I want to surprise my husband with a laptop. He is an upper division architecture student and will be using(at least) the following programs:
Form Z-3D modelling, autocad 2004, photoshop, adobe premier, and 3Dmax. I am especially interested in alienware and emachines. I am looking at the $3500-4000 range. If anyone has any input on these or other possibilities I would appreciate it. Thanks again!
The HP ZD-7000 series are going to be among the most powerful notebooks you can get. I have one of these.
Sony has a new 17" notebook one with an unbelievably clear screen..
Thank you for your input–I am not incredibly computer savvy, this is why I turned to you all for help. I need to be able to upgrade this system for the next couple of years, which I understand is difficult with most laptops. I am more than willing to spend a fair amount of money now, and continue to put money into the system. My biggest fear is that I will buy something and have it be unsuitable in a year or two without upgrades. If someone has the time/energy and or patience to help me, I am a quick study. Thanks again
Notebooks are not that upgradeable compared to desktop units. You can add a bigger drive or more memory, but that’s about it. You’re better off getting the most horsepower you can for your money at the beginning.
Quite frankly, if he’s an architect, you’d be a lot better off performance and cost wise, getting him a powerhouse desktop unit with a 19 or larger flat panel monitor if he’s into CAD. The only reason to get a notebook for an architect are if portability and client presentations are an absolute must. Architects typically need a big drive, a fast video card and a huge, accurate, high res. monitor.
I’m a Mac person rather than a PC person, and for this you need a PC laptop (AutoCad), so my advice is limited in expertise and scope, but look at the high-end laptops from a Alienware. They are alleged to be noncompromisingly powerful and built like tanks.
Portability and client presentations are a must. This is why I am looking for a laptop, and prepared to spend some money on it. I am specifically looking at Alienware systems- it seems that the advantage would be that they can be upgraded re the wireless issues. Any info on Alienware? Thanks dopers!
Most of those applications will run natively in Mac OSX, and quite probably better than they do on Windows.
For AutoCAD - if you could run it in Virtual PC, it might be worth considering a Powerbook.
I know you said you want to surprise your husband, but I really think you need to consult with him about what he really wants.
Many business clients have meeting rooms with projection systems built in, so that they can just plug in any old laptop and make the presentation on a much bigger, brighter screen. Also, it’s pretty common for the customer to visit the arcitectural company to see the presentation of the new building design, and they also probably has a good presentation room. So you may be overestimating the need for client presentations. Ask your husband.
He might be better served by a high-end desktop unit with a large monitor, and a separate, mid-range laptop for portability. You could do that for close to the $3,000-$4,000 price that you are talking about.
But you really need to talk to him about how he will be using the unit, and brainstorm about what will work best. I think it would be hard to slip such questions into conversation without him catching on to your ‘surprise’.
You could probably go to a good computer store and tell the salesperson that you want this as a surprise for your husband, and are quite likely to return it in exchange for something else. They will gladly sell you a computer that you can wrap up to surprise him, and also offer you a 30-day exchange on it.
Istara, I agree that a PowerBook running OS X will run most of those apps very nicely, and that life is better if you can have a Mac in front of you instead of a PC. AutoCAD, however, is the dealbreaker. Running AutoCAD in emulation is like running Photoshop or Premiere in emulation: just not a place where you want to take a major speed hit, the place, in fact, where you’re desperately glad for every single hertz of processor-speed you’ve got.
If it were neutral-territory job requirements (e.g., someone wanting a computer to do wordprocessing, general coding, database work, encoding MP3 files, designing web sites, extensive spreadsheet work, a little light image editing, and office emailing), I’d say “consider a Mac, you can do this on a Mac, and that way you get to be using a Mac”. If it were for more specifically Mac-centric kind of tasks (e.g., heavy image editing and composition in Quark for commercial digital press, using automated inter-application scripted workflow, simultanelously utilizing 3-6 applications all necessarily visible on-screen, running applications that are installed on other machines instead of yours, accessing and opening customer-supplied data on both Mac-formatted and PC-formatted media including Zip, Jaz, SyQuest, Bernoulli, CD, DVDROM, and Floptical and/or downloading and opening zillions of files per week which have not been virus-checked ), I’d say “get a Mac, you really don’t want to do this on a PC”.
This isn’t neutral territory, and although I’m a total Mac partisan my advice would be “get a PC, if you’re doing AutoCAD for more than rare and casual work you really dont’ want to do this on a Mac.”
Since you said that your husband is an architecture student, you should talk to the school to see what sort of systems they recommend. Presumably someone in the department will be able to offer you advice without spilling the beans to your husband.
keturah,
Get him this, with a wireless card, an upgraded warranty, and an extra battery.
Things to consider:
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The programs and files your husband will be using are very large. He will need the speed of a 7200RPM hard drive. This model comes with a 60GB, 7200RPM hard drive. Most regular laptop hard drive speeds are 4200 or 5400RPM, which IMO is WAY too slow.
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This is a desktop replacement laptop. It has a full power desktop processor, fast memory, and a fast hard drive. While this is fantastic if you are a power user looking for performance, it is not so good if you’re looking for the lightest, smallest laptop with longest battery life. You should talk to your husband to determine his exact needs.
I personally would love to have this machine.