Vectorworks with IBook and Powerbook

[SJE]

We run VW 10.x and are looking at purchasing a new iBook 14" or a 15" Powerbook as a portable option to Dual 867 Power PC G4s.

Simply, how well will VW 10.x perform on the new G4 iBook and the Powerbook?

Help

Thanks SJE

[CipesDesign]

I use a G5 1.8 dual at the office and also own a 14" iBook G4 (933 gh w/ 640 mb ram) . For day-in day-out production I would not want to be stuck with the iBook as it is noticeably slower (especially renderings!) and also quite a bit smaller than the 20" screen I use most of the time. However, the iBook is perfect for the occasional road trip or client presentation. I can't remember how version 10 ran on the iBook because it's been a long since I've used it (I've used 11 since it was released). HTH's...

[malice]

We have a guy running VW 11.5.1 on an iBook ~900MHz it runs very slow for him, other people have newer iBooks/PowerBooks and it runs fine (the new iBooks are much faster then the old ones).

Coming from a dual 867 G4 you shouldn't notice too much of a performance drop in fact you may see a performance gain (depending what OS you are using now).

Personally, I'd love a 15" PowerBook, but if it were me I'd be buying the 14" iBook the CPU difference is not that great any more to be too much of a factor, the only thing you have to look at is the difference in video card's (I am not sure how much of a factor that is going to be with VectorWroks).

Also, with the money you save getting the iBook you can have it come with ~1GB of RAM.

[DDDesign]

I was using a 15"867 MhzPowerbook with an external20"screen, and Vectorworks went pretty well - and I do a lot of rendering. I now have a dual2Mhz, and according to my tests (with v11.01 and 11.5) its renders are 3-3.5 times faster -depending on the file/type of render. With the newer/faster Powerbooks I would expect the difference to be half of this - which I think is a reasonable compromise if portabiltity is also a key factor. I would not recommend an ibook, excellent machine as it is, because of the faster internal bus and the better video card the Powerbook has, especially if you use an extenal display - the addition of which I recommend for full time professional use. The extra money

spent, I guarantee will be repaid in drawing efficiency, not to mention reduced eye and neck strain. Powerbooks will also allow you to run the screens side by side (you could use the Pb screen for tool palettes for example). ibooks can only run screens in mirror mode (same view on each screen) and I suspect will only work up to the resolution of the internal screen. Even just comparing internal screens, the Powerbook 15" has 40% more pixels than the ibook (ie more screen real estate & better resolution). Then there is the 17"...

Another alternative I would consider is the 20"G5 iMac which has a great video card and screen; I suspect it's performance with VW would not differ much from my dual2, and it conceivably is still portable enough to take to client presentations. (and impressive it would be, with its big screen...)

[wv_vectorworker]

I use an iBook. you can run a hack to use an external screen, I do. I have an Acer Al1713.

works a charm.

[Jonathan Pickup]

I run VectorWorks on both a dual G5 and a G4ibook (1GHz). I find that the ibook runs VectorWorks really well, all except big renderings. The extra screen the wv_vectorworker talks about would be great.

For all day work the big machine with 2 monitors is tops, for the ability to work anywhere in the office the ibook is tops. You have to figure out which one you want. Do do this ask yourself this:

is mobility more important than power?

If the answer is YES, then get a powerbook, if the answer is NO, then get a G5 machine

[Ramon PG]

I have an iBook (1.3 GHz) and of course is slow on less than basic renderings. Other than that VW's performace is quite good. My latest project is a 26 MB document.

My real concern is backing up stuff libraries (or databases). I find that Finish or Sheet Schedules do not update between laptop and desktop. Seems like the actual database is someplace in the Library folder. So if you add items in any of them you end up with a mixed up situation.