<p>im entering my first year of architecture school this fall. i dont NEED a laptop my first year but i was going to get one anyways. one that i can use throughout my five years of undergrad.
theres just sooo many companies and so many options!! im open to mac/micro and dont have a specific budget but cheaper the better.. around $1000-1500?
and i heard that vaio is a bad computer to get for architecture..? is that true?</p>
<p>please help!!</p>
<p>As you do not need a laptop this year, wait and see what the upperclassmen at your school are using and what latest greatest machine they recommend.</p>
<p>If you're buying new and with a warranty, consider getting one that can be serviced right on campus as opposed to having it shipped away for repair.</p>
<p>Some schools contract out with manufacturers for on-site support and repair. Lehigh</a> University is one example of a school that has that policy.</p>
<p>Also check out the website of the school you will be attending. They list the suggested requirements and many times will have a place to purchase from.</p>
<p>I attended a program that required us to buy laptops from Apple. If you're looking for something cheap, Apple is not necessarily the way to go but I love my laptop. I've had it since 2004 and it still works. It doesn't crash, doesn't freeze and I didn't have to jump through hoops to install anti-virus software in order to connect to the on-campus wireless network.</p>
<p>Whatever you buy, make sure to bundle in a protection plan because bad things happen to computers. If you don't spill water on it, someone else will.</p>
<p>hello,
im buying my first laptop and i dont know very much about them. but i need a laptop that came hold photoshop, microsoft, and a few other programs. i know photoshop takes a lot of memory and i dont want to but a laptop that cant hold the program. anyway, my question is, how much memory should i look for in a laptop and what laptops would be good to take a look at?</p>
<p>for my first year of architecture at my CC we were already using Rhino 3D modeling, AutoCad, Maxwell Render, which are all very memory intensive. I have been using my Apple Mac Book Pro, as well as 3 other classmates of mine (using Mac Book Pros). We are all running BootCamp (to run Windows), with 2-3 Gigs of memory each. The laptops can handle all the programs. Many are using MacBooks as well, which are a cheaper alternative (more in your price range). Just make sure you have a minimum of 2 gigs of RAM and enough hard drive space.
I prefer using Apple laptops, because i feel they run Windows better as well as Mac OSX. So yeah find out what you need.</p>
<p>^ just curious, blaqink…if you don’t mind…which CC are you in now? it seems to be preparing the students pretty well…(i’m in a CC too ;))</p>
<p>i want to get a macbook pro, and i have been hearing that you can run windows as well as the mac processor on the laptop at once. I know you can have the iwork pre-installed, but how do you go about getting windows processor on the laptop.</p>
<p>hey bitterlemon, I am currently attending Pasadena City College. Yeah for a CC there program is very good. We had people from CPP come over and they said what we are doing in first year, they do in 2nd or 3rd year. So it’s good to know i have a solid foundation to work off of.</p>
<p>@hawkswim09
Well all the new macs come with the program BootCamp. And what that does is it lets you run Windows on the mac. The new macs since 2006 i believe have, Intel processors, which allow them to run windows as well. All you will need is a Windows Installation disk. Its very simple to install, as long as you know a little bit about computers, but Apple also lets you print out a PDF of directions before you even start. Its basically like running 2 coputers on one, in order to use the other you need to restart the computer and select it, and don’t use any virtual machine software, because they limit the amount of processing power you can use. And I doubt you will be using iWork for architecture. Yeah if you don’t mind paying the extra cash i would deffinately go with the MacBookPro. It’s an all around great computer, had it for almost 3 years, no problems.</p>
<p>if money is an issue, you get much better bang for your buck with PC computers. </p>
<p>At my school, almost every thesis student has a lenovo IBM laptop.</p>
<p>-a PC platform allows you to get the latest software coming out. This is important in architecture school when you tend to use the latest rendering machine, or parametric modeling software, etc and that stuff gets updated a lot. Most new software are designed for the PC and not for the MAC. Even though you can run windows on a MAC, it tends to be cumbersome (in my experience) and you might as well use a PC for that purpose. </p>
<p>-IBM’s are really well engineered and allows you to upgrade at a far lower price than mac’s</p>
<p>-you need to max out your computer with a lot of RAM and a good graphics card in order to be able to run memory heavy software like illustrator and 3d modeling software. you can get a PC laptop at almost half the price (around $1200) for those specs as opposed to a Mac which can go above 2000 dollars with the same specs</p>
<p>-be careful about using too much computer during your first year (unless you school is very dependent on it as a design tool). learn how to create architecture using your hands first. i can’t stress how important it is to be able to think and create architecture through hand drawing and model making.</p>