So, I'm entering a bachelor of environmental design program in a little over a month and probably need a new computer.
My question revolves not so much around exactly what computer I should get (I can handle that myself), but rather the never ending debate of desktop vs. laptop.
Currently I'm on a two year old bottom of the line macbook (2Ghz Core 2 duo, 1GB 667Ghz RAM, crap integrated Intel GPU). While not blazingly fast, the difference between this and my parents new imac with far nicer specs is negligible (I tried a bootup race and won) when doing every day things. My issues occur when I start running multiple graphic based programs or (god forbid) try to do 3D. I managed to get through an AutoCAD class running ACAD 09 through Paralells but it was super annoying (and couldn't do anything in 3D without killing myself). Putting together the posters for a contest took me something like 4hrs (I had everything and knew what I was doing with it, all I had to do was bring the images from AutoCAD, Photoshop and Illustrator into InDesign). That said, it was possible to do. Running any one of those programs is fine, but running a number together gets too slow. Therefore, I need more RAM and a proper graphics card for the 3D stuff.
We have been told we'll be using Vectorworks, Sketchup, Adobe CS and optional rendering programs (Maya, Rhino). I know I should contact the school to see exactly what they mean by "optional", and I will be doing that. I would also like to start using SolidWorks for personal use.
Okay, now that I've given a bunch of information that isn't really important, considering I am not asking what computer to get, I'll get to the root of this post. In studios (of course they vary, but in your experience) how often do you do actual graphic work and/or rendering on your computer. I'm guessing, especially as an undergrad program, 3D work won't be that big a part of what we are doing. For presentations, I'll be able to do everything in some sort of presentation format (e.g. PDF, pretty much any video format at pretty decent quality, etc.) on my current macbook.
So, I am asking whether or not a macbook incapable of lots of design programs at once or pretty much anything 3D/rendering is acceptable for my undergrad (and preferably also for my imminent grad) studio courses, provided I have a more capable desktop system in my room (I live on campus about a 10-15 minute walk from the building my studio is in).
If you feel the need to suggest a specific system, feel free to, maybe it will be useful.
Schools seem to vary between doing the majority of work at home or school. Both my undergraduate and graduate programs had a very active studio culture with very students working at home, and for the most part those students that choose to work at home generally suffered.
That said, since you already have a laptop, I would recommend spending the money on the desktop. Generally with a set budget you will find that you will get a better desktop which then you can use as your primary computer, esp for modeling and rendering, and then you have the laptop to do minor stuff at home or when your running renderings on the desktop. I started my graduate program with just the desktop and purchased a laptop at the beginning of thesis (and wished I had done it much sooner). By the end, I had a really great process of being able to work on presentation boards on the laptop while the desktop cranked out renderings and animations.
When it comes to deciding what components to get graphics cards will help your performance when using Adobe applications. With things like Maya and generally other 3D applications the rendering capabilities is derived from processing power. Graphics cards only assist in the speed of operation of the program.
Personally if you can afford it, I would recommend looking at the Mac Desktops. For the equipment you get, it's the best price as Dell, BOXX, or others do not provide (or at least as of last summer) the same quality of equipment for the price, and since you can just run it with windows, it's the best of both worlds. I would never purchase a Dell, especially for the amount of graphic and modeling programs you will be using. Almost everyone in my studio who had a Dell regretted the decision for choosing price over quality. And their customer service is crap.
In addition, I would suggest purchasing 2 monitors. At first it sounds really unnecessary but once you start using your 3D modeling apps that tend to have many menu windows that need to be opened at once, your screen real estate quickly disappears. Plus on slower days, it's pretty nice to have work on one and a movie on the other (or work on both and a movie on the laptop!)
Ok...well i think it all comes down to your budget.
Then, you need to know exactly what it is that you need, other words, how much processing power, how much graphic card, but definitely a minimum of 2gb RAM that's for sure.
so far, powerful desktops are a hell lot cheaper than good laptops.
so you need to ask your self : how flexible am i ? would i rather have a stationed computer or work wherever i desire? "plus the flexibility of showing your work to your instructor or a colleague. maybe taking your laptop to classes...etc"
there's a large range of laptops that can do everything a student needs, and they're not that expensive.
here's some stuff you need to know:
CPU: determines the rendering speed in 3d programs.
DEDICATED graphic card: determines the work flow of ur graphic software
RAM: the more the better.
then again, it all comes down to your budget and flexibility.
"so far, powerful desktops are a hell lot cheaper than good laptops.
so you need to ask your self : how flexible am i ? would i rather have a stationed computer or work wherever i desire? "plus the flexibility of showing your work to your instructor or a colleague. maybe taking your laptop to classes...etc"
Yes, this is exactly what I am asking. Personally, I think I can deal with a simple notebook and a more powerful desktop for 3D and rendering, but I am interested to see how much of this type of work others did in studio, or somewhere not at home. I don't anticipate doing any coffee shop work or anything like that, it will probably be either studio or home, as I don't usually leave campus unless I'm doing non-school activities. What was your experience though? Was it necessary to have portable performance, or only basic computing abilities while on the road with a stationary work station?
ok, portability is always a welcome, but NOT a necessity. unless you're taking ur laptop to regular classes but that's another issue.
Studio-wise, you rarely need to pick-up ur laptop to show ur instructor somthing as they mostly "if not always" prefer print-outs, also during class they usually come by your work space and discuss what you've done so far, what problems you're facing...etc
during my first freshman year, ive never had any computer work done in STUDIO since everything was done manually. and the computer was only needed to perform really basic tasks such as case studies, searches, report typing...etc
also as a freshman, i had two CAD courses "one in AutoCAD and the other in 3ds Max" and never really needed a laptop since everything can be done in the computer lab.
so you need to check your curriculum and see if you have any computer related studio work to make sure.
to sum things up, if you're a person that perfer's staying up late in studio and dont mind crashing at ur work place. then u have my blessings with a desktop (no laptop). however, if you're into taking your work to your dorm or home after classes, then the Desktop+light laptop can be very affective. the laptop will be used to display your desktop's work and perform light changes until you get back to your desktop again.
so the question right now may be: What's a good desktop for an Architecture student?
i've studied the pc market thus far and came up with this "price-friendly" combo:
CPU: AMD Triple core OR quad core "more cores the better to reduce rendering times"
GPU: ATI 4870 "one is enough, crossfire is over-rated"
Ram: 4gb DDR2 1066mhz
you dont need any special cooling, though you should consider a good power supply 600Watt minimum.
you can fill out the rest "DVD..HDD..etc"
this should round up about 1100$ "including monitor, mouse, keyboard"
you can still reduce the price by having a double core processor and a less achiving GPU than the ATI4870... and all programs will still work great. however, this is the setting i personally recommend for any student studying architecture this semester, and this should be enough till graduation, if not post-graduation even.
As for laptops (if you're considering the desktop+laptop scenario)
CPU: Centrino 2
GPU: Nvidia 9600 (=Nvidia GT130) or ATI 4530 minumum
Thanks. No worries about the long answer; information is good. I'm leaning towards the new desktop + my current macbook at the moment, though I've just sent an email off to someone who was in the program last year, who will be able to comment on specific requirements for computer use.
Jul 26, 09 5:42 pm ·
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Studio life (another what computer thread)
So, I'm entering a bachelor of environmental design program in a little over a month and probably need a new computer.
My question revolves not so much around exactly what computer I should get (I can handle that myself), but rather the never ending debate of desktop vs. laptop.
Currently I'm on a two year old bottom of the line macbook (2Ghz Core 2 duo, 1GB 667Ghz RAM, crap integrated Intel GPU). While not blazingly fast, the difference between this and my parents new imac with far nicer specs is negligible (I tried a bootup race and won) when doing every day things. My issues occur when I start running multiple graphic based programs or (god forbid) try to do 3D. I managed to get through an AutoCAD class running ACAD 09 through Paralells but it was super annoying (and couldn't do anything in 3D without killing myself). Putting together the posters for a contest took me something like 4hrs (I had everything and knew what I was doing with it, all I had to do was bring the images from AutoCAD, Photoshop and Illustrator into InDesign). That said, it was possible to do. Running any one of those programs is fine, but running a number together gets too slow. Therefore, I need more RAM and a proper graphics card for the 3D stuff.
We have been told we'll be using Vectorworks, Sketchup, Adobe CS and optional rendering programs (Maya, Rhino). I know I should contact the school to see exactly what they mean by "optional", and I will be doing that. I would also like to start using SolidWorks for personal use.
Okay, now that I've given a bunch of information that isn't really important, considering I am not asking what computer to get, I'll get to the root of this post. In studios (of course they vary, but in your experience) how often do you do actual graphic work and/or rendering on your computer. I'm guessing, especially as an undergrad program, 3D work won't be that big a part of what we are doing. For presentations, I'll be able to do everything in some sort of presentation format (e.g. PDF, pretty much any video format at pretty decent quality, etc.) on my current macbook.
So, I am asking whether or not a macbook incapable of lots of design programs at once or pretty much anything 3D/rendering is acceptable for my undergrad (and preferably also for my imminent grad) studio courses, provided I have a more capable desktop system in my room (I live on campus about a 10-15 minute walk from the building my studio is in).
If you feel the need to suggest a specific system, feel free to, maybe it will be useful.
just buy a tough laptop and then a rendering desktop (if needed)
Schools seem to vary between doing the majority of work at home or school. Both my undergraduate and graduate programs had a very active studio culture with very students working at home, and for the most part those students that choose to work at home generally suffered.
That said, since you already have a laptop, I would recommend spending the money on the desktop. Generally with a set budget you will find that you will get a better desktop which then you can use as your primary computer, esp for modeling and rendering, and then you have the laptop to do minor stuff at home or when your running renderings on the desktop. I started my graduate program with just the desktop and purchased a laptop at the beginning of thesis (and wished I had done it much sooner). By the end, I had a really great process of being able to work on presentation boards on the laptop while the desktop cranked out renderings and animations.
When it comes to deciding what components to get graphics cards will help your performance when using Adobe applications. With things like Maya and generally other 3D applications the rendering capabilities is derived from processing power. Graphics cards only assist in the speed of operation of the program.
Personally if you can afford it, I would recommend looking at the Mac Desktops. For the equipment you get, it's the best price as Dell, BOXX, or others do not provide (or at least as of last summer) the same quality of equipment for the price, and since you can just run it with windows, it's the best of both worlds. I would never purchase a Dell, especially for the amount of graphic and modeling programs you will be using. Almost everyone in my studio who had a Dell regretted the decision for choosing price over quality. And their customer service is crap.
In addition, I would suggest purchasing 2 monitors. At first it sounds really unnecessary but once you start using your 3D modeling apps that tend to have many menu windows that need to be opened at once, your screen real estate quickly disappears. Plus on slower days, it's pretty nice to have work on one and a movie on the other (or work on both and a movie on the laptop!)
also, you will need two monitors so you can watch Hulu and Watctvsitcom.coms while you sit and get fat for 16 hours a day in studio.
iMacs woot woot!
Ok...well i think it all comes down to your budget.
Then, you need to know exactly what it is that you need, other words, how much processing power, how much graphic card, but definitely a minimum of 2gb RAM that's for sure.
so far, powerful desktops are a hell lot cheaper than good laptops.
so you need to ask your self : how flexible am i ? would i rather have a stationed computer or work wherever i desire? "plus the flexibility of showing your work to your instructor or a colleague. maybe taking your laptop to classes...etc"
there's a large range of laptops that can do everything a student needs, and they're not that expensive.
here's some stuff you need to know:
CPU: determines the rendering speed in 3d programs.
DEDICATED graphic card: determines the work flow of ur graphic software
RAM: the more the better.
then again, it all comes down to your budget and flexibility.
"so far, powerful desktops are a hell lot cheaper than good laptops.
so you need to ask your self : how flexible am i ? would i rather have a stationed computer or work wherever i desire? "plus the flexibility of showing your work to your instructor or a colleague. maybe taking your laptop to classes...etc"
Yes, this is exactly what I am asking. Personally, I think I can deal with a simple notebook and a more powerful desktop for 3D and rendering, but I am interested to see how much of this type of work others did in studio, or somewhere not at home. I don't anticipate doing any coffee shop work or anything like that, it will probably be either studio or home, as I don't usually leave campus unless I'm doing non-school activities. What was your experience though? Was it necessary to have portable performance, or only basic computing abilities while on the road with a stationary work station?
Thanks.
ok, portability is always a welcome, but NOT a necessity. unless you're taking ur laptop to regular classes but that's another issue.
Studio-wise, you rarely need to pick-up ur laptop to show ur instructor somthing as they mostly "if not always" prefer print-outs, also during class they usually come by your work space and discuss what you've done so far, what problems you're facing...etc
during my first freshman year, ive never had any computer work done in STUDIO since everything was done manually. and the computer was only needed to perform really basic tasks such as case studies, searches, report typing...etc
also as a freshman, i had two CAD courses "one in AutoCAD and the other in 3ds Max" and never really needed a laptop since everything can be done in the computer lab.
so you need to check your curriculum and see if you have any computer related studio work to make sure.
to sum things up, if you're a person that perfer's staying up late in studio and dont mind crashing at ur work place. then u have my blessings with a desktop (no laptop). however, if you're into taking your work to your dorm or home after classes, then the Desktop+light laptop can be very affective. the laptop will be used to display your desktop's work and perform light changes until you get back to your desktop again.
so the question right now may be: What's a good desktop for an Architecture student?
i've studied the pc market thus far and came up with this "price-friendly" combo:
CPU: AMD Triple core OR quad core "more cores the better to reduce rendering times"
GPU: ATI 4870 "one is enough, crossfire is over-rated"
Ram: 4gb DDR2 1066mhz
you dont need any special cooling, though you should consider a good power supply 600Watt minimum.
you can fill out the rest "DVD..HDD..etc"
this should round up about 1100$ "including monitor, mouse, keyboard"
you can still reduce the price by having a double core processor and a less achiving GPU than the ATI4870... and all programs will still work great. however, this is the setting i personally recommend for any student studying architecture this semester, and this should be enough till graduation, if not post-graduation even.
As for laptops (if you're considering the desktop+laptop scenario)
CPU: Centrino 2
GPU: Nvidia 9600 (=Nvidia GT130) or ATI 4530 minumum
RAM : the more the better.
and this should cost around 900$-ish
this HP is pritty much what i had in mind
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/store_access.do?template_type=series_detail&category=notebooks&series_name=dv4t_series
oh and i've never used a macbook pro or any mac machine so i cant really be much of help there sorry.
hope i've answered your questions, sorry for the long answer lol.
peace.
Thanks. No worries about the long answer; information is good. I'm leaning towards the new desktop + my current macbook at the moment, though I've just sent an email off to someone who was in the program last year, who will be able to comment on specific requirements for computer use.
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