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best platform for VW


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My firm is considering upgrading from VW 8 to VW9/RW9 and we are wondering which platform is best. Apple says that the PowerPC is twice as fast as a Pentium but is that true in the real world? Is it true with Vectorworks? Does VW run faster on a Mac?

I personally prefer Macs but I have to sell the boss on it. We want to get the platform that VW runs best on. If anyone has experince running VW9/RW9 on both platforms I would appreciate their input.

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I work cross platform daily on a mac G4 733 OS 9.2 (at work) and a PC 800 Win 98se(at home). In my 4 years of doing this and upgrading both systems more than once (both parts and whole systems) I really believe that you get the same performance for the same money. $1500 PC will perform about the same as a $1500 Mac, more or less irregardless of the techinical numbers (although I haven't check prices lately). Each has its advantages and weaknesses. For instance my PC will launch Photoshop almost instantly where there is a noticable wait on the mac, and the oppisite if true for VW. (go figure?)

When looking at VW, I really don't think either system has any real upper hand. In my current experience my 800 mhz PC will render slightly faster than my 733 mhz Mac, this is contrary to what the performance tests on the G4 chip would suggest, but its what I experience daily. To further complicate this with the release of OS X.1 (?) and the carbonized VW9 who knows.

Your argument for your boss should be more about your personal ability to perform on one system or the other. If you are more comfortable and more familiar with mac's, then you won't have the learning curve of getting familiar with the Windows operating system and vice versa. That's where the savings occures in my opinion.

I will say that with apple you will get a high quality computer in terms of hardware. On a PC you need to be very careful or buy from a good manufacturer like Gateway or Dell. Although I have no direct experience with them, I personally stay away from computer products sold in office and electronics stores.

Good Luck

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Hello,

I agree mostly with Mike except for the speed comparision. In my opinion a PC running Windows 2000 is much faster than a G4 / 733 Macintosh.

On my work we have an G4/733 and a Siemens Celsius 650 / 1 Ghz Dual processor workstation. The workstation is much faster despite Apple's claims that they have the fastest computer. Also at home I have a Siemens Scenic 860 Pentium III / 550 which outruns the G4/733. I searched a lot of what caused this lower speed on the Mac, only the necessary extensions are installed, no ATM or any other needless utility, still the G4/733 is a very poor performer in my opinion.

I came to the conclusion that there is a very great difference in the figures Apple gave us (they use processor performance figurs) and real life computing.

However, a G4/733 is a very fast machine and surely very good for using VectorWorks. However, if your boss can afford it, buy a G4/800 Dual processor because those will be the machines of the future. I am sure in the near future, you will be glad you did. And also to use VectorWorks smoothly, your RAM has to be 384 MB to be safe. When you use VectorWorks on a Mac, setup at least 150 MB to VectorWorks in OS 9.1. I found out that many Mac Errors type 1 - 2 - 3 disappear when you allow this hugh RAM memory to VectorWorks. I cannot explain why, maybe someone of Nemetschek can.

And indeed when you are used to a Mac, use a Mac. It will indeed saves your boss a lot of money on education. As a system administrator, I receive a lot of complaints when people have to switch their favourite systems they used to work. As a general rule, people who start working with us are asked which system they prefer. In this way we save money because they already know their computer, while we can help them with the real stuff of our company.

So I think it is best to see with which system you are most comfortable with. If you like to use Mac, choose a Mac otherwise choose PC. It is very important that you like the computer where you have to work 8 or more hours a day. When you are happy in your work, using the system you like, you can save your boss a lot of money because you can spend more time on your creativity than fighting a system that causes you a lof of difficulty.

I wish you very much success and very much VectorWorks pleasure.

Friendly greetings,

StarGate

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