Student architecture laptop

[LoLy2603]

Hello everyone,
I have joined this forum because I need help, I am an architecture student and 2 days ago my computer crashed when I tried to work with a revit2012 file.

I usually work a lot on the computer and because of this I have decided to buy a new laptop as soon as possible, one that can support heavy work with:

• AutoCad 2012
• Revit 2012
• 3DMax 2012
• Map 2012
• Photoshop
• Sketchup

As I don't have much knowledge about computers, I don't know what requirements I should ask for a computer to avoid crashing it at the first opportunity (graphics card, ram...).

What I am looking for is something that works well, doesn't go too far over budget and is as light and portable as possible, as I have to carry it around all over Barcelona on a daily basis.

If you could advise me, you would be doing me a great favor.

[Fassou]

First of all, Welcome to the Forum :sisi:

Second, do not post duplicate posts again :nono:

And as an answer to your question, you can read this post: Laptop for Architecture

Salu2!

[XaviJS]

I will reply with the same post jeje. Just to comment that my girlfriend has found the laptop great for everything.

Just noting that if you are going to use the laptop to work as your main PC, you should look at a bigger screen. If it's only for editing 4 things while doing a group project then it's great.

Otherwise another option is to buy yourself a laptop like that, with HDMI output. and a 21' or 23' monitor for home. And when you get home you just connect the laptop to the monitor and continue with your work more comfortably.

Regards!

[LoLy2603]

What do you think about the Vaio C series? I've been looking and they fit within my budget, but I'm not sure if the graphics card in this series is the most suitable for the use I'm going to give it.

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-2640M, 2.8GHz
Operating system: Windows® 7 Home Premium original
Display: 35.5cm LCD 1600 x 900 + webcam
Hard drive: 500 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
Memory: 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM

The graphics info didn't appear in the specifications and they haven't given me the option to choose it as it happens with other series <:(

[LoLy2603]

It will be my main PC and the use is quite continuous, I don't need it for four jobs, I need it to support me for whole afternoons and nights of work and rendering. I need it not to spend whole nights to get a 3dmax render

[packosoft]

If budget (and mobility) is not a problem, I would look at the 17" Alienware models that can be fitted with 2 graphics cards, which I assume will help with rendering.

[Bm4n]

You will have to buy a cart to carry a 17-inch Alienware… My recommendation is a 13-15 inch Vaio with dedicated graphics and SSD

[LoLy2603]

Regarding the size, 15.6 is the maximum I intend to look at and as a minimum it would be 13.

I went to a store and they spoke very well of the macs, now I am thinking about the macbook air, which is 13' in size but weighs just over 1,350g.
•Dual-core Intel Core i5 at 1.7 GHz
•4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
•128 GB flash storage

Does anyone know how the 3d programs work with mac??

[Tecnho]

Well, the Mac is great for this type of work, but I think the Air's graphics are lacking, you would have to go for the MacBook Pro with dedicated graphics, but for similar prices, although it weighs more, you have the Alienware 14", an interesting option.

[XaviJS]

I already told you that 13.3'' is not enough if you are going to do a lot of Autocad and 3D Studio…

Look for at least 15''. Otherwise you won't see even 1/4 of what you are drawing while maintaining a decent zoom and hand controls.

My girlfriend is used to 21.4'' and working on the 13'' one is clearly noticeable... If you buy another monitor to work hard then perfect.

For rendering I think it uses more of the CPU than the graphics.

my recommendation: look for a laptop with at least 4gb of ram, i5 or i7, dedicated ATI or nVIDIA graphics, and if you can an SSD the better. The rest are add-ons.

I don't recommend MAC unless you want to do an ugly installation of Windows on the MAC to run certain programs that you will need and may not exist on MAC.

Regards!

[LoLy2603]

XaviJS, I know that 13' is very small, the truth is that I am looking for something at least 15', but I proposed the mac air of 13' because it was the thinnest I had found and that could work well.

This afternoon I have been to an apple store and from what they have told me, it is possible to make the mac start up as a mac or as windows, without this harming the performance of the computer, which would allow me to work with the programs that interest me.
They have also told me that these computers work very well in this way and that with the air I would not have enough, that it would have to be the MacBook Pro. Has anyone worked with a mac in this way?
But of course, that is what the apple salesman says... And from my point of view the MacBook Pro 15' is a brick! Is there something on the market that is 15' that weighs less than 2kg?

[Bm4n]

You can't have everything. The one that best fits what you want, as I said before, is a Vaio 13" - 15" with dedicated graphics and SSD. I seem to be repeating myself, so I'll explain it again to see if you understand:

That particular one is powered by the S series, which has a 6470M and the 1600x900 option on 13" would be ideal for you, or 15" which logically is heavier. A basic one has a reasonable price and buying an SSD and RAM separately would give it great performance. Look at the features and you'll see that it's the smallest & lightest & most powerful you can find, until they decide to stop putting readers in those laptops. Other options like the Macbook Pro are a bit heavier and much more expensive, and the rest of the 15" ones are much heavier and thicker, although more economical.

There would be no problem if you bought a Mac as you said, many people use it with Windows as if it were any other laptop. The "problem" is that currently they have stopped installing integrated ones in those under 15" (logical because the 520s weren't great either), and Intel's integrated ones are just enough, although really neither a 6470 or 6770 will be ideal for Autocad. And today you can't pretend to use a small laptop as a Autocad work team and similar, they work, but they're not the right choice. In reality there aren't many laptops dedicated to those tasks, the only one that comes to mind is the Lenovo W520 and there we would already be talking about something serious, with professional graphics and quad-core, from 1700€ 15" and almost 3kg.

In conclusion, any laptop will serve you to visualize Cad, but to work with it you should look for something with dedicated graphics and to do something serious a specific one like the Lenovo. For everything else... a desktop.

Regards

[XaviJS]

What we also have to comment on is that we always go overboard with the power for our PCs… xD

That Lenovo they mention would be the most suitable for doing large-scale projects, for doing what you can do in the course, you have more than enough, even any with an intel graphics card, yes, the cheap intel ones that work so poorly.

To do 4 walls you don't need any machine. My cousin with his old P3 with 128MB of RAM was doing projects of this type in autocad. It slowed down a lot but because of the RAM, since practically all the time it was using the hard drive.

You won't have this problem with any laptop with 4Gb with a 64bit OS. However, if you want to gain agility when rendering 3D in 3DStudio, a dedicated graphics card is recommended. The difference is noticeable when the scene is truly loaded. I insist that with 4 walls there is no difference between the performance of an intel and a dedicated one.

So, nothing, i5/i7, 4Gb, nvidia/ATI, 15" or 13" + 21" HDMI (this would be my favorite), SSD (interesting but not necessary).

Greetings!

[Bm4n]

I don't agree if you think Xavi Lenovo says that his laptop is for people who use Cad occasionally so it's not my opinion, someone who really works with Cad needs that and more. Agree that we are talking about a student and his projects are not going to be professional, and that's why the recommendation is a conventional dedicated one and not a professional one, but let's not fool ourselves with a normal integrated one as you rightly say it will serve him for four walls (and with each new version more is required).

Don't pretend that I carry a 21" monitor hehe. The SSD I consider very recommendable in any current laptop as long as you have a minimum budget, and using programs that load memory for little you can expand the RAM to 8GB. The essential thing is a current i5 (Sandy) along with a good integrated one from 6470 upwards, nothing less because they perform very basic and it's not worth it. And I would also value the screen resolution especially in 13" because otherwise it will have a more reduced work space, and that obviously can't be expanded.

[Franziskaner]

hello everyone, well, I will try to contribute my little grain of sand.
I don't know anyone who uses a laptop for AutoCAD at a professional level (note that for going to the site or assembly or whatever is necessary, yes, but that's for taking measurements, providing some data to the operators and little more) to work with AutoCAD "seriously" all the people I know (and I know quite a few) use desktop PCs with their corresponding specific cards for AutoCAD. Let's say that a laptop is not the most suitable for AutoCAD and you take away my 24 inch screen and I have a heart attack that spending the day zooming in and out is not for me

[LoLy2603]

How about this one?

Vaio VPCSA4C5E

IntelCore(TM)i7-2640M,2.8GHz

500 GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm)

8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM

AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6630M 1GB

[LoLy2603]

IntelCore(TM)i7-2640M,2.8GHz
Windows 7 Professional original
500 GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm)
AMD Radeon(TM) HD 6630M 1GB
8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM

could it work?

[XaviJS]

It will work, it will work safely xD. If you want to stretch a little more, check out the SSD.

Once you start AutoCAD, make sure you have hardware acceleration enabled and have updated the AutoCAD configuration. You will see that it has a tool for this.

Here I leave you a link with opinions of more people who think like me, that the graphics are not as important as we paint it:

Graphics card for AutoCAD, is the quadro FX worth it?

Greetings!

[Bm4n]

There will be opinions for all tastes, but it is better to rely on objective data. And honestly, I excuse reading a post from N3D :ugly: and less from 7 years ago, if you want to debate on that topic I think you will get more clear from this branch:

[Consejo] Tarjeta gráfica para CAD, renderización 3D y diseño gráfico - HardLimit

PD: And anyway, one topic has little to do with another, one thing is to compare a 3D graphic with a professional one which is something very debatable and another very different thing is to say that an Intel integrated one is going to give a minimum of performance in any 3D application... objectively they perform very little, there is not much discussion possible, a dedicated graphic in a laptop is something highly recommended in general.