Software for college

[PTB]

I'm hoping to go to college next year, provided I dont have to repeat the leaving cert.

At the moment I'm sussin out laptops. A technically-minded friend of mine told me that if I'm going to have 3D-CAD programmes on my Laptop, then I'm going to have to get at least a 512mb graphics card, which works out fairly expensive. What I was wondering was; Will I need to be using 3D-Cad programmes if I'm going to study Architecture? Are there any other technical considerations that I will need to take into account if I'm buying a loptop for college?

[Zygnoth]

Are you sure he/she was talking about graphics cards? You'd definitely need 512mb of RAM for the laptop, probably should upgrade to 1024mb. I'd reckon that you should wait until college and see what programmes they are using before deciding on a purchase. You can get laptops delivered in about a week so there shouldn't be much rush.

If you're going to be using computers in college and at home, you should also think about a desktop. You can't take it home at weekends but the price saving can be massive...especially on things like graphics cards.

Also, if you do have to repeat the leaving cert, you'll get the same laptop/desktop much cheaper when you do go to college

[Zygnoth]

http://www.graphisoft.com/support/archicad/system_requirements/

This is a pretty complex program and the recommended graphics card is 128Mb. You do need 1Gb of Ram, preferably 2Gb. Don't know whether college projects get this detailed though...

[PTB]

Yeah I probably will end up waiting til college starts given how unsure I am as to whats required. I wasn't planning on buying until after the results and college placings. I just planned on avoiding the rush to buy stuff once I must go to college.

Thanks anyway, Zygnoth

[Bren88]

http://www.graphisoft.com/support/archicad/system_requirements/

This is a pretty complex program and the recommended graphics card is 128Mb. You do need 1Gb of Ram, preferably 2Gb. Don't know whether college projects get this detailed though...

There are more demanding programes than that. None of which you will require to have on a laptop for architecture.
Graphics card is not an issue.
Computer work is minimal.
A decent laptop will handle everything.
1-2GB ram is prefered anyway.
You wont do much computer drawing in first year, and even by fifth, its fairly basic stuff