<p>I have spent the last two weeks looking at very possible laptop. I have spent hours at stores looking at all the laptops and talking to the people there, both employees and other shoppers, and still am unconvinced on any laptop. </p>
<p>i was looking for a laptop with:
2.4 GHz
4 GB of ram
15' screen
250-320 GB of hard drive</p>
<p>at ND, which is where i will be going, they only service Dell, Apple, and Levono. </p>
<p>the debate is now, Mac or PC</p>
<p>I have been told by many that Mac is the laptop of the future and hands down the best buy for your money, but upon further investigation, I was told that a lot of programs like AUTOCAD and Revit work better on PCs. I know that you can run Windows on a Mac, but then you have to by the operating system (more $) and run bootcamp. but now the Mac can get viruses and can crash, and all the advantages of Mac are gone. It seemed to me that i buying mac is just to say you have a mac and for the look of the computer. i don't see why buying a PC with the same specs would be any less effective, especially if all the problems of windows are realized when using windows on a mac. I would essentially be buying two computers instead of just buying one. </p>
<p>can anyone help me determine if this logic is not correct, or give me any other advice (including on the specs i was looking for). i don't want to spend $2,000+ on a laptop without doing my research.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t buy anything till you get to the campus. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>You will see if you actually need a computer in your first year/term</p></li>
<li><p>you will have a chance to talk to older students, and teachers about what they think is best.</p></li>
<li><p>Because if you buy it today, its outdated tomorrow, if you buy it today, its worthless by september.</p></li>
<li><p>Windows 7 comes out soon and its much, much, much better than Vista.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’d say go for Windows… PCs are a much better value for the money than Macs, and you will be able to run more architecture software more efficiently. Also, the particular CPU speed doesn’t matter a huge amount … There’s not that much difference between say 2.3 Ghz or 2.4 or 2.6 as long as the CPU is still a Core 2 Duo. I think your RAM is more significant, and 4GB would be good to keep your computer future-proof. As for the hard drive, you might also want to look and see if you can get a 7200rpm hard drive which would be slightly faster than the typical 5400rpm ones.</p>
<p>i ended up with a mac for a myriad of reasons (one being that macs outnumber pcs at ND’s architecture program and computer usage doesn’t begin until 3rd year in arch.), but also for personal reasons (if it doesn’t work out then my sister could use it)</p>
<p>however, i urge everyone to spend a least 2 weeks researching, going to stores and talking to people (including other customers who are also doing research), and looking on line. you may think you found it, then realize the other is better. sleep on your choice for a while also. to put it simply, DO YOUR RESEARCH. It is worth it.</p>
<p>I concur: research, research and then research so more. Only you know what exactly you will be requiring your laptop to perform. S has a Mac laptop, but has invested in a large monitor for AUTOCAD and other design work. It really makes such a difference to see stuff on 20" as opposed to a 13" laptop screen.</p>
<p>so as an architect, what kind of system(Mac or Windows) is more useful and helpful??
which one runs out better??
is 2GB ram ok with the architectural software??</p>
<p>it all depends on the situation. right now autocad and programs like revit use PCs so if you are going into the profession now, PC is most definitely better. </p>
<p>however, I am going to ND, where computers are not stressed as much so I am got a Mac and in three years (when we start using more computer programs) I will re-evaluate and by then, they may have developed AutoCad or a program like it for Macs (w/technology these days). </p>
<p>it all depends on whether you are going into school or going into work, and if you are going into school then whether you use autocad, revit, etc, and how early you begin to use them.</p>
<p>Personally, I think that having a PC is better – sure you can always run windows on a Mac but its also cheaper to get a PC with a lot better stats. 2GB should be enough for now, but I’d recommend getting as much as possible.</p>
<p>^with mac lowering their prices (and the number of deals that you get with a mac now - a free ipod touch, free printer, 500 off price two weeks ago, student discount) the Mac and PC that I was looking at were almost identical and even favored the Mac.</p>
<p>I would just suggest to really looking at the options.</p>
<p>The dominant programs in the profession run exclusively on Windows; Autocad, Revit, and 3D Studio Max. However in our tests a Mac running Windows via Bootcamp was faster than a Dell running the same programs (same processor, video card, and RAM). At home I have Mac, and my daughter has a PowerBook at college. They do cost more, but are so much better designed. However if I were an engineer I would definitely buy a Dell ;-)</p>
<p>BTW; Revit is a total memory hog. We are running 4GB of memory with quad core processors and 27" monitors. Many of our models are over 200MB’s.</p>
<p>do you know if there is any possibility of designing a revit or autocad for mac in the future. I figured with technology and the way macs have been “taking” over many computer purchases over PCs, that eventually in the next several years, there will be some group that makes an autocad or 3D modeling system for mac</p>
<p>I wish Autodesk would consider porting their applications to the Mac, but they seem pretty hostile to the platform, and right now I think they feel it would take away from the development of their applications. It was about ten years ago when Autodesk sounded the end of the Mac in major architecture offices by stopping the development of their applications for the Mac. it will take a significant increase in the market share of the Mac for them to change their minds.</p>
<p>ok thanks for the info, I may end up switching to a PC is about 3/4 years and give the mac to my sister, because of the various components that only run on PC, but eventually use whatever firm I begin with recommends.</p>