Hey Guys,
Just needed some guidance. I am researching computers, and I think I am going to get a laptop considering the amount of moving around I will be doing from home to the studio,etc...
I am trying to get the best info in regard to computer spes. I have read a few reviews that say they clocked a processor(Pentium M for example) that was only a 1.4 MGHz with a lot of RAM just as fast as a 2.0. What would your recommendation be? Money is really not an issue(well to an extent it is). I'm not really asking the question in regard to money, but in regard to the best performance for my needs which would be multi-tasking like a typical architecture student. Also, I will have several programs such as Autocad and 3D programs that I will need to run.
Basically, I am thinking about getting something close to this:
Pentium M 740-755 2.0 MGhz Processor
1-2 gigs of RAM
80 gig hard drive(do I really need 7200 rpm?)
128 or 256 Graphics Card (G-Force?)
DVD-CD rewritable drive
and some other specialty stuff
Woudl anyone recommend anything different other than what I am thinking for my architecture grad student needs?
get a gig of ram
then, if you have money left over, get a faster processor
then, if you still have money, get another gig of ram
then, if you still have money, email it to me.
Consider the graphics card . . . GeForce is a gaming card. Cards like the FireGL and Quadros are workstation graphics cards. While a GeForce or Radeon will work well with that much ram dedicated to it, a FireGL card or Quadro will yield better performance during multitasking and 3D graphics. You might want to try these out to see if the performance difference is enough to make you buy it. I used a 64mb Geforce because I got it for free and it ran most programs well. I have also used Quadros and noticed considerable improvements when working with complex wireframes.
As for the hard drive, it is the slowest piece of hardware on your machine, mostly because it is still a mechanical device. I highly recommend getting the fastest hard drive you can, I noticed differences in going from 5400 to 7200 rpm drives. Get the 7200. You might get a bit hotter, but the speed will be worth it.
I recommend looking at AMD Athlon 64 chips. The Pentium M is a good processor, but it is also 32-bit. 64-bit computing is almost here. I say that because there are still 32-bit laptops, and Windows XP 64 is somewhat new, with Longhorn still a year or two away. Intel is a bit behind AMD on 64 bit processors, with their Server market being the first to have 64 bit. I beleve there is now a Pentium D, and the Pentium 4 6xx series have some support for 64-bit.
sorry, I have been looking at laptops and desktops some, so there is some research still in my head.
On Techbargins.com, are the Dell coupons for real? I just added a 9300 to my cart and applied the coupon and it showed I would get 819 dollars off the price. can anyone verify that is legit?
Yup. The coupons are for real. Go look at the 'laptops' thread, monkeyboy just got a sweet (can I still say that??) deal on a XGen2 laptop.
What I would get, at the very least:
1. 1 gig ram
2. 7200rpm hard drive
3. Best processor you can afford
If you will be doing serious rendering, you'll need more ram, but the processor is the most important part in the equation.
A good graphic card is nice, but don't worry about getting things like the FireGLs or Quadros - they just aren't worth it if you have a budget.
be carefull mjh00c, if you read the the sepcs on the rebate on the dell website it said it should have expired at 5 am yesterday or when 10,000 rebates are used. whichever comes first.. It wold be great if it was extended.
1 gig of RAM is plenty.. i would get the minimum that they offer and uprgrade it myself.. can't do that to a processor or a graphics card..
to the best of my knowledge..
so i would concentrate on getting a good CPU and a good gfx card.. good display resolution.. and fast harddrive with 8mb of memory.
To say that current macs are obsolete is pretty asenine. Sure, Apple will move to x86, with consumers being able to buy by 2007, but universal binaries will ensure support for the G4 and G5 for at least 3-5 years. Apple has said that PowerPC will be supported in osx 10.5 and beyond.
Caffienejunkie has the right idea. Powerful Laptops do exist, but they are no longer called Laptops, they are called "Desktop Replacements." This is because they can be pretty heavy, at over 7lbs, and sometimes going up past 10lbs. This is not nice for traveling with. If you are wanting to be mobile, look for something in the 5lb range. I travel everyday and my laptop is about 5.8lbs. It is just about as much as I would want to carry everyday with books, extra crap in my bag.
If you don't think you will be traveling with it all that much, well, then you might as just get a desktop, and leave everything in one place. If you need to do presentations on it, but not travel with it too much, the desktop replacement might be for you. Lots of options out there, just have to make sure you get what works for your lifestyle.
get as much ram as you can afford (2gigs) if you'll be running multiple softwares at once...especially withprograms like photoshop, illustrator, 3dsmax, autocad all running at once...
worry about processor speed if you want fast renders and filters in photoshop...i personally think this is not as important as ram.
My reasoning behind this is that when i'm working on my computer with 3 to 5 programs at the same time plus all the little programs built in the OS, that is when you're computer is using a lot of ram...when you are actually working on your computer.
12in powerbook is the business. if mine died, I would buy another one in a heartbeat. the big question for you though is, what software packages do you need to use. If you need 3d studio, viz, or rhino; and formZ, maya, and vectorworks or archicad won't cut it, you can't have a mac.
its very risky to overclock ur cpu if u dont do it correctly. if ur familiar with it, do it. if not, stick with 2 ghz and go for 2 gs of ram. which ever mobo u are going to get. i suggest getting an asus although the price is high it is well worth its performance. u can get the amd 64 bit .. for future updates then u wont have to buy another / upgrade computer. its cheap... go to pricewatch.com or newegg.com they always have sales .
well I am less and less impressed with Dell...I am thinking about a Sony or Toshiba or Velocity Micro...I want a good laptop with good parts as opposed to a low price with crappy stuff...any opinions?
One other thing to keep in mind is that the bus speed of the computer has a bit to do with it's overall speed and ability to use all of that Ram. I don't know that much about it but I would look for 800mhz FSB with Hyperthreading technology.
overclocking gets you a few more cpu cycles per second. it might make a difference for your framerate in HL2, but for real work you won't save much time.
not worth it. get a fast processor, but don't bother paying the premium for the absolute highest speed grade. save your money, and buy a new computer when this one is too slow. overclocking is for the birds.
thinkpads are indestructible. i've had one for four years. they've also got the best keyboard ever put on a notebook.
keep in mind also, that there are some very specific workstation notebooks, with firegl and quadro cards inside instead of the consumer radeon and geforce lines.
1. the coupons are for real. I got 20% off my dell with one of those.
2. laptop assemblers/retailers charge WAY too much for ram upgrades. Once you've figured out what model you want, search online for ram to match the puter, and you see how much lower the price to buy the ram separately is. Get the baseline ram, and buy loads of it from another source.
3. Dell's aren't really so bad as long as you aren't entertaining hopes that one of their baseline machines will work for architecture. Find a coupon, upgrade the shit out of it, and it'll work great.
Processor Or RAM?
Hey Guys,
Just needed some guidance. I am researching computers, and I think I am going to get a laptop considering the amount of moving around I will be doing from home to the studio,etc...
I am trying to get the best info in regard to computer spes. I have read a few reviews that say they clocked a processor(Pentium M for example) that was only a 1.4 MGHz with a lot of RAM just as fast as a 2.0. What would your recommendation be? Money is really not an issue(well to an extent it is). I'm not really asking the question in regard to money, but in regard to the best performance for my needs which would be multi-tasking like a typical architecture student. Also, I will have several programs such as Autocad and 3D programs that I will need to run.
Basically, I am thinking about getting something close to this:
Pentium M 740-755 2.0 MGhz Processor
1-2 gigs of RAM
80 gig hard drive(do I really need 7200 rpm?)
128 or 256 Graphics Card (G-Force?)
DVD-CD rewritable drive
and some other specialty stuff
Woudl anyone recommend anything different other than what I am thinking for my architecture grad student needs?
I would appreciate your input!
get a gig of ram
then, if you have money left over, get a faster processor
then, if you still have money, get another gig of ram
then, if you still have money, email it to me.
Consider the graphics card . . . GeForce is a gaming card. Cards like the FireGL and Quadros are workstation graphics cards. While a GeForce or Radeon will work well with that much ram dedicated to it, a FireGL card or Quadro will yield better performance during multitasking and 3D graphics. You might want to try these out to see if the performance difference is enough to make you buy it. I used a 64mb Geforce because I got it for free and it ran most programs well. I have also used Quadros and noticed considerable improvements when working with complex wireframes.
As for the hard drive, it is the slowest piece of hardware on your machine, mostly because it is still a mechanical device. I highly recommend getting the fastest hard drive you can, I noticed differences in going from 5400 to 7200 rpm drives. Get the 7200. You might get a bit hotter, but the speed will be worth it.
I recommend looking at AMD Athlon 64 chips. The Pentium M is a good processor, but it is also 32-bit. 64-bit computing is almost here. I say that because there are still 32-bit laptops, and Windows XP 64 is somewhat new, with Longhorn still a year or two away. Intel is a bit behind AMD on 64 bit processors, with their Server market being the first to have 64 bit. I beleve there is now a Pentium D, and the Pentium 4 6xx series have some support for 64-bit.
sorry, I have been looking at laptops and desktops some, so there is some research still in my head.
if you have a fast processor and scads of ram, then you want a fast HD (7200), too. especially for encoding audio or video. it makes a difference.
On Techbargins.com, are the Dell coupons for real? I just added a 9300 to my cart and applied the coupon and it showed I would get 819 dollars off the price. can anyone verify that is legit?
Yup. The coupons are for real. Go look at the 'laptops' thread, monkeyboy just got a sweet (can I still say that??) deal on a XGen2 laptop.
What I would get, at the very least:
1. 1 gig ram
2. 7200rpm hard drive
3. Best processor you can afford
If you will be doing serious rendering, you'll need more ram, but the processor is the most important part in the equation.
A good graphic card is nice, but don't worry about getting things like the FireGLs or Quadros - they just aren't worth it if you have a budget.
be carefull mjh00c, if you read the the sepcs on the rebate on the dell website it said it should have expired at 5 am yesterday or when 10,000 rebates are used. whichever comes first.. It wold be great if it was extended.
yeah I saw that. Any opinions about Macs?
1 gig of RAM is plenty.. i would get the minimum that they offer and uprgrade it myself.. can't do that to a processor or a graphics card..
to the best of my knowledge..
so i would concentrate on getting a good CPU and a good gfx card.. good display resolution.. and fast harddrive with 8mb of memory.
they are pricey and not somewhat obsolete since Apple is planning on a full switch to x86 processor core over the next few years.
The OS is nice but it lacks some of the more important arch software such as AutoCAD, MAx, and Rhino.
I recomend a really good desktop and a decent laptop...you will be much happier if you are doing any 3d/rendering. Mobile chip suck
To say that current macs are obsolete is pretty asenine. Sure, Apple will move to x86, with consumers being able to buy by 2007, but universal binaries will ensure support for the G4 and G5 for at least 3-5 years. Apple has said that PowerPC will be supported in osx 10.5 and beyond.
Caffienejunkie has the right idea. Powerful Laptops do exist, but they are no longer called Laptops, they are called "Desktop Replacements." This is because they can be pretty heavy, at over 7lbs, and sometimes going up past 10lbs. This is not nice for traveling with. If you are wanting to be mobile, look for something in the 5lb range. I travel everyday and my laptop is about 5.8lbs. It is just about as much as I would want to carry everyday with books, extra crap in my bag.
If you don't think you will be traveling with it all that much, well, then you might as just get a desktop, and leave everything in one place. If you need to do presentations on it, but not travel with it too much, the desktop replacement might be for you. Lots of options out there, just have to make sure you get what works for your lifestyle.
get as much ram as you can afford (2gigs) if you'll be running multiple softwares at once...especially withprograms like photoshop, illustrator, 3dsmax, autocad all running at once...
worry about processor speed if you want fast renders and filters in photoshop...i personally think this is not as important as ram.
My reasoning behind this is that when i'm working on my computer with 3 to 5 programs at the same time plus all the little programs built in the OS, that is when you're computer is using a lot of ram...when you are actually working on your computer.
...oh, I got opinions about macs alright.
12in powerbook is the business. if mine died, I would buy another one in a heartbeat. the big question for you though is, what software packages do you need to use. If you need 3d studio, viz, or rhino; and formZ, maya, and vectorworks or archicad won't cut it, you can't have a mac.
its very risky to overclock ur cpu if u dont do it correctly. if ur familiar with it, do it. if not, stick with 2 ghz and go for 2 gs of ram. which ever mobo u are going to get. i suggest getting an asus although the price is high it is well worth its performance. u can get the amd 64 bit .. for future updates then u wont have to buy another / upgrade computer. its cheap... go to pricewatch.com or newegg.com they always have sales .
well I am less and less impressed with Dell...I am thinking about a Sony or Toshiba or Velocity Micro...I want a good laptop with good parts as opposed to a low price with crappy stuff...any opinions?
One other thing to keep in mind is that the bus speed of the computer has a bit to do with it's overall speed and ability to use all of that Ram. I don't know that much about it but I would look for 800mhz FSB with Hyperthreading technology.
overclocking gets you a few more cpu cycles per second. it might make a difference for your framerate in HL2, but for real work you won't save much time.
not worth it. get a fast processor, but don't bother paying the premium for the absolute highest speed grade. save your money, and buy a new computer when this one is too slow. overclocking is for the birds.
sony are cheap and flimsy
best PC brand without a doubt is IBM/Lenovo. Get a Thinkpad.
I can get a 40% discount through a friend who works for IBM
thinkpads are indestructible. i've had one for four years. they've also got the best keyboard ever put on a notebook.
keep in mind also, that there are some very specific workstation notebooks, with firegl and quadro cards inside instead of the consumer radeon and geforce lines.
can you even get a 17" IBM with 2 gigs and a 100gig harddrive?
1. the coupons are for real. I got 20% off my dell with one of those.
2. laptop assemblers/retailers charge WAY too much for ram upgrades. Once you've figured out what model you want, search online for ram to match the puter, and you see how much lower the price to buy the ram separately is. Get the baseline ram, and buy loads of it from another source.
3. Dell's aren't really so bad as long as you aren't entertaining hopes that one of their baseline machines will work for architecture. Find a coupon, upgrade the shit out of it, and it'll work great.
hard drive space is not a big deal...you can always cop an external one
if you decide dell...try Dell outlet on their site...they have great deals on refurbished items
yeah. I can get whatever I want with IBM...all 40% off
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