calm down dork.

I didn't realize there were so many jocks around here.

sorry,...
and congrats, I know you are excited about getting into school

...and I am sure your choice is the obvious MAC... but do you have to price out the shit in a thread? Alot of ppl go to school and just put a tower at their desk.....because they cant afford that bullshit you are spec-ing..and the just make due with shit they have,....cuz it aint about the glamorous titaniums...its about the skills. Some have to build there shit at Frys or Micorcenter..and just get o work.

My rig was $500 - a basic quad,..and i have no problems...

that is the kind of info I was sort of asking for.

ff33º, qq more

10, as long as you can lock your tower up when you leave studio, and have something to surf the web on at home, I'd say you should invest in the iMac

"Does the school you plan on attending affect how you make such decisions?"

Some schools have minimum computer requirements, so I would think so.

The school I'm going to has requirements but they are a little out of date.

tell us what you got for $500.

standard tower: quad core,4 gig ram, decent graphics card...

of course most students feel the need to go to dell and spend a +$1000 for this sort of thing

they buy dell because we all aren't nerds that can fix our computer every time it crashes.

this has devolved into schoolyard nastiness, how wonderful...

he started it.

I can't believe its true, but I think I'm willing to pay $2000 more to not have to deal with a Dell. Crazy, I know.

me too man, although I should say I have a Dell Insprion mini 9 right now and its been a great little computer for wifi on the bus, wifi in the park, wifi at the coffee shop, wifi in a bag.

wifi on a bagel

I went the ff33 route 3 years ago and have never regretted it.

It was a really good deal, great warranty. the people were really helpful and I didn't need any of that anyway because the computer has been perfect and is still fast. Dell is awful. Plus, my Chimei monitor is sweet.

what makes dell so terrible? is it only customer service issues that they suffer from?

I'm not going to grad school next year, but you all may want to check out one of the many laptop threads that have popped up, for example. (Disclaimer, i made some mistakes in that post, but it generated a good discussion although all the system requirements are now very obsolete.)

A general note however, is that buying a gaming laptop will only marginally accelerate the performance of 3d applications like rhino or max. Rather than spending $2500 on a gamer rig try to find a mobile workstation for the same money. These come with graphics cards that optimize the performance of 3d cad programs and often come with powerful processors to help reduce render times and increase render quality. Other than that, your processor speed and ram are really important and these are usually neglected in gaming PCs so they can give you a faster 3d card for the money. Also the more powerful a laptop is the heavier it gets and the hotter it runs until its only slightly more convenient than a desktop.

The only real reason to by a Mac is if you have more money than sense, you're an architecture student, not a graphic designer and you will need windows to run Autodesk's software, which means having to drop another $200 on a copy of XP and then dealing with bootcamp for the rest of you studies. The Macbook pros typically run very hot by the way.

Also the computer shopper's best friend.

good call Apu. i shall peruse.

I'm going to have to object to this kind of absolutist thinking:

"The only real reason to by a Mac is if you have more money than sense, you're an architecture student, not a graphic designer and you will need windows to run Autodesk's software..."

The distinction between graphic design and architecture is one defined more by the institutions of higher learning than enlightened professional environments. How much "graphic" design is present in the design of a building? In the assemblage of a presentation?

To suggest that an entire profession, milieu of culture, is to be subjected to the whims of one software company (Autodesk) is kind of offensive.

i agree with you 10, but apple's prices and mediocre power are just as offensive.

10, that's the way it is right now. Sorry. I've been an architecture student for four and a half years and working professionally for two. Autodesk has our industry by the balls, but that's the way it is and they have good software. I wasn't calling out the differences between Architects and Graphic Designers per se, i was pointing out the fact that you will have to buy windows if you want to use what has become the staple of our industry's software: Autodesk products.

I get it, Macs are pretty and they have a cute, easy interface. They are more stable than windows, and now with intel chips they are just as powerful as PCs. However unless you feel the need to spend upwards of $2500 (Mac Book Pro) for the sake of style your life will be easier with a windows based laptop, at least as an architect.

Frankly, I have always objected to the "Macist" mindset, which is about as absolutionist as you can get when it comes to the world of technology. For $1000 I built a PC that runs circles around any mac outside of the Pro series, which last i checked start around $3000 a pop. Obviously you're a Mac faithful so there's no point in starting another argument about which is better. Bottom line you get more power and compatability for the money when you go the PC route, but you gain style and stability when you go the Mac route. Whichever route you go is entirely up to you and your budget.

By the way, all that said, the craftsmanship and interior layout of the Mac pro does make me drool.

speaking of running circles around..this shouldnt turn into mac vs pc. this should be about what computer would suit an architecture student best, aka is quad core necessary for speedy renders? are the intel core i7's good? etc etc

i'm going to get a 15.4" asus with good specs and do some minor upgrades on my existing desktop.

what is the deal with 64 bit stuff, other than running Goldeneye really well, what are the current advantages of running a 64bit system?

64bit doesn't necessarily mean faster (in some cases it could actually be slower), it just means that you can have more "stuff" running through the system and as much RAM as you can pack in the case (some of the new Nemhalem processor systems can handle 192GB RAM!!)

This translates to higher poly count models/scenes/more complicated CAD models, larger resolution renderings (remember video cards typically handle only "real-time" viewing), higher resolution textures (handy for HDRI), etc.

now, as far as the price differential between Macs and the others: it depends on the type of system you are looking for. If you are looking for a mid-range machine it's difficult to get an "apple to apple" [heh] comparison: an iMac has different specs than the comparable Dell XPS all-in-one, on the surface the (fully loaded 24") Dell looks better since it has a quad-core processor, but it only has a 750GB drive; the iMac has a 1TB drive. When you add a 3-year protection plan (apple care is 3 years) to the Dell--the price jumps to $2318 versus $2368 for the iMac (the Dell then has an "instant savings" of $200 which lowers the price to $2118)…the Dell comes with Vista (which is really not as bad as people say) so if you decide to go the iMac route you'd need to plop down another $150 or so (depending on store) to get Vista/XP and bootcamp the machine (it is a super simple procedure btw). Which is better?? It's really a personal choice--both can run what you need (though neither is 64bit, though you could probably coax them into it since both processors can handle a 64bitOS)

Apple never runs sales on their machines, so their prices will stay the same; Dell on the other hand adds "instant savings" every once in a while, so if you're careful you can get "the same machine" for less, but if you're not: you'll end up paying the same or more (especially in the case of high-end workstations: mac pros vs. Precisions)--the last time i bought a machine for the office, the mac pros were $1000 cheaper than a comparable Dell Precision, today (i just checked) the Precision is cheaper (though it only can be configured with 4GB RAM and because Dell is running an "instant savings" gimmick right now--the list price is still $1000 more, without the 6GB RAM which is standard on the mac now)

if you're in the market for this type of machine, check out BOXX sometimes their prices and configurations are better than either Apple or Dell, plus they are tailor-made for DCC

I posted this in another thread, but recently there's been another leap forward in computer usefulness that most people are overlooking-high end SSDs.

while not all SSDs are the same (most are actually terrible - have a controller problem), there's a few models from intel, samsung, and soon OCZ that are pretty incredible.

It's probably more significant than the jump from single core to dual. I wouldn't even think of getting a new work computer, laptop or desktop, without dropping $400 on replacing the stock HD with an intel X25-e. The stock HD goes in an external case as a storage/backup drive.

so two of the schools i'm considering don't have 24/7 studios. i currently have an old desktop. probably gonna have to go with a laptop huh? does anyone see a way around this?

for my desktop a while back i went the ff33º route aswell. except i didn't build the thing. i'm not particularly computer savoy, but i'm savoy enough to know not to go to best buy. or apple. you'll never have to pin up your computer. only your ideas. spend the thousand bucks you save on books er something.

Anyone have any experience with Lenovo desktops? Their 2.66gHz quad cores with 8gigs of RAM are 1300, not too shabby.

since last posting I have visited the open house of the school I plan on attending and was unable to gain any more insight into what to do regarding computer. It seems as though there is no definitive answer to this problem.

Some people were running iMacs, big dell, HP towers, home builds, laptops with monitors, everything.

Residing already close to this school I think a desktop might be the way to go, but if I travel in the summer, to work overseas, I would need to bring my computer with me, no? So this then means laptop... which means hot hot heat or $2500 or both.

Answers?

save up and buy both

though a desktop is easier to spend long hours working on and it's easier to upgrade/replace parts

trying to decide between:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152095

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152099

is it worth the extra $250 for the step up from 2.26 to 2.4ghz and a blu-ray drive? shipping is free on the more expensive one, too.

also, has anyone tried this:
http://www.orbitamouse.com/

i saw these a while ago on engadget and it looks like it would be nice to have for modelling.

it might be cool to have a bluray in a laptop, so you can watch movies in your time off-- beautiful, beautiful movies. In terms of the processor upgrade try to find some comparisons in 3dsMax or Maya or what have you.

I was a proud computer hardware hobbyist for a while - overclocking, case mods, all kinds of ridiculousness. Now i've got a dell I bought from their outlet store (http://www.dell.com/outlet) about a year and a half ago that works like a charm. IIRC it was ~$450 and with another ~$150 on a decent video card I had a nice mid-range machine.

fyi...you need 64 bit OS to run more than 3 GB of ram to get all the advantages rehiggins mentions. The last I checked mac OS 10.4 Tiger and up comes standard 64 bit. That is why you see a lot of macs now a days w/ more than 3 GB ram. By the way I have vista 64-bit and prior to that have had windows server 2003 64-bit (equivalent to xp) and the lack of support, drivers, and hardware compatibility is incredibly frustrating, and some software will not work (autocad would not work on 64-bit prior to vista!). All that said everything runs incredibly smooth w/ over 4 GB of ram, and can run photoshop, autocad, and 3d studiomax simultaneously w/ very high performance.

th orbita mouse looks neat, but I think it would be pretty annoying w/ Autocad. I personally zoom in and out w/ the scroll key all the time while working, and to have to readjust your hand position to scroll in and out everytime will get lame pretty quick.

just my 2 cents

what other hardware restrictions exist with a 64bit os? how does it affect the operation of a workstation class gpu like the Nvidia Quadro? What considerations should be made when configuring a PC with 64bit os?

It is mostly in regards to drivers. If a piece of hardware (dvd rom, graphics card, ethernet card, scanner, printer) does not have the proper drivers for the os available from the manufacturer 's website (8 of 10 times the driver that comes w/ it on a disc will not work), then it probably will not work w/ 64 bit.

Just keep it in mind when selecting components if you're building your own PC system. Do some research on each component and check out the drivers available on the manufacturer's site.

I had a fantastic scanner from Canon that I loved, but unfortunately canon didn't find it worth their while to release a 64 bit driver. To this day I'm still having trouble finding a wireless card that works properly.

Is the hardware that supports 64b inherently more expensive? How hard is it for the manufacturer to roll out a couple of 64bit drivers?

$750
Acer Aspire AS6930-6073 NoteBook Intel Core 2 Duo P8600(2.40GHz) 16" Wide XGA 4GB Memory 320GB HDD DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115540&Tpk=34-115-540

oops. That probably looked like spam.

I just bought that laptop. I'm going to download the drivers to put XP on it. It's my first year in architecture school, so I'm not too concerned with quadro vs. geforce or 5400rpm vs. 7200rpm vs. sdd. I almost opted for something with a faster processor, but it was hard to say no to this price, especially since I'm a beginner. That's money saved towards a desktop in a year or two when I'm actually going to need something more powerful.

so how many people buy a laptop and then go for a desktop later? why not buy a desktop with cheaper specs in the beginning and then upgrade as you need more power? If you build it yourself its as easy as swapping out RAM, maybe gpu.

I did not ask my school how strict they are about the "laptop" in "laptop requirement" because I want something portable anyway. I might need to visit my family pretty frequently and can't be carting a desktop back and forth. Consider a laptop if you plan to travel a lot, maybe even if you plan to do a semester abroad.

thats so annoying, because I would like to have a laptop I can work on, take with me to Strasbourg or whatever, but I just hate the idea of buying a computer that sacrifices power, reliability and affordability for that one special opportunity..

$750 is really cheap though, maybe I can sell a kidney

In a year or two, I might want something faster than the best laptops in my price range right now, and that faster machine will also be a lot cheaper in a few years. If I get a desktop at that point, I will still have a pretty useful laptop (the Acer AS6930 I just ordered from newegg), assuming I take care of it. Right now, I have a $350 laptop that I bought from Best Buy in an emergency and can keep as a back-up bash-up downloading laptop. It needs to go in for repairs though, and I want to start learning CAD and whatnot (learning the cello is going pretty slowly), so I decided not to wait any longer to get a laptop for school.

Prices change in a matter of months, so wait to buy until you're really going to use it.

If that Acer AS6930 isn't good enough, the Dell outlet (dell.com/outlet) has several refurbished business laptops like the one below.

M4400 Laptop (System Identifier: ZR715HTD)
System Price : $1,219.00
* Precision Mobile Workstation M4400 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.80GHz, 6M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
* Genuine Windows XP Pro with Vista Business License
* Memory : 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (2 DIMMs)
* Hard Disk Drive : 160 GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive (7200RPM)
* Video : 512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 770M
* Web Camera : Digital Microphone
* Network Interface Card : Dell Wireless 1510 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
* Hardware Upgrade: 130W A/C Adapter, 3P, 6 Cell Primary Battery, 125V Power Cord, No Fingerprint Reader
* Software Upgrade: 32BIT Operating System CD, NO Intel vPro Secure Advanced Hardware Enabled Systems Management
* Media Bay : 8X DVD +/- RW w/dbl layer write capability
* Certified Refurbished
* Laptop Screen : 15.4 in WXGA Laptop Screen
* Base : Precision Mobile Workstation M4400 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.80GHz, 6M L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
* Bluetooth Wireless : Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Module
* System Color : Black