R/Architecture: A community for students, professionals, and lovers of architecture. Check out the Wiki, where you can find a treasure trove of resources like tutorials, architecture blogs, school information, and more. CPU: Any architecture student or a professional architect will be running powerful CAD and modeling software. It is wise to get at least Intel i5 or above to avoid any hassle.
- Best Mac For Gaming
- Best Mac For Architecture Student Resume
- Best Mac For Architecture Student Portfolio
Which laptop should an architecture student use, Mac or Windows? Update Cancel. What are the best options in Windows and Mac for architecture students? Which laptop is better for a cyber security student, Mac or Windows? Which laptop configurations and softwares are best for architecture students? Ask New Question. Still have a question. Top 10 Architectural Design Software for Budding Architects. February 5, 2013, admin, 20 Comments. If you are a professional architect or an architecture student that is looking for ways to make your work in designing much easier, there are architectural design software that can meet all your needs. Best windows laptop for architecture students 2018 To find a meticulously designed thin portable yet high performance laptop is a dream come true for any architecture students. Microsoft surface book 2 just might be the answer to those who seek a powerful laptop with great mobility.
Most students looking for a new MacBook should pick up the MacBook Air. It's less expensive than other MacBooks, more powerful, and has a bigger display than the 12-inch MacBook while remaining lightweight. And though it might not be as powerful as the MacBook Pro, it should provide enough power for the average student to get through their day.
Our pick
MacBook Air (2018)
Hits the sweet spot of power, portability, and price.
Best Mac For Gaming
More powerful than the 12-inch MacBook and more mobile than the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air sits in the Goldilocks zone of Apple's portable Mac lineup, offering enough power for most everything you'll want it to do without the bulk of a MacBook Pro. Features Touch ID for easy, yet secure, authentication.
Who should buy this computer?
College students who want a Mac for writing papers, doing research, surfing the web, light photo editing and just entertaining themselves should get the MacBook Air. It should also be a great computer for you when your academic career is over and you're headed out into the world.
Is it a good time to buy this computer?
The current MacBook Air came out in October 2018, so now is a great time to buy this Mac. Some solid discounts are popping up at retailers like Amazon, and we're likely many months away from a potential refresh. It's been a while since Apple refreshed any of its Macs in less than a year.
Reasons to buy
- Great balance of price and power
- Light and portable
- Retina display
- Touch ID
Reasons not to buy
- Limited customization
- Butterfly keyboard may irk some
The MacBook Air is a great Mac for students, successfully riding the line between power and portability
For students, portability is a chief concern when it comes to buying a computer. Whether you're walking through your high school's hallways to your history class or sprinting across a college campus to make it your next lecture on time, you don't want to be lugging around a heavy computer. You want something fairly light. At the same time, you don't want a computer that's underpowered. The MacBook Air occupies the happy medium of that ideal. It's more powerful than the MacBook and thinner and lighter than the MacBook Pro.
For the longest time, the MacBook Air was Apple's thin-and-light computer. Many credit MacBook Air with paving the way for the 'ultrabook' genre of computers that gained prominence in the early part of this decade. But Apple has since introduced the 12-inch MacBook, which debuted with a Retina display and was even thinner and lighter than the Air. Surely, if portability is your main concern, you should get the MacBook, right?
Best Mac For Architecture Student Resume
![Architecture Architecture](https://tosibow.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/home-interior-design-software-mac-best-of-architecture-programs-for-mac-application-example-3d-architecture-of-home-interior-design-software-mac.jpg)
The MacBook Air sits in the happy medium between the portability of the MacBook and the power of the MacBook Pro.
Well, let's take a look at the modern MacBook Air. It now also (some would say 'finally') has a Retina display, without adding any bulk. And no, it's not as small as the MacBook, but it's almost as light. The MacBook Air comes in at 2.75 lbs, less than a pound heavier than the MacBook's 2.03. You're not making much of a sacrifice on weight. If the footprint of the computer is a concern, check out the MacBook, but you're gaining only about half-an-inch each on width and depth, so maybe the larger Air won't present much of a size problem.
The other consideration the MacBook versus the MacBook Air is power. While the MacBook Air's eighth-generation Intel processor won't really keep up with those found in the current generation of MacBook Pro, it's more than a match for the 7th-generation processors found in the MacBook. For everything from web browsing to photo editing, the MacBook will find itself outmatched by the Air, all while the MacBook Air is priced at least $100 under the current MacBook.
Speaking of power, the MacBook Pro is probably overkill for most students. Sure, some will be able to take advantage of its more powerful processors available to it, but if most of what you're doing is writing papers, putting together presentations, or doing research on the web, you probably don't need the level of power a MacBook Pro offers. And again, you'll be saving a bit of money if you get the MacBook Air, which is always something to consider.
Ultimately, when looking at the current MacBook lineup through the lens of a student, the MacBook Air successfully rides the line between the thin-and-light MacBook and the powerful MacBook Pro. It will meet the needs of most students, and should still be a great Mac to have when you're ready to leave academics behind and head off into the world.
Alternatives to the MacBook Air
The MacBook Air might be the best MacBook for most students, but different people have different needs. If you're looking for more power, then check out the MacBook Pro. It'll be a more capable machine for almost everything you want to do, with more expensive models offering an ever-increasing amount of power for tasks like photo and video editing, app development, scientific programs, illustration, and music production. It will last longer than the MacBook Air and perform at higher levels the entire time.
If you're looking for more of a budget option, unfortunately, you're going to have to settle for something older from Apple. It's still a MacBook Air, but it lacks the Retina display of the newer model, and its processors are older. But, it still has all-solid-state storage, which means a lot when it comes to boot times. If budget is your chief concern and you still want a Mac, the older MacBook Air that Apple still sells should work just fine, if not quite as well as the new model.
More power
MacBook Pro
More power for whatever you need to do.
More powerful and versatile than the MacBook Air, the Pro lineup offers more customization options so you get the exact machine you need for photo and video work, scientific programs, music production, or other intensive tasks.
Being one of the best malware removal software, gives it features like complete security package, antivirus protection, ransomware protection etc. SpyBot Search and Destroy Website: SpyBot works exactly like its name and hence detects and destroy all types of malware in real time only. Compatible with: 2. However, when it comes to malware removal Search and Destroy program works the best. Best virus remover for mac. Apart from Search and Destroy, SpyBot offers other programs too like FileAlyzer, RegAlyzer, Anti-Beacon etc.
The MacBook Pro offers a lot of customization options that allow you to create the computer you need. Offers everything from a seventh-generation dual-core Intel processor to an ninth-generation, eight-core i9 beast, configurable up to 32GB of memory with AMD Radeon graphics for the most intensive tasks. If power is what you want, that's what you'll get with the MacBook Pro.
Value pick
MacBook Air (2017)
A capable computer for the money.
While it hasn't seen anything other than a spec bump in the last couple of years, the 2017 revision of the MacBook Air is still a capable machine. It may lack Thunderbolt and a Retina display, but it'll still get you through most of your tasks without hassle.
Apple quietly bumped the specs on the MacBook Air in 2017, introducing a couple of new processors to choose from. Despite its lack of Thunderbolt 3 ports or a Retina display, the older MacBook Air should still be able to meet most of your needs. It even still has an SD card reader, something many Mac owners thought was lost to the ages (or at least the Mac).
Bottom line
If you want an excellent 'medium' Mac laptop, get the MacBook Air. Offering enough power to meet most of the needs of student life while being almost as portable as a MacBook, the Air strikes a great balance between the other offerings in Apple's laptop lineup.
It's also among the most affordable of the portable Macs, especially when you start getting into the upper echelons of what that MacBook Pro has to offer and even compared to the 12-inch MacBook.
Our pick
MacBook Air (2018)
Hits the sweet spot of power, portability, and price.
More powerful than the 12-inch MacBook and more mobile than the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air sits in the Goldilocks zone of Apple's portable Mac lineup, offering enough power for most everything you'll want it to do without the bulk of a MacBook Pro. Features Touch ID for easy, yet secure, authentication.
Credits — The team that worked on this guide
Joseph Keller is a senior writer at iMore. An Apple user for more than a decade and a half, he spends his time learning the ins and outs of iOS and macOS, always finding ways of getting the most out of his iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Best Mac For Architecture Student Portfolio
Rene Ritchie has been covering the personal technology industry for a decade. An outspoken analyst and critic, he writes at iMore.com/vector, podcasts at applepodcasts.com/vector, and you can find his show at youtube.com/vector. Follow him @reneritchie on Twitter and Instagram
There are many software tools and applications available for background image removal.Photoshop CC is the best software tool to remove the background from an image. The Background Eraser Tool is a fundamental base to remove the undesired background in Photoshop CC. There has been a lot of change in Photoshop time-to-time. Enolsoft PDF Extract Image for Mac is a simple and easy-to-use Mac PDF image extractor, specifically designed for Mac OS user to extract images from Adobe PDF files to JPG, TIFF, PNG, GIF and BMP image file formats on Mac. This background remover program for Mac allows you to add shapes and text to your images. You can create a photo collage using this software. You can touch up your pictures by using layers or create something afresh from scratch. Best background images for desktop. Background Remover for Mac Magically Remove Photo Background on Mac. Remove background from image on Mac is a difficult task in the past. Now, you can get Super PhotoCut mac app to remove background from picture and dramatic background cut out images done in seconds-to-minutes instead of minutes-to-hours. IFunia PDF2Image for Mac is the professional PDF to image converter for Mac users to convert PDF files into high-quality JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF or BMP image formats perfect for the web or for use in most Mac applications. IFunia PDF2Image for Mac is the.
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Second screen time
Take a monitor on the go with one of these options for your Mac
For work or play, consider one of these portal solutions for your favorite Mac.
I'm off to university – my first year for a BSc in Economics – and I need advice on which laptop to get. I would like a decent, light, fast and portable laptop. I have recently come to like very much the Asus Zenbook Touch UX31A. However, the MacBook Air seems to be a better contender. I have never used Mac OS before.
Temitope
If you are buying a laptop for a specific purpose, then you need to make sure that it does the job. In this case, the best source of advice would be economics department staff at the university you're going to attend. You may need to run specific business software for some parts of your course, and if your laptop can't run it, then you will probably need to run it in the university's computer labs. This can be inconvenient.
Temitope
If you are buying a laptop for a specific purpose, then you need to make sure that it does the job. In this case, the best source of advice would be economics department staff at the university you're going to attend. You may need to run specific business software for some parts of your course, and if your laptop can't run it, then you will probably need to run it in the university's computer labs. This can be inconvenient.
While I have no idea which programs might be needed, it's a good bet that your course will include Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, including programs written for Excel. Although Microsoft Office is available for both Windows and Mac OS X, I would recommend against choosing the Mac version. The huge gap has closed dramatically with Excel for Mac 2011, but it doesn't have exactly the same functionality, plug-ins may not work, and you'll find it harder to get help.
This doesn't mean you can't buy a MacBook Air if you want one. However, you may need to add a copy of Parallels software, a copy of Microsoft Windows 7, and a PC version of Office. See Excel for Mac vs. PC: What's the Difference? at the Parallels blog. This works, though the Mac keyboard is far from ideal for using the Windows version of Excel, and most of the keyboard shortcuts are different. You may need to translate them from workbooks etc using this very wonderful ExcelJet chart: Excel PC and Mac keyboard shortcuts side-by-side.
As mentioned here previously, the best deal is Office 365 for University. This supports both PCs and Macs – so you won't need to buy Office twice – and provides all seven major Office programs for four years for £59.99.
Bear in mind that you will also have to learn to use Mac OS X, so I'd try to get some hands-on experience before buying a Mac. It's not hard, but there is a time penalty for switching systems.
When it comes to the hardware, Asus has improved the Zenbook range since it first appeared, so now there's not much to choose. I think the MacBook Air has a slightly better keyboard, a much better trackpad, and better battery life. The Zenbook UX31A has a better, brighter Full HD screen (1920 x 1080 pixels versus 1440 x 900 on the MacBook Air), and it's a touchscreen, which you can't get on a Mac. However, I do agree with the UX31A Touch review at Notebookcheck: the extra speed of the low-voltage Intel Core i7 processor isn't worth the extra cost over the Core i5 version.
Also, note that at this point, the MacBook Air has been upgraded to fourth-generation Core chips, codenamed Haswell, while the Asus Zenbook range hasn't. The Haswell version is the UX31A LA, but I don't know when it will appear. If you must have Haswell, then the Acer S7-392 is a comparable aluminium unibody Ultrabook with a backlit keyboard. It's worth a look if you can find one.
Finally, while all these machines are 'light, fast and portable' laptops, the portability has a price, in number of ports and upgradability as well as in financial terms. If I were buying a workhorse to run spreadsheets – especially if running Excel under Parallels and Windows – then I'd go for a MacBook Pro rather than a MacBook Air. The MacBook Pro has a 2.5GHz third-gen Core i5 processor compared to the Air's 1.3GHz version, and Nvidia GeForce GT 650M graphics, for about the same price.
Mac user wants Windows workstation
I'm an architecture student and I've been using a 17in MacBook Pro for the past five years. It's on its last legs, and I want to use Windows as my operating system because some of the programs I use are made exclusively for Windows. I need a lot of space, memory, a good graphics card and something that doesn't weigh a lot. I've been investigating Samsung, Dell and Sony. The cheapest option is not necessarily the best.
Kate C
Kate C
The 17in MacBook Pro from around 2008 was a bit of a monster, weighing over 3kg, and Apple no longer does this screen size. Usually, 17in screens are used in laptops designed to replace desktops, rather than carrieds around. Choosing a 15.6in screen will give you more screen area, though dropping down to 13.3in – a big shift from 17in – will give you a more portable machine. Either way, the 17in MacBook Pro had a screen resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels, so even a good 13in Ultrabook like the Zenbook UX31A (1920 x 1080 pixels) would beat that.
It's usually a good idea to consult your university for advice on systems, but in your case, you already know which software you need to run. However, you have a trickier, technical question: do any of your important programs works best with Quadro graphics cards?
Many consumers are familiar with Nvidia GeForce cards (your 17in MacBook Pro has one), but very few know about the Quadro range. These are similar in hardware terms, but aimed at different markets. Gamers value speed (frame rate), so if rendering is taking a long time, they want the graphics card to drop it and move on to the next frame. Architects and designers value detail and precision, so they usually want their graphics card to render things completely, even if it takes longer. Naturally, this comes at a significantly higher price.
Buying a portable with Quadro graphics moves you out of the consumer laptop market and into the workstation business. Leading examples include the Lenovo ThinkPad W530 series, the Dell Precision range, and HP EliteBook models such as the EliteBook 8570w. Dell has a Precision Workstation Advisor to help you choose.
A key phrase when buying this kind of system is 'ISV Certified'. This means it has been tested by independent software vendors (ISVs) such as AutoCAD to ensure that their software runs correctly.
Professional workstations are usually designed for power and robustness rather than mobility. There is at least one model that's different: the Dell Precision M3800. Dell previewed it at the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference as the 'world's thinnest and lightest workstation', and I think it's the first workstation with Ultrabook styling. It packs workstation components such as a fourth-generation Core i7, UltraSharp 3200 x 1800 pixel multitouch screen and Quadro graphics into a very sleek and comparatively light (2kg) package. I expect there will be a long queue for the M3800 when it arrives, unless HP comes up with something as good or better.
Another exceptional workstation is the HP Z1 all-in-one. Most all-in-ones are aimed at consumers, but HP's claim for the Z1 is that you get the power without the tower. The spec includes a 27in, 2560 x 1440 pixel screen, a choice of Core iX and Intel Xeon processors, up to 32GB of memory, and a wide choice of graphics cards. This includes four Nvidia Quadro cards from entry level (500M with 1GB of graphics memory) to high-end (K4000M with 4GB). Also unlike most all-in-ones, the HP Z1 is designed to be opened and upgraded very easily.
If price is not a problem, you could pair an HP Z1 with an ultralight portable such as a MacBook Air or a laptop/tablet hybrid such as the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S or Microsoft Surface Pro. The Z1 would give you all the screen space, power and graphics capabilities you need, while a Windows 8 hybrid would give you an ultraportable laptop plus tablet functionality plus digitizing pen (sketching and note-taking) features.
Whatever you choose, it shouldn't be hard to find something faster, lighter and much cheaper than your 5-year-old MacBook Pro. If yours has an Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor, that's roughly the equivalent of today's Intel Pentium B970, so most recent Core i5 chips should outperform it.
This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. By clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that third-party cookies will be set. More information.