<p>I know that I should probably decide where I am going first and get a computer second, but mine broke and I would like to replace it before May 1st.</p>
<p>My question is, what kinds (MAC vs PC and how powerful?) of computers are required at Carnegie Mellon and at Syracuse and when is the first time a computer is required. </p>
<p>Also, are Macs entirely standard in architecture now, or at some schools can one still use a PC for architectural stuff.</p>
<p>though both could work, PC’s are ultimately the preferred platform because most of the new software that comes out are typically formatted for PC’s. at my school, labs are PC dominated and the Macs are only used for things like video editing.</p>
<p>Check the school’s website. They usually list the computer requirements and if they don’t you could send an email o the school of architecture and ask.</p>
<p>PCs are almost universally preferred for business. More bang for the buck too</p>
<p>I’m also somewhat concerned about laptop policy. Would a 13’’ laptop work fine even though 14’‘-17’’ is generally the recommendation? I was thinking of getting a 13’’ 2.4 Ghz MacBook with RAM upgraded to 4GB or a MacBook Pro with the same specs, except costing $400 more for a 15’’ screen and few extra advantages in other hardware.</p>
<p>I would also be bringing a 20’'+ monitor with me to use in my apartment.</p>
<p>@sashimi46, where do you go, i vaguely remember you talking about Cornell before? </p>
<p>@PRUNEFACE, im not really concerned with business, im concerned with architecture. As it lies between art and science (which favor Mac and PC respectively) i am simply wondering which would be better for college. </p>
<p>@muffler, im going to probably get the 15inch PRO, because it has a removable battery, its 15inch and because its PRO and more powerful.</p>
<p>here at cornell most of the students use the PC computer labs where they pack the computers with a ton of ram and processing power so sometimes it’s not necessary to have a laptop. we also have a rendering farm where the computers are packed with double quad-core processing power for fast rendering. </p>
<p>personally I would not buy a laptop that’s bigger than 14" because it gets heavy and bulky and there are plenty of 14" laptops that can do the job just fine (just get a lot of RAM and a discrete graphics card).</p>
<p>macbook pro with all the memory you can possibly get and parallels/bootcamp/fusion</p>
<p><em>even though im having problems with mine…‘cryy’ now its at apple to get fixed 
boo</em></p>