I super appreciate all this info! Especially that you break down the components that are important when making our computer choice instead of just highlighting a certain brand or company. I'm loving your videos! They are mega helpful as I make my way through getting my arch degree
Great video! So I have a barely good enough laptop and I've been planning to buy a new one, so should I build a Pc and keep my laptop as a secondary device?
I've been researching about laptops and I've decided to buy a powerful laptop that I will use for my college years right off the bat, I saw that workstation laptops are the best laptop for architecture programs, what workstation laptop can you suggest which will last me for my college years? Budget is about 2000usd .
Hey Lhance, good choice getting a powerful laptop off the bat. As it comes to an exact laptop, it's a bit difficult for me as there are so many options and I've only used my PC at home - so I can't talk from experience. As I mention in the video though, there's a guide to getting the right computer. 1: At least 16GB of RAM 2: At least a high i5 or i7 CPU (or equivalent) 3: A fast GPU (use the online benchmark tool to compare with others) 4: An SSD to store your files and work off. Hope that's helpful :)
Hi there, do you have any recommendations on affordable desktop computers? Unfortunately my little MacBook Air doesn't have the ability to render my projects and it's really annoying! Everything seems super expensive, what do you think?
My advice would be to purchase a second hand desktop. That's what I've done, and it's lasted me 5 years so far. I have upgraded the ram to 32gb and the storage drive to an SSD, but I saved an enormous amount as opposed to buying the same computer brand new. Have a look on local selling sites, see what hardware the PC has, look it up on passmark or another benchmark tool and purchase according to your needs.
Thanks for the video, I have a question when buying a pc or building since you buy many parts separately, will it be cheaper? because most of the pc builds I have seen, they exclude the price of the monitor which is very important.
Hey Peter, it really depends. I've seen some PCs cheaper if you custom build them yourself with individual parts, except this might take a bit of youtubing if you haven't done it before. I've also seen cheap builds that are all inclusive. I still think your best bet is to find a PC secondhand that has already been custom built by someone who knows what they're doing, where money isn't really a problem for them. I often find cheap and pro PCs on facebook marketplace, Gumtree (australian local marketplace app, similar to Craigslist). These PCs are usually built by a gamer (or funded by a kids parents), and when the hardware becomes a few years outdated or they want to upgrade to the next best thing, they often get rid of these great computers cheap. Worth checking out some second hand custom builds. Always able to find great deals
@@kylesinko Thank you for that. I'll look to see if there are secondhand PC'S,,,, might you be having a link that I can get to see those PC builds that are inclusive?
A laptop is a PC. I interchangeably used PC and Desktop here which was a mistake :p. Laptop is not the same as Desktop but a PC is a personal computer... laptop or desktop
Hey, thanks so much for all your videos! I have a question concerning the programs one will need. Are they free or do I have to invest like 300€ per software in addition to the expensive laptop I buy?
Hi Ida. Architecture software can be expensive and often requires subscription licenses that are paid annually or monthly. A lot of software can be used for free with some minor limitations and a lot of software also has educational licenses which gives you full access for free or a discounted cost. Hope that helps.
Hello there hope you are well. I know this video is a couple of years old but I just came across it and wanted to ask. I am an architecture student doing my masters and was looking to get a new laptop or a pc. Right now I have a 2023 MacBook Pro m2, which I use for work, cad and light rhino, but it not powerful enough to do heavy renderings or large 3d files. Do you recommend me getting an asus m16 laptop, or a custom gaming desktop to have at home for more power? I have heard of windows remote access, but is it true that I can control my desktop pc from my Mac, so if I do heavy renderings the computer putting the effort is the desktop at home, not the mac!? Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you
I currently have an Ipad pro 2020 but I don’t know what to get (laptop or pc). but I think computer is a good choice since I have the Ipad to bring in school to take notes and other stuff
I think it's a great decision to buy a PC. It solely depends on how you would use a computer though. If you are at campus a lot and travel while working, a laptop would be wise. If you are like me and do a majority of your work from home, a PC would be ideal. Both would actually be the right answer for those who can afford it.
Thanks for the video. I'm a second year in my degree and I fried my old laptop. With my budget, i can afford ryzen 5 3600 and 1660 super gpu with 16 gb ram. Is that specs for pc enough for the archi workload for the next few years?
Thanks for the comment! It's hard to say as I haven't used every single computer out there. I would recommend looking up the benchmark of each component as explained in the video.
Hey I'm really confused whether to buy laptop or pc.. I'm going to 3rd year this fall and were gonna have a lot of group projects. Currently I'm using macbook Pro 2017 and having issues with rendering. Right now my laptop options are either the xps 15 or Razer blade 15. Razer blade has really good specs and I just wanted to ask is it a better option to buy a new laptop or buy a pc and use macbook cuz I really don't know shit abt PCs. Would be great if you could help
Hey Shivam, it's a tough decision, isn't it? 😬 I personally prefer a PC as they are more ergonomic, generally faster than laptops and are better for the work I do. Saying that, though, a lot of people prefer laptops as you can move them around and bring it on the bus with you, bring it to uni etc. I don't really need those features, therefore decided to buy a PC. It's a shitty answer, I know (and I'm sorry), but it really depends on what you need it for and how you use your computer. If you find you don't need to move your computer around, it's worth investing in a high powered PC. Otherwise, if you find that you need to have a computer that's portable, grab a laptop. In an ideal world, you'd buy both a laptop and PC. But that shit's expensive! It's also not a bad idea to learn about PCs :D
@@kylesinko hahah I don't blame u it is indeed a very tough decision but I guess I've made my mind . I'm gonna go with PC only . Thanks a lot for your help
I am an incoming freshman architecture student and I'm planning to buy either a laptop or desktop, according to my sources, 3d modeling will start at the third year. What's practical to buy now, a laptop or a desktop? What I'm going to buy now is what I'll definitely be using on my third year in 3d modeling.
Hey Lhance, although your Uni course might only start looking at 3D modelling in third year, it's still not a bad idea to play around with it beforehand. Nevertheless, if you're going to be doing 3D modelling eventually, it's worth getting a high powered laptop or desktop. I actually have another video which decides if you need a laptop/desktop or not in architecture school, it might be worth checking out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3Wcw0LnJcm4.html If it were me, and I were on a budget, I would probably buy a secondhand mid-range laptop for the first year at least and think about migrating it over to a more powerful PC in future years. Otherwise, if money was not a problem, I would go ahead and grab myself a high powered PC or laptop, depending on the things I talk about in the other video linked above.
This is one of the laptops I was thinking of getting, asus rog strix g g531gt al324t. Is this a good option? Do you think that I could also game on it? I’m going into my first year of college as a architect major.
Yeah this is actually a pretty good laptop. It's actually a gaming laptop. Architecture computers have very similar requirements to gaming computers as they use the same rule of thumbs I talk about in the video. I think it's a great laptop for an architecture student.
@@ikingjoker7249 You could buy it online or from a local computer shop. I'm not too sure where you're from so I can't really help with that. I would recommend any laptop with enough RAM, a good GPU and CPU and SSD.
Successful Archi Student I decided to go with the msi ge75 raider. Rtx 2060, 10th gen intel i7, 16gb ram, 512 ssd, 1tb hard drive. I’m planning to buy it in the next few weeks but I’m hesitant as I read that gaming laptops are not that durable. When gaming for example, this laptop heats up 90-95 Celsius. I’m afraid that it won’t last me 4 years with the same performance. For this reason I was thinking of not buying a gaming laptop and just buy a laptop that meets the architecture requirements. Any of yours opinions or thoughts would help.
nice, i like that you totally exclude the brand question windows vs mac (pro and contras on both sides)... when i studied i used a 15" laptop... but going back i would buy a lighter 14" laptop and a cheap monitor to leave at uni school and build a power pc at home... than connecting the both with apps like anydesk... so i could draw and layout at laptop and let the pc at home do the renderings...
thanks for the video,Hello, i about to enter university this year, my house and the university were not too far its only take 15min walk. currently i hava an Asus laptop with i3 4005u, 2gb ram, and gtx 930m gpu i want to upgrade but i am not sure shall i get a new pc or buy a new laptop with my current condition what did you prefer? thanks
I would benchmark the laptop using Passmark as shown in the video. You can see how it ranks up against other hardware to decide whether or not it's time to upgrade
Heyy idk if its too late to ask but recently I decided to buy a pc and i do have a laptop but i will only use it to show my teachers my recent work and do my researchs or homework not rendering or designing so i wanna ask what are the requirements for an architecture student pc. Should they be the same as the laptops? is it useful to have one with core i 5 6th gen? Thanks alot.
Hi, the computer you're rendering and modelling on needs a bit of oomph (power) as mentioned in the video. Your laptop doesn't need to be very powerful at all, in fact I have a video showing how you can use your laptop to connect to your PC and utilise it's hardware.
You could - most architects/students have a laptop/pc AND iPad though. You won't be able to get through architecture school without a computer of some sort, simply because of the programs you'll use.
I have all the specification this video talked about : 16 ram storage, I7 cpu and using ssd. But whenever I try to render, sketchup just closes. What else do I need to do?
Sounds like a problem with the software not the hardware. Are you using the most recent version of Sketchup? That can also be an issue when using illegal software (not saying that you are, just be wary if you use it). Make sure all your drivers and your OS is up to date with the latest versions