Laptop Requirements for Interior Design Students

Transcription

1 Laptop Requirements for Interior Design Students Please read the answers to the following questions before choosing a laptop. These specifications are based on the current version of the Autodesk 2012, and Adobe Master Collection 5.5 (April 20). 1. What brand of laptop do I need? The tier 1-3 pdf files below are quick quotes from Dell to give you some idea of the approximate cost and specifications for laptops. You don t have to purchase a Dell; I suggest asking friends and family who have had good experiences with laptops. 2. What video card is best? Because Autodesk (Revit and AutoCAD) uses mental ray technology (by NVidia) and Adobe's Master Collection takes advantage of NVidia s cuda technology you need to look for systems that support those cards. NVidia cards are certified to run with Adobe's Premiere Pro Mercury play back engine. 3. What is the difference between tiers? You will notice that as the tier levels increase, so does the cost. You can get by with the tier 1 units, or the lighter side of tier 2 in the short term, but if you have higher aspirations of getting into more complex models and animations, you will want to consider heavy duty side of tier 2, or go all out for tier 3.. Is this the only laptop I will need in my college career? With constantly changing technology and specifications, students who have purchased tier 1 and 2 laptops have found that they need to replace them in two years. In some cases, students who have over-used their tier 3 laptops have had to replace them in three years. 5. What can I do to protect my laptop? a. Obviously: Treat your laptop like a baby. Take very good care of it; make sure it is always secure from falling, protected from liquids, and safe from viruses. b. Always use the appropriate carrying case- not your backpack. c. Use your laptop for building models and proofing renderings in Revit or StudioMax Design. Use a desktop station from one of the designated top-end BSU labs for full rendering. 6. Why do we need such a powerful laptop? You will be proof-rendering Revit drawings and creating animations in your sophomore through senior years. In fact, your laptop needs to be at its best when you begin your senior year; you will be building your portfolio in your senior studio and will need an excellent machine to do your best work. 7. What is the difference between 6 and 32 bit laptops? The terms 32-bit and 6-bit refer to the way a computer's processor (also called a CPU), handles information. The 6-bit version of Windows handles large amounts of random access memory (RAM) more effectively than a 32-bit system. 8. Do I have to purchase a PC? I suggest a PC. At this point, Autodesk programs require a PC. If you choose a Mac, you need to have the hard drive split so you can operate half as a PC and the other half as Mac. One problem with this situation is that you have to re-boot to go between the Mac side (Adobe Products) and the PC side (Autodesk Products). 9. Is this all of the specifications? These configurations are incomplete; you will need to fine tune them to fit your needs beyond the basics listed. These configurations mainly show the relative cost (April 20) for the main components based on the 3 tier model. Best, Dale Potts Dale Potts interior design p: office: at 20 ball state university

2 tier 1, 32 bit Low-end Dell Latitude E New! Starting Price $1, Dell Latitude E New! 2:28:1 PM Central Standard Latitude E6520: Latitude E6520 Intel Core i5-2520m (2.50GHz, 3M cache) with Turbo BoostTechnology 2.0 E [ ] 1 I52520M 1 [ ] 2 Operating Systems: Genuine Windows 7 Professional, 32-bit, no W7P3NE 1 [ ][21-3] Energy Star/E-PEAT Gold: Energy Star 5.0 Enabled / EPEAT Gold ESTAR 1 [ ] " HD+(00x900) Wide View Anti-Glare LEDbacklit with Premium Panel Guarantee HDW 1 [ ][320-19] nvidia NVS 200M 512MB DDR3 Discrete Graphics for Dual Core.0GB, DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM, 1 DIMM N2DC 1 [ ] 6 NOMODEM 1 [ ] 1 G1D3 1 [ ] 3 Internal English Dual Pointing Keyboard, Numpad ENG 1 [ ][ ][331-29] Noise Cancelling Digital Array Microphone Systems Management: Intel vpro Technology s Advanced Management Features 250GB 500rpm Hard Drive MIC 1 [ ] 17 VPRO 1 [ ] G5 1 [ ] 8 8X DVD with Cyberlink Power DVD, no System Recovery: DVN 1 [ ][ ][21-370]

3 tier 2, 32 bit- Low-end Dell Latitude E New! Starting Price $1,96.00 Dell Latitude E New! 2:32:0 PM Central Standard Latitude E6520: Latitude E6520 Intel Core i7-2620m (2.70GHz, M cache) with Turbo BoostTechnology 2.0 E [ ] 1 I72620M 1 [ ] 2 Operating Systems: Genuine Windows 7 Professional, 32-bit, no W7P3NE 1 [ ][21-3] Energy Star/E-PEAT Gold: Energy Star 5.0 Enabled / EPEAT Gold ESTAR 1 [ ] " UltraSharp FHD(1920x80) Wide View Anti-Glare LED-backlit with Premium Panel Guarantee UFDH 1 [ ][ ] nvidia NVS 200M 512MB DDR3 Discrete Graphics for Dual Core.0GB, DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM, 1 DIMM N2DC 1 [ ] 6 NOMODEM 1 [ ] 1 G1D3 1 [ ] 3 Internal English Dual Pointing Keyboard, Numpad ENG 1 [ ][ ][331-29] Noise Cancelling Digital Array Microphone Systems Management: Intel vpro Technology s Advanced Management Features 320GB 7200rpm Hard Drive MIC 1 [ ] 17 VPRO 1 [ ] G72 1 [ ] 8 8X DVD+/-RW w/roxio and Cyberlink Power DVD, no DRN 1 [ ][ ][21-370] [21-539]

4 tier 2, 6 bit- Medium-High Dell Mobile Precision M500 Starting Price $2,89.00 Dell Mobile Precision M500 2:38:50 PM Central Standard Intel Core i7-70qm Quad Core 1.73GHz 6MB I770QM 1 [317-56] 2 Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Professional, 6-bit, no W7P6NE 1 [ ][21- ] 15.6" Full HD (1920 x 80) Wide View Anti-Glare LED Display with Premium Panel Guarantee NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800M Graphics with 1GB dedicated memory 8.0GB, DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM, 2 DIMMS FULLHD 1 [ ] 1800M 1 [ ] 6 8G2D3 1 [ ] 3 Internal English Keyboard ENG 1 [ ][330-52] Precision ON: No Precision ON No webcam with microphone Precision Mobile M500: Precision Mobile M GB Hard Drive, 7200 RPM PWSOFF 1 [ ] 26 MIC 1 [ ] 17 M500 1 [ ] 1 500G72 1 [ ] 8 8X DVD+/-RW w/roxio and Cyberlink Power DVD 8XDVRW 1 [ ][21-50][21-822] Primary Battery: 9-cell (90Wh) Lithium Ion Battery 9C90 1 [ ] 27 AC Adapter: 130W 3P, A/C Adapter 130AC 1 [ ][ ] 15 Wireless LAN (802.): Dell Wireless b/g/n Half Mini Card DW [ ] 19

5 tier 3, 6 bit- High-end Mobile Precision M6500 Starting Price $, Mobile Precision M6500 2::7 PM Central Standard Intel Core i7-80qm Quad Core 1.86GHz 8MB Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Professional, 6-bit, no 80QM 1 [ ][ ] W7P6NE 1 [ ][21- ] 2 LCD Options: 17" Wide Screen WUXGA LCD Panel w/ integrated camera and microphone WUXCAM 1 [ ][ ][320-27] [ ] 1.0GB NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M Graphics 12.0GB, DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM, DIMMS FX3800M 1 [320-25] 6 12GD3 1 [ ] 3 Internal English Backlit Keyboard ENGBL 1 [330-52][ ] 500GB 7200rpm Hard Drive with FFS Secondary Hard Drive: 250GB 7200rpm Hard Drive with FFS RAID Configuration: All Hard Drives, Non-RAID, 1 or 2 drive total configuration 500G72 1 [ ] 8 250G722 1 [ ] 23 NORAID 1 [ ] 26 Blu-ray Disc with Roxio and Cyberlink PDVD BRAY 1 [ ][ ][21-89] Primary Battery: 9 Cell Battery 9C 1 [ ] 27 AC Adapter: 2W/20W switchable Slim 3P A/C Adapter 2ACS 1 [ ][ ] 15 Wireless LAN (802.): Dell Wireless b/g Mini Card DW [ ] 19 NOMODEM 1 [ ] 1