Hi, a laptop for and architecture student?

Question

Hi, I am an arch student and I need a laptop for next semester ill buy it around january. My budget is no more than 1,900 dollars. What is the best laptop I could get for that money? I sould mainly use it for cad, 3ds max, maya, renderings, photohops and illustrator. Other uses would be movies and music player. PLease help me... thanks in advance

Answer 1

honestly, you probably won't get a GOOD laptop for under $2500. I have an alienware (i'm drawing on it right now) and, well, let’s just say it was more than your willing to spend.

we seem to be using all the same programs except i use rhino which models in nurbs. since the graphics card is an integral part in your computer functioning at the level you need, alienware is nice because it offers dual 512 graphics cards.

there are plusses and minuses to any computer. i know you can get a new ibm for under 2k. i have three friends with similar systems from ibm, two have little to no problems, the other has had to send it back 3 times and is now selling it and buying a new one. apparently the type of graphics card she has isn't compatible with nurbs and it crashes every time she runs rhino. since graphics cards are soldered into a laptop they can't change it out.

i know others who run windows on macs and i believe you can get one for around 2k. they are less susceptible to viruses which can run rampant on school servers and the mac os runs photoshop and all other adobe programs much better than pcs. they're cheaper when you get a smaller screen, also much easier to carry around.

my alienware is a 17" monitor and it weighs a ton. it's almost impossible to bike with and when you're going home at 4am, you won't want to lug a 20lb computer around with you. You could easily get a big monitor and lock it to your desk in studio (when you save a lil more money or perhaps as a holiday gift).
also, our school has a deal with hp, and i've been able to price out systems; a good one is $2200 and a great one is $2500. check to see if you school has a deal with any brands.

it's best if you can actually see and feel the laptop before you buy it to make sure it works with your style of working. for example, i use my laptop... on my lap. but my system vents out of the bottom and gets really hot, consequentially i have burn marks on my legs from hours of working. also, my cd drive exits out of the front of my computer and my belt is always opeing the drive. i know these are little things that may seem minor but with the time you'll be spending on your system, can make a big impact on productivity.

and on a final note, please make sure you buy a copy of windows xp professional to ensure that your software will actually run on your new computer. good luck!

Answer 2

with a little more money, consider buying an apple

but theres alot of good laptops out there now for that price range; toshiba, *some* sony vaios, and alienware.

you should also consider how portable you want this to be
the more powerful a laptop is, the bigger and heavier it'll be.

i personally suggest getting a desktop, for convenience sake

but if you really need the mobility and power, look in the line of gaming PCs.

(a few must haves: tons of ram--2gb minimum. decent hard drive. decent graphics card. Core 2 Duo processor minimum.)

Answer 3

Hi. Look for a laptop with an advanced GPU and you should be OK. At that price range most should be well equipped.

Answer 4

Hi,basically any dual core( preferably AMD CPU ) with more than 2GB of memory can do it. Because you need to do a lot of 3D stuff, 4GB of memory is highly recommended. Good luck

Answer 5

I agree with the post above.Alienware would be a good idea. They are bulit for that kind of stuff + gaming & they look badass

Answer 6

Try Alienware?
photoshop, rendering, and all that stuff need GOOD graphics cards