MattG Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 I am going to be getting a new computer. Anyone have any input, suggestions or recommendations on their experiences using vectorworks on their machines or machines they wish they were using for vectorworks? Matt Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 You're a Windows user and my experience is Mac but one thing I'm really glad we went for is solid state drives in our iMacs. They're expensive but one unexpected advantage that has paid for them already is our experience with crashes. They still happen but there's very little down time. Crashes execute much faster and reopening the file is much faster. No going to make a cup of tea now. Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Get a rocking video card. I wish I had thrown more money at mine, even though I had thrown a fair amount at it. Quote Link to comment
Patrick Fritsch Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Have one assembled and burned in by people who know CAD and Rendering. I got mine last december from @Xi Computers in California ( check their website ), the guy walked me through my requirements and explained the pros and cons of each components decision very patiently and then when I made up my mind I just called back, gave them my quote number and it was shipped to my doorstep in BC. You can really screw things up by self assembly like not putting enough watts power to feed you big graphics card or not enough fans etc... God is in the detail...I'll stick to learning my CAD software properly! Quote Link to comment
MattG Posted June 27, 2012 Author Share Posted June 27, 2012 I am going to get a mostly preconfigured laptop. I wish I could do a desktop, but I travel too much and that's not possible. Matt Quote Link to comment
Patrick Fritsch Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 They also do notebook workstations. Check em out http://www.xicomputer.com/ And no I don't get a commision, just trying to help out as others help me a lot on this forum. Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 I've had my last two desktops built by them. Very good products. Quote Link to comment
MattG Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 Cool I am checking that out now. Also as a fyi I really have no issue to switching to Mac. Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 In that case Apple have just released probably the best computer they've ever made (the retina display one). Comes with a price tag though: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro/select Quote Link to comment
MattG Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 That's what I was looking at on the apple end, but my fear is that it lacks any potential for upgrading. I cannot add more RAM and it would probably be very difficult to swap out a harddrive if needed. I also really think having a RJ-45 would be useful. I know I can get adapters with it, but seems silly. I am leaning toward either a MBP 15" non retina display with a SSD and maxed out on ram for the additional ports, firewire, rj-45 and optical drive. The PC option is a HP Elitebook 8570w http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/MiddleFrame.asp?page=config&ProductLineId=539&FamilyId=3564&BaseId=39192&oi=E9CED&BEID=19701&SBLID= I like the HP's for the docking features. Having all my ports replicated when I set it on the dock in the morning is pretty cool. Also the familiarity with windows is useful. It is just a really tough decision for me for some reason. Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 That's what I was looking at on the apple end, but my fear is that it lacks any potential for upgrading. That's what you get if you want longer battery life, robustness, portability, slimness, lightness, etc. I'd just max it out when you buy it. Make sure you go try them before buying too. If you're willing to spend that on a PC I'd be going for the retina display. Also the familiarity with windows is useful. No reason you couldn't run Windows (and OS X) on the Macbook. Quote Link to comment
MattG Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 The elite book lets me doing a little more future proofing. I can always swap out a drive to a bigger drive. It will support 4 monitors if I so desire. I still have fire wire and a optical drive. I also will be able to eventually max out the ram at 32GB when I so desire. I really like the portability, battery life and weight of the mbp, but not sure if that is the greatest selling point for me or not. Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Surely battery life and portability are going to matter more than the ability to connect four displays, no? In any case you can daisy chain thunderbolt displays, so you'll be able to drive more than one display with the Macbook. The HD size is a sticking point, but not an issue for us at work as we use a server. Quote Link to comment
Miguel Barrera Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 After my previous HP laptop died and was replaced by HP with a cheaper Compaq as part of a lawsuit, I did some reasearch to buy a new laptop and I opted for an ASUS primarily because I did not want to buy another HP. The ASUS N53S cost $1000 and I am very happy with its performance and has no major issues so far. Windows 7 (64 bit) 15.6" HD (1920 x 1080) screen size Intel Core i7-2720QM @ 2.2GHz 6GB ram (expandable to 16GB/4 slots) I added 2-4GB for $50 = 14GB 750GB HD @ 7200 rpm Switchable graphics: Intel HD graphics or 1GB Nvidia GPU Blue-ray drive. Battery Life: 1.5 hours (full power) to 4 hours (eco setting) The battery is the only drawback but I do not use it much. When connected and fully charged, the battery gets disconnected to prevent overcharging. By now I have seen other Asus models that have much better battery performance. Quote Link to comment
MattG Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 That is my biggest concern about staying with the PC is the battery life. I believe I can find equal if not better in every other aspect of a pc then a mac, but the battery life is pretty crazy on mac's Quote Link to comment
MattG Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 Actually I would say the number of display's matters more then battery life. More often then not I am in my office and I have a few external displays at the moment. I don't need super great battery life to sit at my desk probably 70% of the time. My current displays are dvi and one is rather expensive. I would prefer not to swap all my monitors at the same time as my computer. Quote Link to comment
Benson Shaw Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Some brands of laptop power adaptors can be huge and heavy with stiff, thick cords. Look deep in the tech specs to catch this if portability is important. -B Quote Link to comment
VincentCuclair Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 (edited) My previous laptop was an HP, I had a lot of problems with that. My current setup from 2011 is great, however the SSD is too small which means I need to carry around a small 1Tb USB External HDD, the advantage on the other hand is that I have my Time Machine Backup with ma at all times, (that proved invaluable last week when the latest Apple software update played havoc and I needed to do a full recovery, twice.) I'm a bit worried that the limited SSD size and 'only' 8Gb RAM won't be sufficient in the next year or 2 and will create memory issues when using VWs so I've been looking to upgrade the HD which is fairly easy btw. and upgrade to 16Gb RAM (which Apple says it doesn't support btw) both which are apparently possible and not too costly. Edited June 29, 2012 by Vincent C Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Thunderbolt uses the same plug as mini-dvi so you will be able to connect your dvi displays, if not directly then with a $25 adapter: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4579 Quote Link to comment
Chris D Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 Thunderbolt uses the same plug as mini-dvi No, same as mini DisplayPort..but you're right it can drive DVI with an adaptor Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted June 29, 2012 Share Posted June 29, 2012 sry, yeah mini displayport, thx chris Quote Link to comment
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