Mike wrote:
Is the hard drive speed critical for archicad? Standard is a 5400 RPM, but that can be upgraded to a 7200 RPM.
Processor speed is another question. I am looking at the Duo processor but am trying to get into this for as little as possible since my main work station is a Mac desktop. I can get the 1.66 Ghz Duo processor, upgraded video card and higher resolution screen (1900 x 1200) for just over $1200. I question if I should upgrade to the 1.83 machine for an additional $80.
Finally I am trying to decide on the RAM. There is both 533 and 667 Mhz RAM available. What sort of performance difference am I looking at between these? In addition I was hoping that I could get by w/ 1 GB. Does anyone know if I purchase the laptop w/ the standard 512 MB and add 1 GB if there is space enough to keep the 512 and have 1.5 GB?
Mike
if you can wait, I would.
Since you are already an Apple guy, the dual processor Mac Books are a lot of kick in a laptop. Once Archicad is released as a universal binary, you can take advantage of that power. The specs are similar to the Dell and lets you keep one consistant platform. If you can wait until the first "speed bump" in the Mac Books, you can probably get one a little cheaper than the current generation.
Having tried the PC/Mac combination for a while, I think the extra cash spent on staying consistant will be made up on the time you spend repointing libraries and other random stuff. It's just a question of whether you would rather spend the money up front or the time for the coming months.
Unless you are running large files or running major disk processes (like animation), I don't think drive speed is that big of a deal. I would spend the money on a bigger local drive instead of a faster one.
The RAM and processor speed really depends on how hard you want to push the machine. If this is just a presentation or work from home machine, it's probably not worth a lot of concern. If you plan on working a lot or pushing it hard, then it's worth the money.
To me, hardware expenditure is about saving time. If a faster item can save me hours ot regeneration time (RAM & processor) or zooming / navigation time (screen size & resolution), then I ballpark guess at how much.
Can a $100 upgrade save you two hours over the life of the machine? Maybe. Again, it circles back to what it's being used for.
For the rendering & animation work I do, the extra money on the Quad G5 made sense. For the GDL & training work I do, it would have been a waste.
Tom Waltz
sorry jay,,,i was thinking laptop
