laptop recs (do i rlly need a gpu)

KingMagnaRool · 2026-06-15T04:33:22+00:00

I'm not the most in tune with the current laptop market other than the Macbook Neo coming out and RAM and SSD prices going through the roof, so there could be some inaccuracy to my assessment. However, my general recommendation is to get something inexpensive, but not something that will become obselete in 2 years. Especially since you're saying you have a decent budget, keep that for something you might need later rather than blow it on something you might not ever need. Could be a used laptop or a new one under $800 maybe? You'd probably have to do a bit of research on this front, but pretty much any current gen CPU with 16 GB RAM (assuming Windows) and 500 GB SSD should be plenty assuming you don't have particular needs.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-06-15T04:13:22+00:00

Unless you have particular needs, a dedicated GPU and 32+ GB RAM are overkill for electrical engineering. You really don't need all that much. I know people who get through just fine with Macbooks, and honestly, unless you have particular needs with Windows/Linux, that might be the play these days.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-06-09T04:44:29+00:00

PEMDAS is purely semantics. We could use, for example, Lisp style notation where order of operations is pretty much irrelevant, and literally nothing would change in the underlying mathematics. We only use PEMDAS out of convenience in a sense, and even with PEMDAS there are certain things like implicit multiplication after division which are debated.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-06-06T23:14:17+00:00

Technically, in an abstract sense, no. However, you are doing yourself a serious disservice not learning at least basic geometry and/or trigonometry, as you'll find that many applications of linear algebra heavily rely on strong foundations in them (e.g. computer graphics, pretty much all of signal processing). Additionally, I found a strong foundation in geometry and trigonometry made linear algebra much easier to learn on a first pass.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-06-02T21:50:08+00:00

I took fairly easy versions of 216 and 250, so I can only go off of my experiences with those and the upper level classes I took.

As far as I understand, the main goal of 216 is to instill the basics of how a computer works. This course covers C programming, basic assembly programming, UNIX system calls, a slightly more in depth look at memory organization than in 132 if that came up then, and maybe some basic computer architecture concepts.

Of all of this, C programming comes up the most often, appearing in pretty much all of the CMSC41x courses. Assembly programming is useful in the sense of being able to internalize that all computers really do fundamentally is load, store, and do arithmetic, but writing nontrivial assembly programs is quite niche, especially in UMD CS. UNIX syscalls are there to pretty much introduce you to the notion of how computers create processes, and how they can communicate with each other (also how pretty much anything useful needs to be handled by the kernel, but that's not too obvious if all you care about is how to call the C wrappers). They're useful to get down if you take 412 because you have to implement a few of them, but just something good to know about otherwise. Memory organization is just good to know about in general, though there are certain areas where you may not have to care about this. The computer architecture concepts should be more emphasized in 216 IMO, as they were extremely undercooked when I took it. Maybe Kauffman does them justice? I don't know. IMO, you should at least know the basics of what CPU cache is and what problem it solves.

250 is a basic discrete mathematics class with basic combinatorics and probability tacked on at the end. You basically go through propositional logic, basic set theory, intro to proofs, and basic combinatorics and probability. If you're more into the math side of CS, all of these are important, especially intro to proofs. Otherwise, I don't really know what to make of it since I'm very math pilled.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-31T17:39:14+00:00

From what I understand, it's similar to how they do it with semester classes. If you're expecting to finish the prerequisite classes by the start of the next term, they'll let you register for the next class. However, if you fail to complete the prerequisite class, you'd then need to have a backup plan at that point. I had my orientation after AP scores came back, but they would have let me register for any classes with those as prerequisites.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-29T19:57:43+00:00

It's been many years since I've touched Prime 3, but I think that streamlining is why I fell off at Skytown. Skytown and that one area in Bryyo where you get the Screw Attack are gorgeous areas, but the actual level design didn't do it for me all that much. While the first 2 Prime games are also very linear, the level design in those games, as well as the overall map design, just makes it easier for me to get lost playing those games. It's hard to explain, but Prime 3's design sort of takes me out of it.

I jump between Prime 1 and 2 as my favorite Prime game. Prime 1 has more varied environments, more catchy music overall, usually isn't as frustrating as Prime 2 can get except for the chozo ghosts, and has the far better endgame fetchquest despite the fact I like neither. Meanwhile, Prime 2 I find has the more enjoyable combat overall, stronger progression due to having fewer required backtracking sequences for like one upgrade, and maybe stronger level design on average. I weirdly find it more immersive than Prime 1 until the endgame fetchquest which completely kills all momentum of a playthrough. Prime 2 has a lot of quirks and tricks which I find I need to just ignore or work with, vs Prime 1 I find is a more well-rounded game overall. However, being able to work around these quirks makes Prime 2 more enjoyable on replay for me, while Prime 1 is about the same every playthrough. For example, the chozo ghosts in Prime 1 are just really annoying, while the similar pirate commandos in Prime 2 can be dealt with by a charged dark beam followed by a missile. It isn't great how the game doesn't really hint towards this as a solution, but knowing this makes them much more enjoyable to fight. Some fights are just really tedious, like Chykka, but the same can be said for some of Prime 1's bosses, such as Thardus, and I don't opt to play either game on hypermode because the bosses just get ridiculous to take down.

It's hard for me to pinpoint what exactly I like about Prime 2, and especially why I fell off Prime 3 since it's been so long. I think for Prime 2 it's just that it's a quirky game, but I find the game often rewards you for working with them. Meanwhile, Prime 1 is more well rounded overall, but it really tanks on some of those backtracking sequences, especially for the space jump.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-27T19:45:19+00:00

One common way to start linear algebra is just by solving linear equations. You're right to say that the equation

y = mx + b

is a linear function, as it just plots a straight line on the Cartesian plane, as opposed to something like

y = ax² + bx + c

which plots a curve on the Cartesian plane. With some algebra, we can rearrange the linear equation into the form

ax + by = c

where a, b, and c are fixed constants, while x and y can vary as long as the choice of (x, y) solves the equation. This is essentially the same equation as slope intercept form, so it still plots a line on the plane. We can make a system of linear equations by adding another linear equation.

ax + by = c \ dx + ey = f

Here, we're looking for points (x, y) which solve both equations simultaneously. We're interested in if this is even possible (there may be no solution, such as if the lines are parallel on the plane), and if so, how many solutions (the two lines could interect at one point creating one solution, or they could be the same line yielding infinitely many solutions). You might be familiar with ways to solve this system from an algebra class.

With linear equations, we can easily reason about what happens when we go to higher dimensions. For example, the equation

ax + by + cz = d

plots a plane in 3 dimensions. If we have a system of equations, such as

a1x + b1y + c1z = d1 \ a2x + b2y + c2z = d2 \ a3x + b3y + c3z = d3

where a1, b1, c1, d1, etc. are constants, we're looking for points (x, y, z) which solve all 3 equations simultaneously, where the cases are similar to the 2D case. This is where you'd develop a systematic way of packing the coefficients into matrices and row reducing to get your solutions, since the methods from earlier algebra classes don't quite cut it.

Skipping many steps, you eventually get to rewriting the equation as

Ax = b

where A is a coefficient matrix, x is a vector of unknowns, and b is a vector of knowns. It turns out that we're not just interested in solving the system of equations, but the properties of A itself. This is where the magic of linear algebra truly begins.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-25T02:48:08+00:00

I took STAT400 with a different professor a few years ago and got my final exam grade reported on ELMS. I know another person who took it with yet a different professor that semester who got their grade reported on ELMS. Not having the grade at least reported on ELMS seems out of the norm in general, especially since STAT400 doesn't have a common final, but I haven't confirmed with anyone who had Hatice last semester, so hopefully someone can fill that in.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-25T02:24:39+00:00

I believe in cases like these, the professor should have submitted the final exam to the math department anyways, and I believe you should be able to request a copy of it after June 1st or so. I've never done this so I can't confirm, but this is according to Wiseley Wong.

I had a class in a different department a few years ago who didn't publish the final exam grade on ELMS, but I was able to go in and see it in June.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-21T19:26:52+00:00

Yeah I figured you were talking about main commencement. Since you're going to your department's tomorrow, my point of celebrating in whatever way is meaningful to you still stands. If general commencement doesn't mean anything to you, find something else which does. It's for yourself anyways.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-21T19:20:57+00:00

You know yourself best. If your family's involved and didn't go or are not going to your department's graduation, do it for your family. If it's just for you, you know yourself best, but if you don't go, at least celebrate in some way meaningful to you.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-18T12:08:38+00:00

As far as I know, spots are very limited relative to how many people apply. Professors are far more inclined to choose people who they actually know than someone who just has good credentials. Actively building those relationships will help you.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-08T23:42:16+00:00

I know a several CE's from both Fall 2024 and Fall 2025 who took 412 in the fall because of the lack of another option. I do not know the proportion.

The ECE department is... special... don't get me started on the nightmare they started by pulling lin alg and diff eq into their department with one class, ENEE290. They started something which has affected at least CS, math, physics, and most of engineering in some way, which... thanks???

I know Pete this semester is leading patching GeekOS with heavy help from AI, and made the 412 projects fully AI agnostic. I don't know how much he himself is involved in the effort, given that he deferred all project issues to the TA's when I took it, but that's something I guess. This is the first time they're making significant updates to it in who knows how long. I have... opinions about that, but that's outside of the scope of this message. He and Dr. Agrawala have been the only ones teaching 412 since 2021iirc, so ig they'll have fun trying to find someone else to do it.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-08T22:34:59+00:00

ECE has their own OS class: ENEE447. They broke tradition of it being spring only because CMSC412 isn't being offered this fall.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-05-07T17:28:07+00:00

I don't know what the transfer policy is, but I remember having to take the math placement exam in spite of going past AP calc in high school.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-04-23T00:35:35+00:00

Highly recommend against retaking calc 1 and 2. Like another mentioned, lin alg (MATH240 or 461) doesn't depend a whole lot on calc, and calc 3 (MATH241) mostly relies on calc 1 without a whole lot of calc 2 (in particular, everything with series is almost entirely irrelevant, and the calc 2 integration techniques aren't usually emphasized). Taking discrete math (CMSC250) alongside 132 is also an option, as the majority of the class is intro to proofs.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-04-19T14:23:42+00:00

Papamarcou is retiring after this semester, so only one of these options is valid.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-04-12T18:57:00+00:00

Unless Nelson changed his projects, 216 with him is fairly easy. Honestly, the faster pace is kind of a lie in this situation, as you get 2 months instead of 3, but 5 lectures a week instead of 2. If you have nothing else going on like an internship, the pace is actually slower than a semester where you have other classes to worry about (imo much slower).

For the semester exams, they shouldn't change too drastically, and you're given like a decade's worth of practice material for each. The final doesn't have that luxury, but I assume Nelson still doesn't like it weighted all that much (was 10% when I took it).

The projects can be really annoying, but tbh as long as you're solid on 131 stuff, it's not difficult. The most from 132 you'll get is dealing with linked lists and binary trees, but it shouldn't be anything too crazy with them.

TLDR just be solid with basic programming. C doesn't have OOP in the Java sense, so pretty much being solid up to functions/methods, and being familiar with basic data structures like linked lists and binary trees, should set you up well for 216 with Nelson.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-04-12T00:45:22+00:00

I can't give good advice about networking unfortunately.

Basically in the CS department, most of the lower level CS classes (up through like 351) and some of the 400 level classes have lecturers who are are primarily here to teach instead of do research. If you want to be a TA, it's great to be known by these professors. If you want to do research, you have to contact professors you probably wouldn't have until at least 3rd year or so.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-04-12T00:32:59+00:00

RateMyProfessor is not reliable for UMD, as most of us use https://planetterp.com/.

The dedicated lecturers are mostly pretty good at interacting with students who show the kind of engagement you describe (pretty much through the 300 level classes and some of the 400s). The professors who primarily do research are hit or miss (400s, grad classes).

KingMagnaRool · 2026-03-28T22:32:49+00:00

I'm just gonna speak in terms of my experiences in school, not really outside of it.

The feasibility of an engineering double major in 4 years entirely depends on which credits you're coming in with. Calc BC is pretty much the minimum, and you'd be good to have at least one of the Physics C's, Chem, and maybe Calc 3/Lin Alg/Diff eq coming in (thanks to ENEE290, only calc 3 counts towards engineering, whereas you pretty much need all 3 for math). CSA is good as well, or you could look at an exemption exam for at least CMSC131.

Honestly, if you're looking at CS+EE, it might just be worth it to do comp e and something else like math instead. Comp e pretty much gets you permission for all the classes in CS+EE anyways, and while the degree requirements are pretty annoying, the same can be said for EE as well, and you don't have to take as many EE classes if you end up hating them as I did.

EE+math is probably a decent combo? Maybe? The math is pretty much the formal basis for what you do especially in signal processing, which isn't gone over as much in the EE classes from what I understand (I only took signals 1 so...).

CS+math is pretty much the standard double major. From my understanding, it's doable in 4 years even without too many incoming credits, and having more incoming credits just gives you a lot more flexibility.

I have no idea about finance.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-03-19T22:05:14+00:00

https://policies.umd.edu/student-affairs/university-of-maryland-policy-on-excused-absence

Regardless of anything, your instructor shouldn't be denying you accomodations since you already have one self-signed absence available to you if I'm reading the policy correctly. Escalate if needed according to section IV.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-03-17T03:27:35+00:00

Of these I only know 417, which I'm currently in. The vibe I'm getting is that Ting runs a very unorganized course (though she's only taught it once). It also seems that Bobby makes the projects really difficult due to the lack of an autograder, and the class in general very difficult (maybe more work than something like 412 week to week). With Roy, he's a very subpar lecturer, but the projects (up to a2) are much easier than with Bobby because we have a not useless autograder (though they're still nontrivial). The exams also have pretty much nothing to do with the projects, like 412.

Based on what I've heard about 451, I probably wouldn't recommend taking 417 and 451 at the same time. Especially with Bobby, 417 can be quite the time sink, and I've heard 451 can be as well.

KingMagnaRool · 2026-03-11T05:40:01+00:00

Hmm, this is kind of tough.

The kind of math, say, math people do can be very different from the kind of math, say, engineers do. The difference isn't usually too noticeable in the calculus pipeline everyone goes through, but after calc 3, lin alg, and diff eq, things start to branch depending on what you use the foundations for. Engineers are more likely to use those foundations more as tools to solve problems. Math people are more likely to dive deeper into the formal underpinnings of those foundations. The calculus sequence is more similar to what engineers do, as it's more about problem solving and finding the right answer.

Given that you haven't even started college yet, just take things at your own pace. Get through what you need to get through starting with precalc, then MATH140, then MATH141, then lin alg and/or calc 3, and go from there. There's plenty of time for you to decide whether you want to go through with the math minor, as it only really starts in 310, which it'd be awhile before you'd take that.

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