Upgrade to Animate on Archicad 9 Workstation

[linz]

I am new to this forum and have the following system.

 

P4 2.8GHZ

1 Gig Ram

GeForce 6800 GT

200GB HDD (120 plus 80)

 

I use Archicad 9, Photoshop, Illustrator.

 

My question is this:

 

I want to add animations and walkthroughs to my marketing skillset. Should I.....

Buy a Mac PowerPC Dual 2.5 GHz system?

or

Stick with PC, Buy the Quadro FX 700 and Cinema 4D?

and

Upgrade to a Dual Processor Setup (Im thinking AMD right now...)

 

I sure would appreciate your feedback thanks very much !

[Devin Johnston]

I wouldn’t buy a Mac unless the people I deal with were using that system as well; it just creates too many problems. I would say that 95% of people in this field are using PC's, it's just a fact that there cheaper and easier to get accessories and software for. I would go with the dual AMD system

[Frosty]

I wouldn’t buy a Mac unless the people I deal with were using that system as well; it just creates too many problems. I would say that 95% of people in this field are using PC's, it's just a fact that there cheaper and easier to get accessories and software for. I would go with the dual AMD system

 

I'm not trying to start a platform war, but most of what you say here is highly inaccurate.

 

Although most people in arch viz do use Windows based PCs that alone does not cause compatability issues - file types do. As long as your software of choice is cross platform, there will be no difficulties. Linz has asked this question in regards to ArchiCad and C4D, both of which run equally well on Macintosh and Windows.

 

Now in regards to the cheaper comment, dual CPU workstations for either platform are going to be expensive. Lets make it clear, we are not talking about consumer level $500 computers. These are workstations. In my experience an equally configured dual CPU G5 is actually slightly cheaper than a name brand dual CPU wintel based machine. Accessories are generally the exact same products - printers, scanners, HDs, cameras. Its true that some software is not available on OSX, but its also true that some software on OSX is not available for windows. And then there is the whole virus/malware issue.

 

The last comment I would like to make is that when selecting a new system, personal preference and the intended task should be the two most significant factors. A CPU that is king of the hill in one task may not fair so well in something else. Determine which is the most appropriate for the software that you will be using. Personal preference should not be underestimated either. If you are personally able to work fatser on a given platform, that may be the better choice for you.