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damiensmunki · Jun 28, 2004, 07:17 PM

Hi... I'm getting ridiculously stressed out over choosing a new computer. My problem lies in that in a year, I may be going into a Masters of Architecture program, but I'm also considering a PhD program in Psychology (yes, I know...very different fields, but that's another very long and drawn out story). I won't need much power for Psych, but I will need an incredibly powerful (from my understanding) computer to run architectural design software. Do you all think that the 17" PowerBook with 128 MB of video Ram and the 5400RPM HD would suffice for a degree program in architecture? Please help me with this. Let me know any, and I mean any, of your thoughts, concerns, or suggestions. Thank you very much.

Rob

Arch. · Jun 28, 2004, 07:47 PM

Rob,
Hey I am just finishing a BArch and I did it using my 1.33 17" until it was stolen last friday. You will find that it will run anything that you can throw at it most of the time. I did sometimes use the G5's for heavy Form-Z and Maya stuff without any problems. Are you going to use it for 3d renderings or 2d drawings? What grad prog. are you considering for masters?

damiensmunki · 08:24 PM

Arch,
Thanks for your response. I don't really know what I'll be doing with it. I'm currently in undergraduate study, earning a BS in Psychology, but I'm questioning my pursuing it any further. Architecture is something I've always tossed around in the back of my mind, and I'm thinking I'd enjoy it. One of my friends is at Mississippi State in their Bachelors program, and I'll be visiting him soon to check out the field a little more. It's only his first year, so I don't know how helpful it will be in my decision. I'm looking into Tulane's Masters program. It's an accelerated 3.5 year program for graduates of programs outside of architecture. I'm also considering Mississippi State, but I don't know how much longer I can survive the Mississippi atmosphere and attitude. It's pretty suffocating. Others are the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Tennessee. Thanks again for your help, and please, throw all the advice you can my way.

Rob

Edit: How portable do you find the 17" to be? Did you have trouble taking it with you to studios and such? Oh...and I'd like to hear from people outside of architecture as well. Anyone who can comment on the PB's ability to do graphics heavy design work.

Arch. · Jun 28, 2004, 11:08 PM

Originally posted by damiensmunki:
Arch,
Thanks for your response. I don't really know what I'll be doing with it. I'm currently in undergraduate study, earning a BS in Psychology, but I'm questioning my pursuing it any further. Architecture is something I've always tossed around in the back of my mind, and I'm thinking I'd enjoy it. One of my friends is at Mississippi State in their Bachelors program, and I'll be visiting him soon to check out the field a little more. It's only his first year, so I don't know how helpful it will be in my decision. I'm looking into Tulane's Masters program. It's an accelerated 3.5 year program for graduates of programs outside of architecture. I'm also considering Mississippi State, but I don't know how much longer I can survive the Mississippi atmosphere and attitude. It's pretty suffocating. Others are the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Tennessee. Thanks again for your help, and please, throw all the advice you can my way.

Rob

Edit: How portable do you find the 17" to be? Did you have trouble taking it with you to studios and such? Oh...and I'd like to hear from people outside of architecture as well. Anyone who can comment on the PB's ability to do graphics heavy design work.

Rob,
The 17 rocks in the studio and portability isnt an issue because you will live there..just be sure not to leave it on your cutting mat or it will warp it and lock it to your desk with a kensington lock because people always forget to lock the door. I guess that before I tell you my opinion of those grad schools i'd want to know what it is that you are interested in studying. I think that you should decide what you are interested about Architecture in and pick/visit those schools. Mississippi feels a bit more like a vocational/technical school...going by the samples of student work.

damiensmunki · 12:57 AM

Arch,
Thanks for the advice. What are your opinions of the programs other than MS State? I'm not sure what I'd like to study. I don't want to sound stupid to you, so keep in mind that I haven't even had one class in architecture. I'm interested in more artistic design...Lol...things one probably wouldn't find in MS. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you, regarding my interests in architecture. It's always been interesting to me, but I know nothing about it or the fields that comprise architecture. From where did you get your degree?
Rob

Edit: Also, what were the specs on your computer? How much RAM? Speed of HD? How much video RAM? Thanks for all your help.

Halfloaf · Jun 29, 2004, 05:38 AM

I'd love to know what programs other people are using? ArchiCAD? Vectorworks? SketchUp?

Cheers.

Jacques

galvs · Jun 29, 2004, 07:05 AM

Best 3D ever, pick a demo in

www.artifice.com

Best wishes,

Galvs

damiensmunki · Jun 29, 2004, 10:29 AM

Originally posted by galvs:
Best 3D ever, pick a demo in

www.artifice.com

Best wishes,

Galvs

Galvs,
That definitely looks like cool software. Will it run sufficiently on a PowerBook? Thanks!
Rob

galvs · Jun 29, 2004, 12:03 PM

fine in my Pismo (G3 500/384RAM). People at artifice are working on a Mac OSX version, I think.
For architectural drawings, VectorWorks is the winner by far (cost-efecctive).
Cheers, Galvs.

Arch. · Jun 29, 2004, 08:51 PM

Originally posted by damiensmunki:
Galvs,
That definitely looks like cool software. Will it run sufficiently on a PowerBook? Thanks!
Rob

Sketch up is better....I like it because its not trying to be something its not. The samples all look really bad to me....

Timo · Jun 29, 2004, 09:14 PM

I've been out of school too long to know how much modeling gets on a machine, but I suspect a 17" PB would be fine.

I like SketchUp -- it would be a great tool in school. Something complicated like VectorWorks probably isn't as useful. Remember, you learn how to do construction drawings long after you graduate from school.

It's my understanding many schools still work with AutoCad, so you should know that. It's not been ported to Macintosh, and I wouldn't hold your breath waiting, either.

As for schools, until recently the fabulously talented Chris Risher taught at MS State. I wouldn't be too quick to discount what they've got goin' on in Jackson.

damiensmunki · Jun 29, 2004, 11:34 PM

Thanks for all your responses. So will I even be using a computer much in an architecture degree program, or will I mostly be building physical models?

Arch. · Jun 29, 2004, 11:49 PM

Originally posted by damiensmunki:
Thanks for all your responses. So will I even be using a computer much in an architecture degree program, or will I mostly be building physical models?

It depends on what school you go to and how much you want to use it within your design process.

Timo · Jun 29, 2004, 11:49 PM

We built a lot of models, but it's too difficult to say what specifically you'd be up to.

OTOH I doubt there's a school that's moved completely away from model-building. Hell, you might even need to draft by hand; who knows!

Arch. · Jun 29, 2004, 11:51 PM

Originally posted by Timo:
I've been out of school too long to know how much modeling gets on a machine, but I suspect a 17" PB would be fine.

I like SketchUp -- it would be a great tool in school. Something complicated like VectorWorks probably isn't as useful. Remember, you learn how to do construction drawings long after you graduate from school.

It's my understanding many schools still work with AutoCad, so you should know that. It's not been ported to Macintosh, and I wouldn't hold your breath waiting, either.

As for schools, until recently the fabulously talented Chris Risher taught at MS State. I wouldn't be too quick to discount what they've got goin' on in Jackson.

Is there any student work with rigor on that web site or is it all construction detail explorations?

Arch. · Jun 29, 2004, 11:54 PM

Originally posted by Timo:
We built a lot of models, but it's too difficult to say what specifically you'd be up to.

OTOH I doubt there's a school that's moved completely away from model-building. Hell, you might even need to draft by hand; who knows!

Get ready to build lots of models! I'd use the CA glue also...

Timo · Jun 29, 2004, 11:56 PM

Originally posted by Arch.:
Is there any student work with rigor on that web site or is it all construction detail explorations?

Eh, I thought the "detail" was supposed to "inform the project." Anyway, don't know anything about MS other than Risher.

rag on a muffin · Jun 30, 2004, 12:23 AM

hi all in this thread. i got a job in an architect office as a paid intern, and doing auto-cad, unfortunately on a dell, with a whopping 64 megs of ram, which cant stand any load i put on it.

i would love to do cad on my mac, but they are teaching me auto-cad, and thats all they know.

could someone tell me the CLOSEST mac cad program, as in practically a clone? this would be great.

recently, we had some computers stolen, for some reason the thieves were very stupid, and stole some of the cheap computers, not even ones worth anything to todays standards (Pentium 3s)

because of the thievery, and the constant crap of windows, they thought to switch to some inexpensive macs (like an imac, or ibooks), and said they would not mind a change in programs, as in no big leaps.

can anyone help me with this situation? (no virtual PC please, i might as well support microsoft by using their systems.)

Arch. · Jul 1, 2004, 09:11 PM

Originally posted by rag on a muffin:
hi all in this thread. i got a job in an architect office as a paid intern, and doing auto-cad, unfortunately on a dell, with a whopping 64 megs of ram, which cant stand any load i put on it.

i would love to do cad on my mac, but they are teaching me auto-cad, and thats all they know.

could someone tell me the CLOSEST mac cad program, as in practically a clone? this would be great.

recently, we had some computers stolen, for some reason the thieves were very stupid, and stole some of the cheap computers, not even ones worth anything to todays standards (Pentium 3s)

because of the thievery, and the constant crap of windows, they thought to switch to some inexpensive macs (like an imac, or ibooks), and said they would not mind a change in programs, as in no big leaps.

can anyone help me with this situation? (no virtual PC please, i might as well support microsoft by using their systems.)

I'd say that Archicad is a direct competetor for Acad's Revit software....They are very much the same flavor. You might try Vectorworks for 2d const. docs. it's a very nice way of doing the entire project start to finish.

twoworads · Jul 1, 2004, 10:11 PM

I am a college student and I use both VectorWorks 10 and SketchUp for theatre design. I can easily run VectorWorks and SketchUp at the same time - importing and exporting. Granted I have 1.5 GB RAM, however, I only have the 64 MB GForce4 Chip. I also use many of the Adobe CS products as well for individuals graphics. Playing music and drawing can be slow on some machines, but my PowerBook does just fine.

Hope that helps...