new macbook, video card advice

[tlunnuk]

My girlfriend needs to buy a new laptop and wants to get a macbook (she is partial to apple and avoids using microsoft products). She is an architect and mainly runs cad, revit, sketchup, and adobe. Cost is a concern. We can either buy an old 2.4 ghz model, save some cash, but get a shared-memory videocard, or somehow find an extra $300-350 to get the new macbook with the nvidia videocard.

 

she is not a heavy renderer and intially the specs on the new macbook are not enough to warrant and extra $400, but the videocard is a concern.

 

What is the advice with the previously mentioned programs and shared vs dedicated video memory?

[Tommy L]

I dont use mac so i cant help you there. Just wondering, is your girlfriend employed? If so, she should ask work to buy it for her, or at least contribute. Sounds like she's using it for work.

[rmccoy]

I use a mac laptop running Leopard, and bootcamp w/ Windows XP Pro. I have a 2.0ghz Intel Core Duo with 2gb Ram and the 256mb Nvidia Graphics Card. I mainly use AutoCAD, 3DS Max Design 2009 w/ V-Ray Renderer, Adobe CS3 Creative Suite, Rhino 3D, & Solidworks. It has worked well for everything I have needed it for. The only problem I have run across is that I occasionally have to reactivate my autodesk products by deleting the old activation files. It will get stuck in a loop where I can not get into the products. This problem may be resolved with newer versions of the laptops. I would recommend getting the 17" if you plan on using this as your main workstation. I have the 15" and it works fine overall but I sometimes need to plug it in to a bigger display to be more productive. I hope this helps answer some questions.

[AJLynn]

-For that software she should not be using the Intel integrated video.

-Also, just wanted to point out, running Windows on a mac doesn't give her any less Microsoft software than Windows on a PC.