Tips help you choosing laptop for architecture students ?

When you are an architectural student, you have needs that go above and beyond what the average person would need when it comes to a laptop. Because your needs are different, you want to make sure the laptop you buy is going to be the one that will help you with your studies and not hinder it.

Some of the various essentials you need to consider before choosing a laptop for your studies in school are making sure that it will work well with the type of software you use. Whether you are using AutoCAD, SolidWorks and other types of applications then you are going to need laptop specifications that can meet the demands of running these applications.

There are many other things you are going to want to consider when it comes to choosing a laptop for architecture students.

Tips for Choosing a Laptop for Architectural Students

Here you will learn about the various specifications you want an architectural laptop to have.

Source: Pexel

1.       Operating System

The software that an architectural student uses is operating system specific, most are geared for Windows, and there are some that are only compatible with Mac. Though your school will not force you to use any specific operating system, you will want to use the one that is most compatible with the software you are required to use.

2.       Display

The display you are going to want on your laptop is going to be more extensive than most student laptops. You want a minimum display size of at least 15 inches. The bigger your screen size, the easier time you will have working on your school projects. There are many details an architectural student needs to focus on and intricate drawings that need to be designed.

You could choose smaller screen sizes, but chances are you will get annoyed at how hard it is to do intricate details. What you need to do is test out laptops and try which screen size works best for you. You will probably want a 15 to 17-inch screen.

3.       CPU

When it comes to the CPU, you want to think about two things, the clock speed and the rendering of 3D architectural models.

Clock Speed – The higher the clock speed, the better when it comes to making drafts, editing, or otherwise on architectural software.

3D Rendering – The processor you want is either an i7 or an i9 quad-core. The higher and faster the processor, the better when it comes to architectural 3D image rendering. The higher the cores, the less wait time you have for project processing.

Note* These rules apply to all architectural software except SolidWorks. If you are using SolidWorks, it will have fewer cores that are faster and will work better for you because the limitations of the software is that it only uses one core.

4.       RAM

Many 3D modeling software is very hard on RAM. They need a lot. You will want to have as much as you can afford. The higher the RAM, the better your rendering times will be. The minimum you should look for is going to 8GB of RAM, but it is highly recommended that you get at least 16GB of RAM.

The maximum RAM a laptop can have is 32GB, but you will pay a hefty price for it. Therefore, if you want to save money, you can get a laptop that has 8GB of upgradeable RAM. This way, you will save money and be able to upgrade the RAM to get what you desire.

5.       Storage

There are two main types of storage that you can get with a laptop. You can get the standard hard drive or a solid-state drive. The output files of all architectural software are vast. Therefore, you are going to want a solid-state drive as it is faster and more reliable than your standard hard drive.

Hard drives generally max at 1TB. However, they are considerably slower than solid-state drives are. Solid-state drives are the fastest on the market, and they help you to render your work quicker and more efficiently than a hard drive would.

Regardless of which one you get, you are going to want to have an external hard drive for backing up your work. There are many different ones on the market that you can get to help you.

6.       GPU

When it comes to being an architectural student, nothing on or in your laptop is going to be more important than the GPU. When it comes to running the software, you are going to need to render your designs, and then you are going to need the best possible graphics card you can find on the market.

The best graphics cards you can get today are either the Nvidia Quadro or the AMD Firepro series. These video cards will help prevent glitching in rendering designs, fully support any and all 3D and architectural software as well as run specialized plug-ins.

These cards are considered to be workstation cards, and they may be overkill for a student, but if you plan on using your laptop for a while, then you are going to want to have the workstation card as it will help you in your career.

However, if you just want a laptop to get through your studies, you can probably get by with a lesser GPU that is designed by Nvidia and AMD.

Other things to consider:

You will want to consider the weight of your laptop as well as the battery life as well. The longer the battery life, the longer you can use it without worrying about where to charge your device. Furthermore, as a student, you do a lot of walking, and that means you will have to carry your laptop with you, and it will be much easier if your laptop doesn’t weigh a ton.

However, you may have to sacrifice some of these things to get the best laptop for architectural students. Know where you are willing to make concessions so that you still get the best laptop for your studies.

Conclusion

Choosing the right laptop is difficult because there are so many things you need to think about as you make your choice. You want to make sure that you are investing in the right laptop to get your work done so that you aren’t left floundering in your studies.

You would preferably someone just tell you this is the laptop to get, but it doesn’t work that way. You can only get advice on what to look for and find out which laptop is the best. Make the decision for yourself and know if you follow the tips above, you are on your way to the right architectural laptop for students.