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Air vs. Pro for Architecture

A

axu539

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 31, 2010
929
0
My girlfriend will be buying a new Mac in the next couple of days, and she needs to make a decision between an ultimate 13" Air, or a 15" Pro (if she goes Pro, she will probably get the mid-range model with an upgraded screen and SSD too).

She is an architecture major, and does a lot of Adobe CS work, as well as a significant amount of AutoCAD. Rhino and Maya will be new to her arsenal this year as well. The school's program focuses on mostly 2D work, but there will be a bit of 3D work this year (putting the Air's HD3000 into question). I was wondering if anyone had any experience using an Air for such tasks.

My personal preference for her would be the 13" Air since it's much more portable, and she will be able to carry it around more easily. She will have school computers (Mac Pros) at her disposal, though she prefers to do most of her work on her own system. If an Air is acceptable for mostly 2D work, then she will be going for that, since it is also a little cheaper. But, if any of those tasks are just not acceptable on such a machine, she'll have no choice but to go Pro. Opinions?
 
With her uses, I'd say go for the MBP and upgrade the RAM to 8 GB on your own.
 
First tell her u love her, then make love to her, and then let her buy you a MBP 2.2 17 inch, and she can finish her architect studio on your old Dell Beast.

Thats a good girlfriend :)

kiddin: go for the MBP pro , especially 2.2 ghz. Its worth the performance especially for her needs.
 
Naimfan said:
With her uses, I'd say go for the MBP and upgrade the RAM to 8 GB on your own.
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So you don't think she'd be able to get by on a maxed out Air, and an occasional visit to the school computer lab? Keep in mind she is upgrading from a crappy $400 HP machine; with the exception of Rhino, she'd been getting by with all of the other software.

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MarocSpecops said:
First tell her u love her, then make love to her, and then let her buy you a MBP 2.2 17 inch, and she can finish her architect studio on your old Dell Beast.

Thats a good girlfriend :)

kiddin: go for the MBP pro , especially 2.2 ghz. Its worth the performance especially for her needs.
Click to expand...

Your joke flew right over my head; I'm still a little confused haha. I already have a 17" myself though (see my sig).

You don't think she'd be able to get by on the 13" Ultimate? We are college students, after all, and saving a couple hundred bucks and a couple pounds off the weight are both fairly important aspects as well.
 
axu539 said:
My girlfriend will be buying a new Mac in the next couple of days, and she needs to make a decision between an ultimate 13" Air, or a 15" Pro (if she goes Pro, she will probably get the mid-range model with an upgraded screen and SSD too).

She is an architecture major, and does a lot of Adobe CS work, as well as a significant amount of AutoCAD. Rhino and Maya will be new to her arsenal this year as well. The school's program focuses on mostly 2D work, but there will be a bit of 3D work this year (putting the Air's HD3000 into question). I was wondering if anyone had any experience using an Air for such tasks.

My personal preference for her would be the 13" Air since it's much more portable, and she will be able to carry it around more easily. She will have school computers (Mac Pros) at her disposal, though she prefers to do most of her work on her own system. If an Air is acceptable for mostly 2D work, then she will be going for that, since it is also a little cheaper. But, if any of those tasks are just not acceptable on such a machine, she'll have no choice but to go Pro. Opinions?
Click to expand...

Don't need even to read the title, just the text. Architecture, lots of Adobe. Get a MBP 15" or 17"! And an advice from a guy who knows about graphics, get a 8GB RAM, it's worth and she'll need it! :D :apple:
 
For her uses Pro all the way, with 8gb ram and a faster internal harddrive 7200rpm or ssd so the rendering and export are faster.
 
If she wants to do the work on her own machine and not the schools, then get the pro. If she just wants an ultra portable to do some work, but mostly use the schools machines to get her work done, then get the 11" air. It has the same horse power as the 13" and is a much smaller package and easier to carry around, especially when she also has to carry around her books and notes.
 
Maya uses GPU acceleration in the viewport as of 2009/2010. You don't "need" it, and I believe other AutoDesk software does also now. While useable on an air, a discrete GPU may be very beneficial.
 
Go with the MBP. The 15" MBP isnt that heavy, yeah its no Air but its not heavy like 15" Windows laptops.

And I agree... upgrade the RAM and the SSD on your own. Saves alot of money.
 
Some more questions on which macbook pro for architecture!!

I was going to start a new post on almost exactly the same question as this guy. However, instead of choosing between the Air or the Pro, mine is about the 13" or the 15" pro. My wife is also starting out in architecture/interior design and she already knows she'll be using photoshop cs3, Rhino and auto cad. Her concern is the weight of the unit and the price and is therefore leaning towards the 13". But I've been pushing her to the high end 15" because of the better video card and processor.

All said and done is the extra $1000 worth it, considering she'll be using it for the next 4 years? She is the careful one with the money, so I need a better way to rationalize the extra $1000 for the 15" than just saying that its "better". As far as she's concerned, I'm just buying into the apple occult over the best shiny new thing!

Another question concerns whether, if she can make it through first term without a computer, we should wait until the next refresh. My friend told me that macbook pros might become like the mac airs. If that's the case it'd really solve our weight problems.

Thanks!
 
If she is using it for the next 4 years, then a 15" would be a wise decision. Nonetheless if budget is tight, she can survive with a 13".

She won't have a problem if she only uses one software at a time, but if she start using several design software, then a dedicated GPU kick in.
 
The bigger screen means more drawing space, less panning, less zooming in/out and less eye strains. Plus the GPU might benefit her.

I studied architecture and used a bunch of programs (AutoCad, Photoshop, Sketchup, Max, Corel Draw, Revit). If your wife isn't used to hotkeys/shortcuts for commands, and relies more on toolbars, dropdown menus, property bars----then a small screen would not be advisable. The properties sidebar in CAD alone could sometimes take quarter of your screen if you're so dependent on it.

I have a 17" btw.

Hope it helps.:)
 
Thanks for the comments!

I think I'm definitely going to convince her to go for the 15" 2.2Ghz. This rationale should be enough to talk her into it!
 
MBP 17 i7 quad with 8 GB RAM and 1920x1200 screen would be my recommendation. A MBP 15 is neither fish nor flesh...love the 1920x1200 screen for video editing!
 
you can buy 2 13" MBP over 4 years for almost the same price as 1 15" MBP. I say, get the 13" with a $200 external monitor, then replace it after 2 years for something that will be even faster.
 
tdurden12 said:
you can buy 2 13" MBP over 4 years for almost the same price as 1 15" MBP. I say, get the 13" with a $200 external monitor, then replace it after 2 years for something that will be even faster.
Click to expand...

That's an interesting and good idea!
 
tdurden12 said:
you can buy 2 13" MBP over 4 years for almost the same price as 1 15" MBP. I say, get the 13" with a $200 external monitor, then replace it after 2 years for something that will be even faster.
Click to expand...

Naimfan said:
That's an interesting and good idea!
Click to expand...

Makes sense... There is just something so attractive about the 15" MBP High-Res :)

13" MBP would probably do everything most people want to do (maybe just a little slower)
 
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