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Permalink Reply by bak on January 3, 2013 at 12:20pm

I'd stick with a Windows machine.  You will need Windows if you want to work with ArcGIS or Rhino (the mac version of rhino isn't ready for primetime yet, and addons like grasshopper won't work in windows).  The mac version of AutoCAD is also missing some really useful commands.

If you go with a mac, you end up paying a premium for the design, and then there's additional hidden costs with buying a windows license to run bootcamp (rebooting into windows) or purchasing a windows license and parallels to run windows and os x side by side.  That's a couple extra hundred bucks right there to get windows running on the mac.

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Permalink Reply by Chiara Goitein on January 3, 2013 at 12:42pm

thanks for the helpful feedback.

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Permalink Reply by ida on January 3, 2013 at 6:35pm

you mean addons like grasshopper won't work in MAC

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Permalink Reply by bak on January 3, 2013 at 11:16pm

Oops, correct.  Thanks for the catch ida

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Garulay, RLA on January 3, 2013 at 12:46pm

This is like discussing religion.

Autocad is still the most used drafting software and it, by all accounts, is much better on a PC.  ... but, lots of graphics programs are supposed to be great on MACS. You should see what you school is doing and what is the best match between you and your school. Right now you need it for school and should maximize what you can do in school with it. Computers are relatively cheap (when you are not in school) and most people in business replace them about every three years for one reason or another. Get what is best for your present situation.

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Permalink Reply by henry cohen on January 4, 2013 at 5:57am

The industry uses PC's. now for my feelings about this question. I was a pic user for many years., went through a number of versions of windowsans finally stayed with xm. After many updates and reboots I made the change to Apple. To save some money I bought a mini Mac. I then upgraded to windows7 and bought Parrells. I can now run all of my windows programs without any frustrating interruptions.
Seven months after making this change, I retired, who knew.
Your upfront cost may be somewhat high, butMit will all even out in the long run.
Soo you' have the best of two worlds, a machine that won't give you any trouble and thE ability to run programs that you need.
Best of luck with your studies.

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