader writes My daughter is in her third year of college as a physics major. She has an internship in Europe this summer, will graduate next year, and continue with graduate physics studies. Her area of research interest is in gravitational waves and particle physics. She currently has a laptop running Win7 and wants to buy a new laptop. She would like to use Linux on it, and plans to use it for C++ programming, data analysis and simulations (along with the usual email, surfing, music, pictures, etc). For all of the physics-savvy Slashdotters out there: what should she get? PC? Mac? What do you recommend for running Linux? For a C++ development environment? What laptop do you use and how is it configured to support your physics-related activities?
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Dell Precision M3800 or Dell XPS 13 (Score:3, Informative)
Both come with supported by the factory Ubuntu installs.. and both are very very fast -- and cheaper than an equivalent spec Mac.
Depends on Know-how (Score:5, Informative)
If you look around a typical meeting at CERN the overwhelming majority of us now have macs. These are not as cheap as a Dell but they are a lot better at taking a few knocks (which happens if you are always carrying it around) and they just work without all the tweaking and configuring which Linux needs (and which I no longer have time for). The downside is that open source software we use in physics is not always easily portable to a mac although with the increasing number of mac users this is improving a lot plus you can always run a Linux VM on the laptop if you need to and I've used this to debug code.
Ultimately it depends on the user. Those with less knowledge of how to configure linux or with less time to do it should probably look at a mac. However if you have the time and know-how Linux on a Dell will be cheaper and possibly faster performance-wise.
Re: Depends on Know-how (Score:3, Informative)
Dell (Score:4, Informative)
As a postdoc and starting faculty member I used to have a Dell and it was blazingly fast but required a huge amount of tweaking to get power management and shutdown working (and ultimately these never really worked well at all).
If you want to use a Dell, I would advise to pick one from the "Business" line of products (Lattitude), instead of the "End-User" line (Precision).
Although they sometime don't have the latest bells and whistles, they tend to be much more supported, both hardware-wise (easier to find replacement parts later on) and software-wise (easier to get Linux running reliably on them).
I have a Latitude E6510.
Re:Dell (Score:5, Informative)
If you want to use a Dell, I would advise to pick one from the "Business" line of products (Lattitude), instead of the "End-User" line (Precision).
Vostro, Latitude and Precision are the business line laptops (in increasing order of build quality / reliability). Inspiron, XPS and Alienware are the end-user / domestic lines (again in increasing order of build quality).
Why Choose? Run linux on a mac (Score:5, Informative)
First I'd just get a mac. the Unix environment is highly standard (yes the sysadmin is very different, but she's not going to be doing that). It will cost a bit more than a dell but not much and it will likely have a high resale value. What you get is highly worry free compared to running your own linux box which is worth it, especially for the circumstances you describe. There's also lots of distro and libs for the mac and the compilers are top notch. Ive noticed Many mathlibs are already compiled for SIMD or GPU on macs probably because of how standardized the environment and hardware is-- i certainly don't find it as inconsistent as Linux platforms.
And if you do absolutely have to run Windows or Linux at some point well it turns out that Virtual Box create a more standard environment for those platforms than any hardware platform.
And if you just can't abide the mac OS then wipe it an install Linux. That's effectively what Linus did (he now uses a Chomebook Pixel but just because it's well made-- he still uses Linux). Or get a companion for it: raspberry Pi 2 for $50. the new ones come with Free Windows 10, Free Wolfram/Mathematica and it's easy to run X-windows or a remote screen from the mac to the Rapsberry pi.
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if you are doing serious heavy lifting on a GPU then you have graduated beyond a laptop anyhow. Simply having a GPU however is great for development and interoperability, if you are doing GPU work. No need for big iron in your little laptop. Its a waste silence, battery, heat, weight and size.
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That's just an excuse to overlook Apple's obvious limitations.
The point is that with a non-Apple laptop, you don't have to be so limited. HELL, you could even go for something even more exotic like a "lunchbox" style machine. Just about any option you can think of is available in the wider PC market.
Re:Why Choose? Run linux on a mac (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Why Choose? Run linux on a mac (Score:4, Informative)
Devo said it best (Score:4, Interesting)
Perhaps the best part is that if you can't figure something out on your mac, you can ask someone. With Linux you have to find someone with a setup just like yours, and if you google it you will find a proliferation of solutions none of which work for your rig.
Devo could easily have been describing linux when they wrote: What you got is freedom of choice [But] what you want is freedom from choice.
Standards are good. Macs don't really box you in they just reduce the proliferation of options of how to do something. It's not unlike how C++ is super poweful but python's simplicity lets you focus on the creative part more.
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Perhaps the best part is that if you can't figure something out on your mac, you can ask someone. With Linux you have to find someone with a setup just like yours, and if you google it you will find a proliferation of solutions none of which work for your rig.
Seriously? I would have thought the only choice would be Linux. As a physicist you ought to be familiar with Linux/UNIX is some form, since *nix in some form is what tends to power most scientific systems - super computers and so on. You would not be unlikely to have a need for Fortran, which is available from GNU, or some of the many scientific tools - such as GAP. I'm not convinced Mathematica is top of the list of tools you are going to need, but then I've never actually had any use for it, personally, s
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The disadvantage with a Mac is if any of the hardware breaks you are stuffed. Macshop replacements are slow, expensive and inflexible.
The second problem I know many bioinformaticians (which is what I do) have, is that most of the scientific software is in one of the numerous non-mac packaging systems. And of different ones. So you end up with three copies of basic tools like python.
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The disadvantage with a Mac is if any of the hardware breaks you are stuffed. Macshop replacements are slow, expensive and inflexible.
You are telling me! One time my magic mouse quit on me. A battery terminal had broken on it.
I called Cupertino, and after convincing them that it was indeed the problem, at 6 p.m. eastern, they told me they'd ship a new one out, wanted me to ship the old one back.
Next morning around 10 a.m. the fedex truck pulls up, drops off the box with the new mouse in it, with instructions to pull off the top label on the box, which had Apple's address on it. Put the old mouse in and they picked it up the next day.
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First I'd just get a mac.
I second this. Not only is the native mac command line interface a bona fide variant of Unix, if you really need some specific version of Linux you can always just put it in a VM. If you like, you can even create a small partition on your drive without disturbing the existing OS, then install Linux on that partition using your choice of tools. Here is one of many ways to do that. [howtogeek.com]
Then, if you like, you can either boot straight into the other OS, or into OS X and use VMWare or the like to load that partiti
Re:Why Choose? Run linux on a mac (Score:4, Informative)
I second choosing Mac. The relatively new package manager, Homebrew, is a dream come true. It makes compiling, installing, and managing open source software a breeze (easier than most linux distributions). I very rarely need to use linux any more, but interacting with it over the network is easy through ssh, etc.
There was a 1-2 week learning curve coming from Windows/Linux, but it was well worth it.
Re:Why Choose? Run linux on a mac (Score:4, Informative)
Her grunt work will be done on Linux Clusters. It's a real benefit to have a local development environment that matches this. I'd recommend a laptop where Scientific Lunix 6/7 runs flawlessly.
So while a mac is good hardware and has MS Office, a great PC which runs Linux flawlessly is what she really wants.
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I have had a nasty history with Dell with Linux installed on it. They usually come with some closed source drivers and if you want to update Ubuntu on it you are pulling you hair out trying to get it to work again. This seemed to be true with Servers and Personal Computers.
No need to bother with some Windows vendor... (Score:4, Informative)
There are two proper Linux system vendors you can get laptops from: System76 and ZaReason. See if one of their machines suit out. Both of them have slim and beefy options to choose from.
Go Dell (Score:3)
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Wow, how many people still spend $1k on a computer? And a laptop no less... how long before it quits working? Laptops these days are practically disposable. They should have wax paper chasis made by Dixie!
Re:Go Dell (Score:4, Insightful)
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People who aren't cheap I guess? My current laptop is an ASUS with an aluminum body, a 15.6" FHD touch screen, nVidia graphics, Intel i7, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD main drive and 1TB 7200 rpm secondary drive. I paid around $1800 for it on 10/1/2013 and it will still trounce any cheap laptop. The only compromise I made was on the drives. My next one will have at least 1TB of SSD. I usually buy a new one every few years or so and consider it a minimum 3 year investment. If it is still useful after that time,
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Before buying the new XPS13, check the Linux support status. I recommend tracking Major Hayden's blog post about the 2015 XPS13 [major.io] as he's involved in getting Linux support working. (but doesn't work for Dell).
Major's also got a series of posts about the 2013 Lenovo X1 Carbon [major.io] and I believe has just taken delivery of the 2015 X1 Carbon so will probably post info about Linux support there. Major's a Fedora User and sometime Developer, but anything he posts would probably be applicable to Debian-derived distribut
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Why not a Mac? (Score:4, Interesting)
I wrote a thesis on my Mac Book Pro. It ran R, postgresql, MS Office, Parallels, etc. with no problem. It was also lightweight and reliable. The only software that crashed on it was MS Office. I just bought a new Mac book Pro and I am running R, VMWare, Office, VPN clients, remote desktop clients. etc. It is easy to use which means I spend more time working on my problem domain and less time working as my own IT support. Which is important, you do not want to worry about your computer, just about your problem domain. Every hour waster trying to chase down 'mystery crashes' is an hour of life wasted.
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I forgot to mention Eclipse, Java, and Fortran for my thesis and currently on my new system.
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Better hardware options (Quadro vs Geforce)
Upgradable hardware - decide you need a bigger SSD or more RAM later? No can do on a MBP.
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Re:Why not a Mac? (Score:4, Informative)
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Also, I think TexShop is the best LaTex editor. I tries some for Windows, and they universally suck, IMHO. I can't believe how much time I wasted trying to use word for technical stuff when I was in school. Learn Latex. I will save you life.
In school I did all my data analysis on a Mac using C and C++. Of course some of it was too much for the Mac, so I telnet to the SGI. I was still abl
Anything... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Anything... (Score:4, Insightful)
I disagree. From the question, you'll see she wants to do development work, and also run other compute intensive tasks (data analysis and simulations).
In my opinion, "anything" is not the right choice then. Go with at least a decent (4 core) i5 processor, or an i7.
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Mod parent up. Perhaps it is taken for granted at a place like slashdot, but I've seen no mention of the fact that a huge fraction of the high end pc market - even laptop/mobiles - target gamers rather than scientists and other who do technical computing. Depending on what programs you will be running, such hardware may perform very poorly when compared to workstation class machines. Workstation class laptops with a good GPU and software to use it properly will run circles around an equivalently priced m
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Why would she need anything specific ? Any entry level laptop will have more CPU and GPU capability to do whatever she's gonna be asked. I doubt she will end up doing fine-grained world-wide weather simulation
For heavier computations, scientists generally have access to supercomputers, clusters and the like, so the CPU/GPU capability should not be an issue. Also, it's obvious that the laptop should be able to run Linux, there's really no question about it. For example, you'll want to develop your code locally before booking supercomputer time, and once you get there, it's nice to X11 there directly.
It might be a good idea to get a proper AMD/Nvidia GPU, both for 3D visualizations and GPU computing -- of cours
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Why would she need anything specific ? Any entry level laptop will have more CPU and GPU capability to do whatever she's gonna be asked.
So buy based on other factors. In my experience, the entry level laptops are driving people into getting Macs, because they suck so much.
Screen, keyboard, and trackpad. Does she need to squint, because some random application doesn't do HiDPI correctly? Do the color shifts of a cheap TFT give her headaches? Are they still making 15" 720p screens, where you can't show much content on screen because it's all too blocky? Is the keyboard reliable? Does the trackpad make her want to go on a murder spree? All the
What do her colleagues use? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent is right. (Score:5, Insightful)
Local knowledge is key, so it'd be better to find out what everyone else uses and get the same. Research packages are quite often poorly written and documented, so having people who've fixed the problems already is helpful.
Note: I work at a research university doing IT support.
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Indeed, if it comes down to having to pick the OS based on what software package(s) you need/want or might need/want in the future because of what a coworker/costudent did/does/wants to do, then I'd start with a Mac laptop. You can virtualize a machine (or three) if you need Windows, Linux, BSD, whatever other environment available, but AFAIK for non-Mac hardware there is no (legal) way to run OS X. Load it up with RAM, make sure you have several large external drives for backing up stuff, and off you go.
As a PhD in particle physics... (Score:5, Informative)
...who spent years at CERN, tell her to also learn Python. C++ is great too. They each have their specialty.
Mac laptops are very popular and useful at CERN. Macbooks are really popular with Particle Physicists and Astronomers, I think because it lets us run Microsoft PowerPoint (a necessary evil) and linux command-line tools, and write code. Linux is used on the compute clusters there.
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I think awful Python is a lot more manageable than awful C++, and I've seen enough of both.
(Probably wrote enough of both too, but I'm too smart to admit that here).
Most HEP and astrophysics people use Mac (sorta) (Score:5, Informative)
I'm an astrophysicist, my wife is a high energy physicist. Most of our colleagues use Macs of some sort, either Mac Book Pros or Mac Book Airs (depending how much local computation you plan on doing). However, we don't use them in a Mac-like fashion, but rather install XQuartz and use them as unix-like boxes. The remainder use Linux. Nobody serious uses Windows -- it almost qualifies as a warning sign when you see somebody doing so.
The idea behind using Macs is to be able to live in a mostly unix-like environment but also be able to run power point or the equivalent -- the open source presentation software situation is pretty disappointing at the moment, and giving presentations is a pretty critical part of the job.
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However, we don't use them in a Mac-like fashion, but rather install XQuartz and use them as unix-like boxes.
Presumably either because the apps you need for your physics work are written for some X11 toolkit, rather than having separate GUI code for Macs and the rest of the UN*X world or using some cross-platform toolkit with native Mac support, or because you're using it as an X terminal for those apps and running the apps on some other machine such as a big compute server.
(Or perhaps you prefer xterm/Konsole/gnome-terminal/fill-in-your-favorite-X11-toolkit-based-terminal-emulator to Terminal.)
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> the open source presentation software situation is pretty disappointing at the moment, and giving presentations is a pretty critical part of the job.
How so? How is Impress that disappointing? Academics are not marketers. They don't care about bells and whistles in their presentations. I got through my PhD just fine with black on white slides with no effects whatsoever. Content is king. Even PDF presentations are sufficient. The open source presentation solutions may not be top of the line, but they are
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Most physicists where use LaTeX to make their presentations.?
The GP was specific in speaking about CERN, and this is probably observational judgement. I don't believe that you can make an observational judgement about all physicists everywhere. It may well vary with, e.g., sub-specialty. Or what time period you are doing your observations. (I know that a couple of decades ago LaTex was quite popular in a couple of places, and probably several others. This doesn't mean that's still true. And if I go ba
Mac/Retina (Score:2)
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I'm running Linux (Kubuntu) on a 2014 MacBook Pro Retina 16GB. It doesn't run well on this laptop. Things that I never did get working:
* suspend when closing the screen
* webcam
* phone-jack audio
* trackpad -- it works but I don't like how it works so I disabled it and use a laptop mouse
Things that didn't work after install but I was able to get working after some struggle:
* USB headset
* font sizes of KDE and various applications (Chromium and Firefox have their own settings)
I should note: some of the probl
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The Macs with Retina displays are second-to-none. Visually spectacular that nothing comes close to.
It would be an argument for those working in graphism or video editing. But for a physics student? Really? Who cares about the color reproduction of C++ code? Even a cheap TN panel is enough. I agree that resolution matters, however. But there are many laptops with high resolution displays. 1920x1080 is good enough. You can do with less if you work primarily on an external display.
Different Programs - Different Needs (Score:2)
Physics can be huge data sets and FEA type programs, in which case you get the highest end laptop you can afford. Otherwise, pick a laptop known for reliability with quick service when something goes wrong.
Me, I would rather have a MacBook Pro which I can run Window, Mac, Linux, etc. Yup, Dell's workstation class laptops, the M2800 to M6800 systems, but they are MacBook Pro type prices.
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Need more requirements.. (Score:4, Interesting)
At the top end:
https://system76.com/cart/conf... [system76.com]
http://www.dell.com/us/busines... [dell.com]
(customizable with Ubuntu 14.04)
What do you recommend for running Linux?
The latest Ubuntu LTS is a good start.
For a C++ development environment?
I really like Code::Blocks, but I'm thinking that wi'll be up to her...
An nVidia GPU helps accelerate the only "gravitational wave" program I've ever run (https://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/). Likely not relevant, but hey you did ask Slashdot.
How does Linux relate to new laptop? (Score:2)
None (Score:2)
There's some beefy laptops out there, but if you're doing data analysis and simulations you're going to have to be plugged in 24/7. At that point you lose the main benefit of a laptop while still losing in the performance department.
Get a desktop.
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Sorry but that's a ridiculous reason to get a specific laptop. You may code , you will run presentations, you will right papers and use LaTex, you will use email, you will probably use something like skype. But you will not be running simulations and data analysis on your laptop, those will run on a something with real computational power. She doen't need anything special. but to make sure she d
Easy... any laptop... (Score:2)
Graphics tablet. (Score:2)
I would suggest that you include a graphics tablet. The field you describe is wide. Ranging from heavy number cruncher to equation pusher, so the capabilities of the laptop needed will vary a lot. ( But as a student that's probably not her next laptop but the one after that. )
Also if she needs very heavy processing the university will provide that.
However any physicist will make good use of a graphics tablet, especially a Cintiq type tablet. Though you could save yourself a ton going for Bosto or Yiynova.
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You'll need MS Office + *nix (Score:2)
Like it or now, Word and Excel documents are the common format for most large organizations.
This means you need Windows or a Macintosh. (I find as soon as you are doing detailed tech documentation, the various Open Office suites start having trouble with diagrams, complicated formatting, etc.)
Also like it or not, Linux (at best) or *nix at a minimum are also required for most open source science software. Pretty much everything is pre-built for Linux, the Mac is supported by most, but not quite all mainst
Desktop + Netbook (Score:2)
Get a laptop and a desktop (Score:4, Insightful)
For serious data analysis and development a laptop isn't the right tool. You want a really good keyboard and a large display (or 2) so get a desktop. For general data analysis you will still want a pretty beefy workstation (e.g. >16Gb memory) and to get those specs in a laptop gets pretty expensive. For heavy duty work she is going to ssh or vnc to a big server/cluster and she will really appreciate the extra real estate on the display(s).
She can get any laptop for general email, web surfing, etc while out and about (or maybe a tablet?). But it is much easier to query huge amounts of data or write serious code at a nice desk setup in her room (or office if she gets one).
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Why a laptop? (Score:2)
Laptops suck. They are hard to find driver for.. unless you want to run the sucky Windows home edition and malware that it comes with. And.. they don't last. Buy one this year, you will be buying another next year.
Get a tablet with a good stand and bluetooth keboard.
Get an unlimited data connection for your phone and tether it. Unless you spend all your time in the presence of wifi. If so then maybe you don't need to bother with the phone data.
Get a good, always on internet connection for home.
Get a good
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No?
Then next time don't fucking ignore what was asked
Don't get a new one (Score:5, Interesting)
Thinkpads have always been very Linux-friendly laptops, as well as being well-designed and built, robust, and there are masses of ~3 year old ex-corporate units available via brokers, some in virtually as-new condition, at a small fraction of their original price. I've recently bought two top-condition X220s with 8GB RAM for around £300 each (I'm in UK, I got them from Tier 1 Online) and I expect them to serve me well for at least another 3-4 years. Add an SSD for a welcome performance boost for a modest outlay.
Thinkpad T440s (Score:2)
If she's spending her own money, it's hard to beat the value of a Thinkpad T440s. It's an "Ultrabook" so it's similar form factor to a MacBook Pro. Great screen, good battery life, good processor, and Linux works out of the box.
She will need to get a mini-DisplayPort to HDMI adapter, for giving presentations where there is an HDMI connection to use. The T440s has both mini-DisplayPort and VGA connectors built-in.
I have one running Linux Mint 17.1 64-bit MATE. I got the top-of-the-line one with the 1920x
mid-end laptop with high end screen; linux (Score:3)
I would suggest selecting from the laptops with a very good screen one with relatively low other specs. Because reading many articles becomes tiresome on a low resolution.
For example: Asus Zenbook UX305FA-FB001H-BE
And avoid macs. You just pay more for the same. They are not worth it.
Made for the task: Linux too! (Score:2)
I have a Dell Precision M3800. You can buy it from Dell with Ubuntu pre-installed. I didn't know this, I bought with Win 8 and installed Fedora 21, and was surprised when *everything* "just worked" - literally no futzing at all after a yum update and dickering with the sound volume.
Advantages:
1) 4K support right out of the gate.
2) Screen is amazing
3) Fast as f**k
4) Built as an engineering/physics "mobile workstation", and it shows.
5) Very thin, very light!
6) Native Linux support.
Cons:
1) It's a bit spendy. $
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PS: My son is an engineering student and has the previous generation, M4500. He says it runs AutoCad "like water" and blows away the workstations provided by the University.
It's not as light but still quite powerful.
And I forgot to mention that the M3800 has support for 2 HDDs as long as one of them is mSata.
I spent a lot of time in grad school (Score:3)
By comparison I had colleagues who had Dell, Asus, Apple, HP, Toshiba, you name it. Average life expectancy for them was 3 years or less. One colleague went through at least 3 laptops before defending. The Apple laptops weren't any better for longevity than the Dells, Asuses (whatever plural of Asus should be) or any other sans the IBM or Lenovo ThinkPads.
And don't do the Lenovo non-ThinkPads, either. They are just average. Grad school is frustrating enough with good hardware, don't make your daughter waste her time troubleshooting poor hardware.
a laptop to support physics research (Score:2)
You won't crunch physics data on a laptop (Score:3)
Why are you even asking? (Score:2)
Purism Librem 15 (Score:2)
If running Linux is the goal, then I would be tempted a lot by the Purism Librem laptop. [crowdsupply.com] Finally, a high-spec laptop that's actually built with Linux in mind.
Of course, I would not get the base configuration. Hard drives are for suckers. And at this point, I would wait for actual hardware to ship so reviewers can touch on the other stuff, such as keyboard, trackpad, build quality, battery life, and fan noise.
Asus G751 (Score:3)
Whatever they are most comfortable with. (Score:3, Informative)
I'm a senior majoring in physics and doing research on the the Epoch of Reionization with a radio cosmology group. Most people, at least in the research group, are on mac's as am I. This, I suspect, is mostly due to them being unix boxes with a nice GUI. I'm not sure what software people studying GR normally use but I end up using a lot of Mathematica, IDL, and Python. My little macbook air seems to work well enough, I can do development, run some stuffy locally for quick tests, and spin all the big stuff off onto a cluster. I have noticed that doing some fun integrals in Mathematica involving QM can easily spike my CPU's for a bit but the convenience is worth it. Something that is easy to take to lab meetings to show people your pretty data is fairly important.
In my experience most scientific software, such as those listed above, seems to be available on Mac/Windows/Linux and work about the same. One downside to running Windows though would be that if you are going to be interacting much with a cluster a Linux/Mac system will allow you to more accurately test things locally such as bash/zsh/fish scripts that fire off your analysis program on a cluster or reorganize large amounts of data. A fairly easy workaround would probably be to just install Cygwin on Windows but I have little experience with that.
First, find out what the lab provides. (Score:3)
First, find out what the lab whe's going to woork at provides. No point duplicating that.
Then install Linux in a dual-boot scenario on her existing laptop. She might need a hard disk upgrade if the disk is full already. She can still use Windows when she needs it, and Linux when she needs *it*.
Note: Most Linux software is free. She should try it, install something else, try it, until she has a mix that works for her. Get on the mailing lists of the distro she's using. Try another distro. She can triple-boot if she likes. Distros are similar, knowledge transfers well, but they're not at all identical.
Then after some experience, she'll have some idea what's lacking. Don't waste your money until you know what she needs.
-- hendrik
Doesn't matter (Score:3)
I'm a career physicist, and I regularly take college interns. She can use whatever she is comfortable with. I I need my interns to have some particular computer or software I will get it for them.
Personal computers in physics are mostly for writing reports and quick calculations. High power computation and data analysis is done on dedicated server farms.The personal computer is just used as a terminal.
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Maybe she does. Or maybe she wants a general Linuxy feel, where you can open a bash shell, run vim inside emacs and 'rm -rf *' does what you expect.
The mac works fine for this and the hardware is very good.
You can run Linux on a mac if you want to.
A Macbook Pro is a good answer. Any number of modern PC laptops would be fine also. There's no obvious best choice.
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But does she want it as a main operating system or does she want to be able to work with Linux? In the later case, I'd say just run it as a virtual machine above windows. That gives much less issues with hardware drivers, and makes it also much easier to copy the setup to another machine if anything goes wrong.
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Yes but if not physics then what? THere don't seem to be that many good choices out there.
Re:no grad school (Score:4, Insightful)
+1
Source: I spent 7 years of my life getting a Ph.D. in physics. By the time I got the Ph.D., the only reason left I had for finishing was because I'd started.
A Master's in physics, though, that's legit. You're still having fun, and still learning a lot.
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Source: I spent 7 years of my life getting a Ph.D. in physics. By the time I got the Ph.D., the only reason left I had for finishing was because I'd started.
A Ph.D. in almost any technical subject (including, but perhaps particularly Physics) is a credential that shows you can dive deeply into a complex problem, demonstrate inventiveness and independence, not give up, and come up with a comprehensive report (dissertation) that describes what you accomplished.
It can be hard to finish a Ph.D. on a project you have spent years on, and may have lost interest in. I'm not surprised you finished your Ph.D. in the end just because you started it. Many people finish jus
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You mean it's ``just a UNIX machine with...'', no?
I like Macs but I would be concerned about they're being so ``closed''. Need more onboard disk space? You need to buy another Mac. (I'm talking about the ``Airs''; not sure about the bigger, more expensive models.) Or another disk to toss into an external disk dock. (I love those things.) At least with a ``Lintel'' laptop, upgrading the internal disk is a simple matter. I'd opt for the big internal drive to avoid having to lug around a lot of external gadg
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Not enough of the right kinds of ports. No consideration for legacy support.
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The only difference here really is completion time.
Unixen are born to do batch jobs. So this apparent aversion to starting something and just letting it run until it finishes seems oddly out of place.
Plus there's development and testing to consider. A private resource is usually more available. That's why PCs became popular to begin with.
Meanwhile, it's likely that the "real hardware" is NOT available on demand. This is likely something that hasn't changed since the original Big Iron machines used punchards
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Use what the big boys/girls use: ROOT https://root.cern.ch/ [root.cern.ch] , includes a C++ interpreter. Most excellent, even for non-physics. Maybe the linux crowd will catch on someday.
"Catch on" as in "use it on something other than the RHEL6-based SLC6 [web.cern.ch], for which they offer a binary download [root.cern.ch]", in case you don't want to install from source?
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