After a six-year lifespan and enduring the four years of undergraduate architecture school, my laptop finally perished today. However, I am going to look at this problem as an opportunity as I need to purchase a new computer that I will use for graduate school. I was hoping some of the fine folks at Archinect could lend me some insight into purchasing a powerful machine that I will need for the rigors of a MArch I program. Currently, I am leaning toward a laptop over desktop, and then either an Alienware or MacBook Pro. I would appreciate any and all input and advice. Thank you all for your help!
A center-
laptops advance so quickly this could be a relativly productive thread-
Check out dells-after all the student discounts and add ons and all that (mac included) i got an inspiron 1520 for about 600 dollars less then a mac book pro with the same specs except the mac book pro came with a 120 gig hardrive and my dell has 160.. but i havent gotten it in the mail yet so who knows how it will perform..
2.0 ghz core 2 duo
2 gigs ram(getting ram after market is so much cheaper then the 800-900 dollars itll cost to get 4 gigs put on through dell or apple)
256 nvidea graphics
160 gig hardrive
I opted out of Mac bc
a)couldnt afford it
b) i hate switching between hardrives to run rhino which is my most used 3d modeler(rhino won't run natively until rhino 5 in a year or so)
so thats my dos cents
also check out the refurbed mac section, great deals but still out of my price range.
two months ago i bought a refurb dell e1505 with the same specs as rob(E) just mentioned; plus a 9-cell battery (good for 5 hours). the machine cost me $1150 after tax and a one-year warranty.
i highly reccomend going this route as you will rarely run anything that requires computing capacity beyond these specifications.
This was my path in grad school...get a techwise buddy to build you a ridiculously powerful desktop for less than 2 large. Keep the old laptop for CAD work in studio and set your desktop for rendering or heavy 3d modeling work. This way you can multitask, personally I always ran out of time trying to model and draft and then just didn't have the time to do decent render, especially with the 4-?? wait time to render most scenes these days. This way I can render while I draft and cleanup other things on my laptop. We'll see how well it works this semester but I'm hoping it will make life a lot easier.
BTW if you are a SU afficianado try out VRAY for SU, after the 30 day free trial I'm a beliver.
yeah thats always a good option if u have no clue of what kind of computer u need for architecture (follow the GAMERS setups/brands)... BOXX and VODOO are quite fine machines...but ouch how much they cost!!!, and some say MAC is expensive???, if u want the gamer thing, i think ALLIENWARE makes them a bit chwaper and also superb performance
Does anyone have experience with Alienware notebooks, i know theyre from Dell, which makes me skeptical, but they have good graphics cards and can be priced under $1000.
get a lenovo w510. i have a w500 and it's been nothing but perfect. it has two graphics cards just like the macs, uses the same memory as mbp's, you can easily change the hard drive and change the battery, unlike a mac and you can run everything you'll need for school natively, unlike a mac.
Buying a computer for Grad School
After a six-year lifespan and enduring the four years of undergraduate architecture school, my laptop finally perished today. However, I am going to look at this problem as an opportunity as I need to purchase a new computer that I will use for graduate school. I was hoping some of the fine folks at Archinect could lend me some insight into purchasing a powerful machine that I will need for the rigors of a MArch I program. Currently, I am leaning toward a laptop over desktop, and then either an Alienware or MacBook Pro. I would appreciate any and all input and advice. Thank you all for your help!
most people are going to come in pushing a Mac...
Mac is cool...But one of my studio mate is having problem running Revit 08 on his mac....windows..
I got a new 64 bit duco core HP.....which runs great, but I am having problem with sketchup6
I Have no problem with Rhino ...and Revit....
But Sketchup is an important partner of my revit work..
HP....dv9500t.....
runs about 2grand
2.2 duo core (64bit vista)
4 gigs ram
512mb Nvidea 8600 GS
160 gig hard drive
3 year warranty (accidental damve coverage)
3 lo jack
not bad for the price...
do a search...
A center-
laptops advance so quickly this could be a relativly productive thread-
Check out dells-after all the student discounts and add ons and all that (mac included) i got an inspiron 1520 for about 600 dollars less then a mac book pro with the same specs except the mac book pro came with a 120 gig hardrive and my dell has 160.. but i havent gotten it in the mail yet so who knows how it will perform..
2.0 ghz core 2 duo
2 gigs ram(getting ram after market is so much cheaper then the 800-900 dollars itll cost to get 4 gigs put on through dell or apple)
256 nvidea graphics
160 gig hardrive
I opted out of Mac bc
a)couldnt afford it
b) i hate switching between hardrives to run rhino which is my most used 3d modeler(rhino won't run natively until rhino 5 in a year or so)
so thats my dos cents
also check out the refurbed mac section, great deals but still out of my price range.
two months ago i bought a refurb dell e1505 with the same specs as rob(E) just mentioned; plus a 9-cell battery (good for 5 hours). the machine cost me $1150 after tax and a one-year warranty.
i highly reccomend going this route as you will rarely run anything that requires computing capacity beyond these specifications.
don't get a laptop and do a search - there is plenty of good info already on here.
rob(E) - laptops advance slower than you'd think.
well i was referring more to price then technology grid, im no expert but ive seen quite a price shift in the last 3 months...
This was my path in grad school...get a techwise buddy to build you a ridiculously powerful desktop for less than 2 large. Keep the old laptop for CAD work in studio and set your desktop for rendering or heavy 3d modeling work. This way you can multitask, personally I always ran out of time trying to model and draft and then just didn't have the time to do decent render, especially with the 4-?? wait time to render most scenes these days. This way I can render while I draft and cleanup other things on my laptop. We'll see how well it works this semester but I'm hoping it will make life a lot easier.
BTW if you are a SU afficianado try out VRAY for SU, after the 30 day free trial I'm a beliver.
MBP with bootcamp
Dell M90 or M70 (if that's the smaller Precision laptop)
I think I'm going to order a computer today. I'm excited and nervous. Wish me luck!
And no, it won't be a Mac.
have the dell m65[pre m70] -- love it.
lets see a photo of .skp with VRAY
love my voodoo but i haven't kept up with the company since they were bought by HP last fall. voodoo pc
yeah thats always a good option if u have no clue of what kind of computer u need for architecture (follow the GAMERS setups/brands)... BOXX and VODOO are quite fine machines...but ouch how much they cost!!!, and some say MAC is expensive???, if u want the gamer thing, i think ALLIENWARE makes them a bit chwaper and also superb performance
Wow,
im bringing this one back.
Does anyone have experience with Alienware notebooks, i know theyre from Dell, which makes me skeptical, but they have good graphics cards and can be priced under $1000.
Im looking at:
Alienware M11
-Overclockable Intel® Pentium™ SU4100 1.3GHz (2MB Cache)
-4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 800MHz
-1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 335M video card
Is this good for running 2009-2010 Maya, Rhino/grasshopper, 3dStudio?
fadetoblacko-
i believe the Dell Precisions are the laptops most specifically geared to architecture, their graphics cards are supported by Revit.
yeh i was looking at those, but theyre mad bread
get a lenovo w510. i have a w500 and it's been nothing but perfect. it has two graphics cards just like the macs, uses the same memory as mbp's, you can easily change the hard drive and change the battery, unlike a mac and you can run everything you'll need for school natively, unlike a mac.
Look at Sagers...a buddy of mine who is a computer technician recommended that I get one of these for grad school...extremely powerful
dam the Sagers look pretty good.
Ive always had HP's too.
Its pretty annoying, but I might have to get something with Windows 7 64-bit Professional, in order to run the older programs I have...
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