I just started my M.arch this fall and I need a fancy new notebook so I can get the f@#% out of the studio every now and then, and do some work at home...I've always been a PC person, but a bunch of little birdies have been whispering in my ear to get a Mac. I currently have a Dell and really like it and was looking at the more powerful versions of the ispiron...any advice from those who've made recent investments?
dont get a mac
so much arch software cant run on a mac, even with virtual pc.
macs aren't great for an architecture student looking to experiment with different software. once you know what you will use, and having a mac isn't a hinderance, then go ahead.
at the risk of beating a dead horse into pudding, I would get a(nother) mac, since I love to work on a mac and now they run windows for all that 'arch software you can't run on a mac.' but they are expensive.
Just got a shiny new macbook pro and they are quite sweet, would definately recommend one, just make sure you have a winxp cd and install bootcamp so you can run windows when you need cad or 3dmax and you are golden
I got a Sharp PC MM1110 which was the lightest, smallest thing with a proper screen and keyboard I could find. This was great until it inexplicably died on me in the Gritti Palace Hotel, Venice, taking with it my careful description of the dinner I'd just eaten (including full Italian menu listing).
Now I'm pissed off with the things and am going even smaller. I have on order what is ostensibly a mobile telephone but with an acceptable size screen, slide out keyboard and Word. I never use mobile phones because I hate the buggers (Privacy. Intrusion of.) but this gizmo's just so damn cool. Obviously I don't intend to do CAD on the thing, so it would be of little use to you.
And here was me getting all excited thinking the thread was about the coolest *paper* notebooks in the world. Which is an invitation for romantic luddites everywhere to contribute.
DO NOT get a mac
especially if you are used to pc, i had to get a mac for my studio because we are only taugh form Z it sucks I miss CAD soo much I dont know what I am going to do now because from now on I am going to use 3d cad for everything
so dont do it!! Macs are fun because they have widgets and photobooth but other than that a big pain in the ass
i purchased a dell m90 in september and it has worked great for me without any problems am able to work on photoshop, illustrator and autocad while rendering in the background at fast speeds.
even if you get a macbook pro, and you want to solely run windows on it for 3d/CAD/adobe/browsing, etc. it is worth it. i dont think there is a nicer laptop out there in terms of design and its looks. its made to run media/graphic software professionally so its powerful enough. and its intel, so basically now its a super nicely designed pc. "mac" has just become their brand and OS, instead of the entire computer and the way it runs, as it once used to be.
although, once you get used to the mac OS, its too nice to go back to windows..
wow, i've never heard of someone saying they miss autocad. candiceelizabeth, did you know there are cad programs for macs, too? if you are trying to draft 2d in formz no wonder you hate it. that would be super frustrating. you can get archicad for free as a student, try that.
I'll second the Dell M90. The specs are better than anything I've seen (particularly the Quadro 2500m 512mb graphics card), decent price and it looks better than anything short of a Power book.
Most importantly, at least to me, is that I have a next day service for 4 years. Probably overkill, but it's business, so time is money.
Apple has at least a 4 day turn around, which is beyond absurd (for business), imho. That was enough to settle any questions.
FYI, I don't think it is "plasticky" at all. I think it is built as well as a Mac, just a slight notch down on design (not a huge notch, though). The M90 looks much better than the regular Dell laptops.
Or what about a nicely detailed (preferably gilded, like a small coach) trolley with glass walls and a small person inside with a drafting table and a good memory?
trace - A 4 day turn around may seem absurd but when you have a Mac you will see that you don't need any service cause they are indestructable.
Bottom line is Macs are designed and engineered better than any PC. I am not just referring to the exterior but the interior as well. No matter what color you paint a Dell M90 its still a PC so it will still need anti-virus software and a driver for any peripheral you hook up to it and a good service plan for every time it fails you.
Now that Mac runs Windows natively (and much better than a PC does) there is not a single reason to own a PC. PC's are dinosaurs.
They may look better and be better built, but they are the same components (same processors, same graphics cards, same hard drive, etc., etc.). These are all prone to failure. I've never had a single problem with anything Dell designed, it's the components that fail.
Essentially, they are the same computers. Apples are built better, for sure, but 90% are exactly the same. You pay for OS X and the case (which is fine, imho, I'd pay more for their designs with reasonable support).
If you run a business, you need support immediately, not in 4 days. That's just not acceptable.
From all I've read and researched (yes, I had my eye on a Powerbook, simply for the looks).
As for viruses, as soon as you run Windows you are open to all the windows viruses. The only reason Macs have been less exposed is that most hackers/crackers target the masses, which is PC. If you run Windows on a Mac, you are pretty much running a completely PC/Windows based system.
Personally, I find it amusing how many peolpe are still fighting for the Mac. They are superior in build quality and if you like OS X (I hate it), then great, if not, you are going to pay for the looks and build quality (NOT performance or component quality).
Just make sure you know what you are buying before you buy, simple as that. Neither are necessarily 'better', as they are almost identical, just depends on your priorities - service vs. looks. For business, I chose service.
Not to be offensive but you clearly have no idea about what you are talking about. Macs are in no way the same as a PC. They are Unix/Linux based and PC's are DOS based. Thats the difference. Unix/Linux is an indesctructable tank and DOS is a rusty 72' VW Bug. Our business is 100% Mac and we never have any problems. If you run windows on a Mac you are not susceptible to all the viruses cause Unix is a tight ship with no loop holes. You can run Unix on a PC but not with Windows. You are right that the Macs look pretty nice and are built better but you are wrong by saying that they don't out perform or have better components. Don't be jaded by the looks cause thats not what its about at all, its just a nice little bonus. Macs run better than a PC. Period.
don´t get a mac. don´t get a dell. I personally think notebooks sucks, they are really slow compared to any cheap desktop computer, but as we need laptops due to movility reasons, get a sony vaio. it can be as slow as any other laptop but at list it´s trustable and well designed. My flatmate has one of the best dell inspiron which is horrible, and the usb plugs are not properly placed, they are at the back of the computer, the 3.5mm earphones jack broke down and it also has a very hi-resolution screen with 8 dead pixels. All in just 6 months of use.
A good warranty service is nice, but it´s much better if the machine is good designed and you don´t need to use the warranty card. I also think it´s very sad using a laptop for designing when the machine you are working with it´s horrible. just like trying to design nice architecture working in an office placed inside a crappy building.
Obviously you take a hit in performance by getting a laptop. Thats a given. A desktop is gonna perform better and be more upgradeable and therefore will last you longer. You buy a laptop so that location is irrelevant and you can work anywhere.
hahaha!! awesome! I had one of those when I was 6. I played some game with a dragon in a bath tub and you had to blow bubbles to catch birds. Pretty weird game now that I think about it.
Site is great for everything! Just a heads up for that dont know.
Here at ASU we have a pretty big Mac cult. I can see why, I mean they offer a nice design, they are affordale, the performance is there and all. Personally I have no knowledge of Mac. I cringe when I have no option left in the studio but to use the Mac station to check my email. Yea its bad. I grew up building my own PCs by hand, so yea I’m a little Mac interface illiterate. Funny cause when I went to pick up my final presentation for my FormZ class, I ran into a senior at the time, I was a sophmore, and he bumped into me and asked me if I did my rendering on a Mac. I told him a PC and he didnt believe me. Then he went on a rampage on how Macs are better. I think he literatlly held me hostage for 5 minutes. I dont have any personally problem against Macs, I think they are great, I just wish I had the time to teach myself how to use one.
As for business, I don't care what anyone uses, but I will say that at my last firm which was entirely Mac-based, we had zero IT budget because in the 3 years I was there we had not one failure of anything. We lost no work hours, we lost no work except when VectorWorks crashed (maybe.. 2x? never for me, but for another dude working on larger files it crashed a couple times), we did all the networking ourselves because it was simply that easy to network everything. peripherals plugged in and were done. no support needed. to me, that's a better business solution. who cares about 'turnaround time' when you aren't turning anything around?
the main problem to me, though, is autocad, which i find clunky and antiquated and works against the user rather than for it.
hell yes myriam. thats what i was saying. who needs a service plan when service is never required? the only way you will ever know the beauty of a mac is if you own one or work on one. i promise if anybody starts using a mac you will never use a PC again. unless you are gamer.
you do network rendering on macs?
I'm curious how/what the mac counterpart to distributed rendering is.
FormZ must have distributed rendering capabilities, correct?
nice to know I'm not the only mac basher. But seriously, when in grad school you need to learn different stuff and well mac at the moment seems to be dual platform. Albeit strange now that all the great "graphic" software once toughted as being "only" available for mac are now made for and developed on pcs. So what am I saying? Let something else be your guiding force.
like screen size...I have a 17.5" dell - its nice (better than the HP which only had 3/4hr battery life - this sob has 5 hours)
available ports - now I don't think this matters in this day and age really but lappy here gives me 6no. usb, and 2no, firewire (why) and a host of goodies.
A some price (over 1500) I think most laptops are the same...I've been through a few and the differences are small if even percievable.
I run Windows XP Pro w/ SP2 for AutoCAD, Rhino, and SolidWorks with Excel (for algorithmic parameter control) and other PC stuffs alongside my production suite: VectorWorks, Cinema4D (w/ net render across all clients), and Studio 8, plus a remote Tiger Server Admin toolkit, all on a single Mac Pro. Four processors, three displays and two video cards cover most of what I need to do day-to-day.
I worked in IT before architecture. I was overpaid in the Mac LAN environments, literally had to look for things to do most days. Spent most of my time changing printer toner or surfing the web. PC LANs kept me very busy. I never had the pleasure (nor smarts, probably) to work in a Linux/UNIX-based office.
PC or Mac, don't under-invest in your tool, especially when you're putting your name on what comes out of it. If it were I looking for versatile and stable portability, I'd buy a 15" MacBook Pro, bump the RAM to 2 or 3GB, install Parallels + XP Pro w/ SP2, and grab whatever software I could from friends*. This way you're covered, whether it's PC or Mac "birdies" helping you out. If there's any $ left over, spend it on a second display and you can run dual-displays off of your PowerBook when you need to (I can't imagine modeling, or even CAD anymore, on a single 15/17").
*I never run software that I haven't purchased, or at least haven't installed from the original DVD/CD and won't have immediate access to if I need it again. It just isn't as stable. I'd prefer to sleep soundly, since I don't get a lot of it very often.
os x is actually based on BSD, which is a flavor of *nix. however, it plays no part in securing your computer when you're running windows on a mac. if you run windows on any hardware, you're susceptible to any windows virus/trojan.
Where did this "4 day turn-around" thing come from? I had a slight problem with my moise on my mac, called customer service.. with no wait time on the phone, a service rep (from Florida, not India) helped me through my problem in perfect english. I got a box the next day, swapped out parts, sent it back with no shipping/misc fees. My problem was fixed in less than 24 hours, and that was the best service ANY item I ever bought had.
Aside from my mouse not working, I haven't had one problem with macs. No viruses, no errors, misc warning boxes, no slowdowns, nothing. Every program runs perfectly smooth and is efficient. I switch over to Windows and do my AutoCAD work there, with no hassles or slowdowns. I don't know why anyone, especially after Intel Macs, would want to go PC.
I've had PCs my entire life up until college when I made the switch. Best decision yet. Never going back.
Funny how this topic turned into Mac vs. PC though..
Definetly DO NOT purchase a Sony Vaio. At the moment Sony is involved in two lawsuits involving their computers, specifically their laptops. One is for putting malware in some of the programs included with their laptops, and the other is for exploding laptop batteries. No joke. My friend is an engineer at Sony, and he goes through a vaio every 6 months or so, he's on about his twentieth one since he started getting them a few years ago. They are poorly made, but seem attractive because they have a lot of nice whistles and bells. The build quality is just garbage.
The Mac vs. PC thing is just an un-winnable argument. That being said...I owned PC's my whole computing life until about 3.5 years ago when I purchased a Powerbook. From the perspective of the end user, the difference is astonishing. Basically, I turn on my Mac, and it just works every single time without a problem. It never crashes, and just does what I need it to do. I won't say anymore, except if you want a computer that just does what it's supposed to do transparently, get a Mac.
My friends who are more budget conscious than myself,but also much more tech savvy, swear by getting dirt cheap no name laptops and installing Linux, so that may be something to think about, although for architecture it will definetly limit your software choices.
Danny - the four day turn around comes from Apple's tech support and several folks I've talked to when I was considering buying one.
I am not an Apple hater, far from it (although it most likely looks like I am, that's just frustration that I can't get one).
"I got a box the next day, swapped out parts, sent it back with no shipping/misc fees." That assumes you'll do that work yourself. I will only do a few minor things, just too many computers to keep track of and limited time. Not to mention I don't want to take apart a laptop.
As boring as Dell's are, I will ahve a guy with part in hand in about 12-24 hours at my door, ready to fix anything. Problem solved in less than 24 hours. FYI, the gold tech support that comes with any business machine is no wait and USA guys/gals.
I looked into upgraded service and asked sales reps about them, but nothing could come close to this. If this wasn't my source of income I'd try it, but it is, so I can't afford the chance.
I would pay extra for the quality and looks, no problem, if they'd just offer an upgraded service plan (and I'd pay extra for that too).
Yea I know I few folks who've upped to Fujitsu's 19" the things a beast - its really a secured desktop and they tend to lug around a simplier (smaller) dell for client meetings. What's nice is that they run Linux on all of them with what was described to me as a program converter...basically an OS just for the program. Seems to work for them
i second emilyride's comment on the sony vaio...total shit.
mine has had nothing but problems since i got it. a motherboard power issue and then recently my motherboard fried.
wonderful...the greatest thing...no tech support and hyper-expensive to fix (basically i can buy a new computer with the amount i would spend on trying to fix it)....by the way did i mention that this is all on a home laptop that i generally only check email and surf the web on?
crap, utter crap. anything's better than a sony.
"hahaha!! awesome! I had one of those when I was 6. I played some game with a dragon in a bath tub and you had to blow bubbles to catch birds. Pretty weird game now that I think about it."
i was on a flight to san jose recently, and sitting in front of two silicon valley dudes. they were furiously debating various tech equipment qualities throughout the duration of the flight. finally, as we were landing, they found one thing they both loudly agreed on: the utter crapitude of sony vaios. "i would NEVER buy one again!" "Neither would I! They're such pieces of shit!!" it was heartwarming to see such a uniting moment...
Funny...Christmas night was with someone who kept going on and on about lovely theirs was...it was a new toy though. It'll be nice to hear what he says in a few months
my girlfriend has an ibm thinkpad that seems to be really great...no problems, yet...very small and lightweight...
anyone else with thinkpad experiences out there?
I've got an Inspiron 8600 from Dell, and I love it. Got it two and a half years ago, and it shows no sign of slowing down or not handling the new software (Adobe Suite, 3D Studio, etc.) yet. The graphics card upgrade was well worth it, I got the one w/ 128MB RAM, but I think that might be standard by now. DO NOT get the onboard RAM upgrades through Dell, though. They rip you off like no other. Get it with the basic RAM from Dell, and then buy bigger RAM cards elsewhere for half the price.
notebooks...how to choose?
I just started my M.arch this fall and I need a fancy new notebook so I can get the f@#% out of the studio every now and then, and do some work at home...I've always been a PC person, but a bunch of little birdies have been whispering in my ear to get a Mac. I currently have a Dell and really like it and was looking at the more powerful versions of the ispiron...any advice from those who've made recent investments?
dont get a mac
so much arch software cant run on a mac, even with virtual pc.
macs aren't great for an architecture student looking to experiment with different software. once you know what you will use, and having a mac isn't a hinderance, then go ahead.
at the risk of beating a dead horse into pudding, I would get a(nother) mac, since I love to work on a mac and now they run windows for all that 'arch software you can't run on a mac.' but they are expensive.
Just got a shiny new macbook pro and they are quite sweet, would definately recommend one, just make sure you have a winxp cd and install bootcamp so you can run windows when you need cad or 3dmax and you are golden
I got a Sharp PC MM1110 which was the lightest, smallest thing with a proper screen and keyboard I could find. This was great until it inexplicably died on me in the Gritti Palace Hotel, Venice, taking with it my careful description of the dinner I'd just eaten (including full Italian menu listing).
Now I'm pissed off with the things and am going even smaller. I have on order what is ostensibly a mobile telephone but with an acceptable size screen, slide out keyboard and Word. I never use mobile phones because I hate the buggers (Privacy. Intrusion of.) but this gizmo's just so damn cool. Obviously I don't intend to do CAD on the thing, so it would be of little use to you.
And here was me getting all excited thinking the thread was about the coolest *paper* notebooks in the world. Which is an invitation for romantic luddites everywhere to contribute.
DO NOT get a mac
especially if you are used to pc, i had to get a mac for my studio because we are only taugh form Z it sucks I miss CAD soo much I dont know what I am going to do now because from now on I am going to use 3d cad for everything
so dont do it!! Macs are fun because they have widgets and photobooth but other than that a big pain in the ass
i purchased a dell m90 in september and it has worked great for me without any problems am able to work on photoshop, illustrator and autocad while rendering in the background at fast speeds.
there are many many many threads on this topic
even if you get a macbook pro, and you want to solely run windows on it for 3d/CAD/adobe/browsing, etc. it is worth it. i dont think there is a nicer laptop out there in terms of design and its looks. its made to run media/graphic software professionally so its powerful enough. and its intel, so basically now its a super nicely designed pc. "mac" has just become their brand and OS, instead of the entire computer and the way it runs, as it once used to be.
although, once you get used to the mac OS, its too nice to go back to windows..
dells are too plasticky.
How should you choose a new computer?
Read and compare technical specifications, and wikipedia things to find out what difference they make.
That's all there is to it.
wow, i've never heard of someone saying they miss autocad. candiceelizabeth, did you know there are cad programs for macs, too? if you are trying to draft 2d in formz no wonder you hate it. that would be super frustrating. you can get archicad for free as a student, try that.
I'll second the Dell M90. The specs are better than anything I've seen (particularly the Quadro 2500m 512mb graphics card), decent price and it looks better than anything short of a Power book.
Most importantly, at least to me, is that I have a next day service for 4 years. Probably overkill, but it's business, so time is money.
Apple has at least a 4 day turn around, which is beyond absurd (for business), imho. That was enough to settle any questions.
FYI, I don't think it is "plasticky" at all. I think it is built as well as a Mac, just a slight notch down on design (not a huge notch, though). The M90 looks much better than the regular Dell laptops.
get a mac and make fun of everyone else that has computer problems
Or what about a nicely detailed (preferably gilded, like a small coach) trolley with glass walls and a small person inside with a drafting table and a good memory?
> dont get a mac
> so much arch software cant run on a mac, even with virtual pc.
Virtual PC is irrelevant now since Macs run Windows natively on Intel processors.
trace - A 4 day turn around may seem absurd but when you have a Mac you will see that you don't need any service cause they are indestructable.
Bottom line is Macs are designed and engineered better than any PC. I am not just referring to the exterior but the interior as well. No matter what color you paint a Dell M90 its still a PC so it will still need anti-virus software and a driver for any peripheral you hook up to it and a good service plan for every time it fails you.
Now that Mac runs Windows natively (and much better than a PC does) there is not a single reason to own a PC. PC's are dinosaurs.
They may look better and be better built, but they are the same components (same processors, same graphics cards, same hard drive, etc., etc.). These are all prone to failure. I've never had a single problem with anything Dell designed, it's the components that fail.
Essentially, they are the same computers. Apples are built better, for sure, but 90% are exactly the same. You pay for OS X and the case (which is fine, imho, I'd pay more for their designs with reasonable support).
If you run a business, you need support immediately, not in 4 days. That's just not acceptable.
From all I've read and researched (yes, I had my eye on a Powerbook, simply for the looks).
As for viruses, as soon as you run Windows you are open to all the windows viruses. The only reason Macs have been less exposed is that most hackers/crackers target the masses, which is PC. If you run Windows on a Mac, you are pretty much running a completely PC/Windows based system.
Personally, I find it amusing how many peolpe are still fighting for the Mac. They are superior in build quality and if you like OS X (I hate it), then great, if not, you are going to pay for the looks and build quality (NOT performance or component quality).
Just make sure you know what you are buying before you buy, simple as that. Neither are necessarily 'better', as they are almost identical, just depends on your priorities - service vs. looks. For business, I chose service.
Not to be offensive but you clearly have no idea about what you are talking about. Macs are in no way the same as a PC. They are Unix/Linux based and PC's are DOS based. Thats the difference. Unix/Linux is an indesctructable tank and DOS is a rusty 72' VW Bug. Our business is 100% Mac and we never have any problems. If you run windows on a Mac you are not susceptible to all the viruses cause Unix is a tight ship with no loop holes. You can run Unix on a PC but not with Windows. You are right that the Macs look pretty nice and are built better but you are wrong by saying that they don't out perform or have better components. Don't be jaded by the looks cause thats not what its about at all, its just a nice little bonus. Macs run better than a PC. Period.
don´t get a mac. don´t get a dell. I personally think notebooks sucks, they are really slow compared to any cheap desktop computer, but as we need laptops due to movility reasons, get a sony vaio. it can be as slow as any other laptop but at list it´s trustable and well designed. My flatmate has one of the best dell inspiron which is horrible, and the usb plugs are not properly placed, they are at the back of the computer, the 3.5mm earphones jack broke down and it also has a very hi-resolution screen with 8 dead pixels. All in just 6 months of use.
A good warranty service is nice, but it´s much better if the machine is good designed and you don´t need to use the warranty card. I also think it´s very sad using a laptop for designing when the machine you are working with it´s horrible. just like trying to design nice architecture working in an office placed inside a crappy building.
Obviously you take a hit in performance by getting a laptop. Thats a given. A desktop is gonna perform better and be more upgradeable and therefore will last you longer. You buy a laptop so that location is irrelevant and you can work anywhere.
mines bigger than yours.....nah nah nah!!
hahaha!! awesome! I had one of those when I was 6. I played some game with a dragon in a bath tub and you had to blow bubbles to catch birds. Pretty weird game now that I think about it.
Thats some old school right there.
Check out www.newegg.com
Site is great for everything! Just a heads up for that dont know.
Here at ASU we have a pretty big Mac cult. I can see why, I mean they offer a nice design, they are affordale, the performance is there and all. Personally I have no knowledge of Mac. I cringe when I have no option left in the studio but to use the Mac station to check my email. Yea its bad. I grew up building my own PCs by hand, so yea I’m a little Mac interface illiterate. Funny cause when I went to pick up my final presentation for my FormZ class, I ran into a senior at the time, I was a sophmore, and he bumped into me and asked me if I did my rendering on a Mac. I told him a PC and he didnt believe me. Then he went on a rampage on how Macs are better. I think he literatlly held me hostage for 5 minutes. I dont have any personally problem against Macs, I think they are great, I just wish I had the time to teach myself how to use one.
As for business, I don't care what anyone uses, but I will say that at my last firm which was entirely Mac-based, we had zero IT budget because in the 3 years I was there we had not one failure of anything. We lost no work hours, we lost no work except when VectorWorks crashed (maybe.. 2x? never for me, but for another dude working on larger files it crashed a couple times), we did all the networking ourselves because it was simply that easy to network everything. peripherals plugged in and were done. no support needed. to me, that's a better business solution. who cares about 'turnaround time' when you aren't turning anything around?
the main problem to me, though, is autocad, which i find clunky and antiquated and works against the user rather than for it.
hell yes myriam. thats what i was saying. who needs a service plan when service is never required? the only way you will ever know the beauty of a mac is if you own one or work on one. i promise if anybody starts using a mac you will never use a PC again. unless you are gamer.
or you have to use an Autodesk product.
you do network rendering on macs?
I'm curious how/what the mac counterpart to distributed rendering is.
FormZ must have distributed rendering capabilities, correct?
i don't think anyone wrote anything about network rendering. just networking in general.
nice to know I'm not the only mac basher. But seriously, when in grad school you need to learn different stuff and well mac at the moment seems to be dual platform. Albeit strange now that all the great "graphic" software once toughted as being "only" available for mac are now made for and developed on pcs. So what am I saying? Let something else be your guiding force.
like screen size...I have a 17.5" dell - its nice (better than the HP which only had 3/4hr battery life - this sob has 5 hours)
available ports - now I don't think this matters in this day and age really but lappy here gives me 6no. usb, and 2no, firewire (why) and a host of goodies.
A some price (over 1500) I think most laptops are the same...I've been through a few and the differences are small if even percievable.
my $0.02
I run Windows XP Pro w/ SP2 for AutoCAD, Rhino, and SolidWorks with Excel (for algorithmic parameter control) and other PC stuffs alongside my production suite: VectorWorks, Cinema4D (w/ net render across all clients), and Studio 8, plus a remote Tiger Server Admin toolkit, all on a single Mac Pro. Four processors, three displays and two video cards cover most of what I need to do day-to-day.
I worked in IT before architecture. I was overpaid in the Mac LAN environments, literally had to look for things to do most days. Spent most of my time changing printer toner or surfing the web. PC LANs kept me very busy. I never had the pleasure (nor smarts, probably) to work in a Linux/UNIX-based office.
PC or Mac, don't under-invest in your tool, especially when you're putting your name on what comes out of it. If it were I looking for versatile and stable portability, I'd buy a 15" MacBook Pro, bump the RAM to 2 or 3GB, install Parallels + XP Pro w/ SP2, and grab whatever software I could from friends*. This way you're covered, whether it's PC or Mac "birdies" helping you out. If there's any $ left over, spend it on a second display and you can run dual-displays off of your PowerBook when you need to (I can't imagine modeling, or even CAD anymore, on a single 15/17").
*I never run software that I haven't purchased, or at least haven't installed from the original DVD/CD and won't have immediate access to if I need it again. It just isn't as stable. I'd prefer to sleep soundly, since I don't get a lot of it very often.
cpnorris:
os x is actually based on BSD, which is a flavor of *nix. however, it plays no part in securing your computer when you're running windows on a mac. if you run windows on any hardware, you're susceptible to any windows virus/trojan.
Where did this "4 day turn-around" thing come from? I had a slight problem with my moise on my mac, called customer service.. with no wait time on the phone, a service rep (from Florida, not India) helped me through my problem in perfect english. I got a box the next day, swapped out parts, sent it back with no shipping/misc fees. My problem was fixed in less than 24 hours, and that was the best service ANY item I ever bought had.
Aside from my mouse not working, I haven't had one problem with macs. No viruses, no errors, misc warning boxes, no slowdowns, nothing. Every program runs perfectly smooth and is efficient. I switch over to Windows and do my AutoCAD work there, with no hassles or slowdowns. I don't know why anyone, especially after Intel Macs, would want to go PC.
I've had PCs my entire life up until college when I made the switch. Best decision yet. Never going back.
Funny how this topic turned into Mac vs. PC though..
Definetly DO NOT purchase a Sony Vaio. At the moment Sony is involved in two lawsuits involving their computers, specifically their laptops. One is for putting malware in some of the programs included with their laptops, and the other is for exploding laptop batteries. No joke. My friend is an engineer at Sony, and he goes through a vaio every 6 months or so, he's on about his twentieth one since he started getting them a few years ago. They are poorly made, but seem attractive because they have a lot of nice whistles and bells. The build quality is just garbage.
The Mac vs. PC thing is just an un-winnable argument. That being said...I owned PC's my whole computing life until about 3.5 years ago when I purchased a Powerbook. From the perspective of the end user, the difference is astonishing. Basically, I turn on my Mac, and it just works every single time without a problem. It never crashes, and just does what I need it to do. I won't say anymore, except if you want a computer that just does what it's supposed to do transparently, get a Mac.
My friends who are more budget conscious than myself,but also much more tech savvy, swear by getting dirt cheap no name laptops and installing Linux, so that may be something to think about, although for architecture it will definetly limit your software choices.
Danny - the four day turn around comes from Apple's tech support and several folks I've talked to when I was considering buying one.
I am not an Apple hater, far from it (although it most likely looks like I am, that's just frustration that I can't get one).
"I got a box the next day, swapped out parts, sent it back with no shipping/misc fees." That assumes you'll do that work yourself. I will only do a few minor things, just too many computers to keep track of and limited time. Not to mention I don't want to take apart a laptop.
As boring as Dell's are, I will ahve a guy with part in hand in about 12-24 hours at my door, ready to fix anything. Problem solved in less than 24 hours. FYI, the gold tech support that comes with any business machine is no wait and USA guys/gals.
I looked into upgraded service and asked sales reps about them, but nothing could come close to this. If this wasn't my source of income I'd try it, but it is, so I can't afford the chance.
I would pay extra for the quality and looks, no problem, if they'd just offer an upgraded service plan (and I'd pay extra for that too).
Yea I know I few folks who've upped to Fujitsu's 19" the things a beast - its really a secured desktop and they tend to lug around a simplier (smaller) dell for client meetings. What's nice is that they run Linux on all of them with what was described to me as a program converter...basically an OS just for the program. Seems to work for them
i second emilyride's comment on the sony vaio...total shit.
mine has had nothing but problems since i got it. a motherboard power issue and then recently my motherboard fried.
wonderful...the greatest thing...no tech support and hyper-expensive to fix (basically i can buy a new computer with the amount i would spend on trying to fix it)....by the way did i mention that this is all on a home laptop that i generally only check email and surf the web on?
crap, utter crap. anything's better than a sony.
where can i get this game?...
i was on a flight to san jose recently, and sitting in front of two silicon valley dudes. they were furiously debating various tech equipment qualities throughout the duration of the flight. finally, as we were landing, they found one thing they both loudly agreed on: the utter crapitude of sony vaios. "i would NEVER buy one again!" "Neither would I! They're such pieces of shit!!" it was heartwarming to see such a uniting moment...
Funny...Christmas night was with someone who kept going on and on about lovely theirs was...it was a new toy though. It'll be nice to hear what he says in a few months
my girlfriend has an ibm thinkpad that seems to be really great...no problems, yet...very small and lightweight...
anyone else with thinkpad experiences out there?
I've got an Inspiron 8600 from Dell, and I love it. Got it two and a half years ago, and it shows no sign of slowing down or not handling the new software (Adobe Suite, 3D Studio, etc.) yet. The graphics card upgrade was well worth it, I got the one w/ 128MB RAM, but I think that might be standard by now. DO NOT get the onboard RAM upgrades through Dell, though. They rip you off like no other. Get it with the basic RAM from Dell, and then buy bigger RAM cards elsewhere for half the price.
mac vs. pc....can we talk about someting less controversial? Like abortion or palestine?
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