<p>I recently got accepted into CalPoly Pomona for Architecture and I really want to go here! I realize, though, that I need a new laptop, so I was wondering if any **current ** architecture students could help me out…</p>
<p>The school’s website lists these minimum requirements:</p>
<p>Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Hard Drive: 300+ GB Hard Drive
Memory: 6+ GB RAM
Video: 1 GB Graphics RAM
Optical: CD/DVD-Rom RW
Wireless: Wireless LAN + Ethernet</p>
<p>The laptop I’m looking at (Asus Bamboo U53) surpasses these requirements EXCEPT for the RAM requirement. The RAM ONLY goes up to 4GB (4GB MAX), so I was wondering… is it really *really *necessary to have a minimum of 6GB RAM? To current arch students, what are the specs on your laptops? </p>
<p>Any help is good help, thanks!</p>
<p>those seem like over the top “minumum” requirements, especially the 300gb hard drive. There’s no way you’d be using all of that as an architecture major or any major for that matter. However I could see the RAM being one of the most important specs, so if I were you I’d get less hard drive space and more RAM (if they allow you).</p>
<p>Do you think 4GB RAM would be enough? I really like the Asus Bamboo one and I think 4GB would be enough, right? I’m just not sure, though… sometimes colleges give high specs or tell you you need these minimums, but never really use all of it.</p>
<p>NB: I want my new laptop to be a really good one cos it’s a desktop replacement and the only computer I will have, as I currently do not have my own…</p>
<p>So Ive been studying architecture at Ventura College for a few years and I also was just recently admitted to Cal Poly Pomona Architecture, and from what I’ve done at VC the better the computer you have the easier your life will be. The programs you will be using are much more graphics intensive than the programs like sketchup that I have been using. I have a hp laptop with intel dual core 3 gigs of memory and a 300gb hard drive. The 3d modeling/rendering I did with my laptop took tons of time, so a 6 gigs of memory would really help a lot. If not more. Not to mention a dedicated graphics card would be nice.The 9gigs of memory in my desktop does the job fine so between 6 and 9 gigs of memory would work well.</p>
<p>300gb hd will fill up fast especially if you have music or video and pictures on it. The standard is getting larger and larger so I would get at least 500gb</p>
<p>But you need an external drive also so 300gb and the external drive 300+ gb will do you just fine.</p>
<p>The most important aspects you need to look at are the graphics card ( or dedicated graphics memory and the ram</p>
<p>Intel integrated graphics suck same with any integrated graphics chipsets, so I would go with an ati graphics card or Nvidia, which is what I have in my desktop, which I will probably upgrade.</p>
<p>Also intel quad core i7 processors are really fast, and the laptop versions have great battery life.</p>
<p>Also my laptop is a 15 in screen, which is kinda small especially for 3d modeling , cad and photoshop so try to get a 17 in</p>
<p>Hp has a really great refurbished store online but you have to call them to find out thier products.</p>
<p>I got a desktop intel i7 processor, 1000gb hard drive, 9 gigs of memory, 22 in monitor, with shipping and warranty for less than $700, and they have great laptops.</p>
<p>hope that helps!</p>
<p>Make sure your laptop uses DDR3 SDRAM, that way you can (later on) further expand the RAM. If you get DDR2, you’ll be limited to how much RAM you can add. Also, like Archdrew said, make sure you get a dedicated GPU (and not an integrated one).</p>