Hey everyone, I am currently searching for a laptop I need to get to finish my remaining two years of Architecture school. Most of the forums tend to focus on particular models, but what should students look at when picking a laptop. Like a gaming video card vs. a modelling video card? and what is "clocking" and cache"? (my friends have told me all these things...don't have a clue). What would any architecture student need for their laptop.
Currently i have a sweet i7 desktop at home, but i need to focus on having a laptop that i can carry around and work on campus and in studio. I am going to be using Revit, Rhino, Grasshopper, AutoCAD, 3d Studio, and Adobe CS4/5 this coming year, Rendering.
well my mother has suggested to look at dell ad's on the newspaper...but i really don't think these are good options:
Dell Studio 17 - $799
- Intel Core i3-350 Processor
- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
- 4 gb of Memory, 500GB Hard drive
- Wireless-N Card; 6 cell battery
- 17" widesscreen LED Display.
Dell Studio 15 - $899
- Intel Core i3-350 Processor
- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
- 6 gb of Memory, 500GB Hard drive
- Wireless-N Card; 6 cell battery
- 17" widesscreen LED Display.
- 1 GB graphics card
Your suggestions and advice are greatly appreciated since I'm pretty computer illiterate like many students.
If you foresee doing a lot of renderings and such, you may want to invest most of money towards a good processor. Models you name both have an Intel i3 chip, whereas top of the line chip would be i7. Just google "intel i7 laptop" and you'll see a bunch of laptops on sale...
Also, do you want to lug around a 17" laptop around with you? Some of these things weigh up to 12 pounds. It's more of a portable desktop than it is a true laptop. I would try to get a 15" screen or less. Your back will thank you later.
Other specs on the computer aren't as important (architectural applications are mostly CPU intensive) but you should expect at least 4gb of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive.
cooldude1988,
I don't know much about laptops. If you buy it at Costco they have a great 3 month return policy. You can try it out for almost the length of a semester!
Aug 6, 10 12:05 pm ·
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Laptops for (Architecture Student) Dummies
Hey everyone, I am currently searching for a laptop I need to get to finish my remaining two years of Architecture school. Most of the forums tend to focus on particular models, but what should students look at when picking a laptop. Like a gaming video card vs. a modelling video card? and what is "clocking" and cache"? (my friends have told me all these things...don't have a clue). What would any architecture student need for their laptop.
Currently i have a sweet i7 desktop at home, but i need to focus on having a laptop that i can carry around and work on campus and in studio. I am going to be using Revit, Rhino, Grasshopper, AutoCAD, 3d Studio, and Adobe CS4/5 this coming year, Rendering.
well my mother has suggested to look at dell ad's on the newspaper...but i really don't think these are good options:
Dell Studio 17 - $799
- Intel Core i3-350 Processor
- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
- 4 gb of Memory, 500GB Hard drive
- Wireless-N Card; 6 cell battery
- 17" widesscreen LED Display.
Dell Studio 15 - $899
- Intel Core i3-350 Processor
- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
- 6 gb of Memory, 500GB Hard drive
- Wireless-N Card; 6 cell battery
- 17" widesscreen LED Display.
- 1 GB graphics card
Your suggestions and advice are greatly appreciated since I'm pretty computer illiterate like many students.
If you foresee doing a lot of renderings and such, you may want to invest most of money towards a good processor. Models you name both have an Intel i3 chip, whereas top of the line chip would be i7. Just google "intel i7 laptop" and you'll see a bunch of laptops on sale...
Also, do you want to lug around a 17" laptop around with you? Some of these things weigh up to 12 pounds. It's more of a portable desktop than it is a true laptop. I would try to get a 15" screen or less. Your back will thank you later.
Other specs on the computer aren't as important (architectural applications are mostly CPU intensive) but you should expect at least 4gb of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive.
you need a quad core processor with at least 6gb of ram.
Try this: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&series_name=ENVY15_series
Lenovo ThinkPad
Thanks you guys, but what about the video card? any suggestions or clues onto what i should look for?
A lot of the cool dudes are getting 1gb dedicated graphics cards these days.
cooldude1988,
I don't know much about laptops. If you buy it at Costco they have a great 3 month return policy. You can try it out for almost the length of a semester!
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