Be or not to be (with a mac)?
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if i were shopping for a machine optimized for sketchup, i'd more likely than not get a 27" imac with the 3.60ghz i5 chip (dual-core.. not quad)..
sketchup runs on one core only so the faster the core, the better the performance and 3.6ghz is about the fastest you're going to find..
the standard ati5670 512mb graphics will be fine (or +$150 for 1GB.. but if you're trying to keep the price low, splurge on the processor instead of the graphics card)
that configuration is $1899 but make sure to watch apple's refurb store..:
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac?mco=MTcwMDIxMjAi buy all my computers via their refurb store and have saved quite a bit of money.. (recently picked up a mbp for $500 less than retail)
you have to get sort of lucky to have something come through the refurb store with your desired configuration but it happens.. there's nothing in there right now with the 3.6ghz chip but keep checking..all that said, what's your budget?
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Found Footage: The $900 'Mac Pro' in a cardboard box
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Wouldn't recommend it but its interesting to see what can be done when funds are low!
Mike
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Hi Mirko.
I have a basic spec 2009 Mac Mini. It's great! I could perhaps upgrade to 4 gigs of ram, but the present two is enough for now. I've used the mini for the latest table design competition. SketchUp runs really well, and I am running two (yes two) 20" NEC 2070NX monitors at full resolution with no ill effects whatsoever.
The latest Mac Mini has an even better video card in it, but you could just get a secondhand late 2009 model like this one for a lot less. I can't recommend this MacMini more!
One top tip for getting a cheaper Mac, is to find a friend or colleague who has connections to a university, then you can get a much cheaper Mac!
here's a link to the desktop/workstation compo, and if you do a search on YouTube for "tomfenndesign", you will find the visualisation I did for a local architect- also made with this Mini (the video too- on iMovie)
Good luck and do tell us what you eventually ended up with, as that cardboard box one that Mike suggests looks great too!
Tom
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@unknownuser said:
i'm really failling to understand why would you want to pay more for less performance wise.
Please, not another Mac/PC debate.
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Well.
For Jeff:
what you say means the imac with ATi works well with sketchup ?
For tfdesign (tom):
then , for you mac mini is a good choice and with more ram is a investment for more years? ps. your work on you tube is very very good
For DacaD:
1-What BTW mean?
2- i'm thinking to switch on mac because :
i listen people going from pc to mac not opposite;
i listen people have less stress with mac (win is frustrating sometime);
3- really think that going to get the mac i spend twice as hard to get half?
i'm very sad
anyway thanks for your interest -
@unknownuser said:
tfdesign
DacaD,
@unknownuser said:
I'm not trying to stard a mac vs pc debate and atract all fanboys here.
Erm.. yes you are.
Does he have to give you a reason? Why can't you just let Mirko make up his own mind, and buy what he has chosen?@unknownuser said:
I'm really just trying to understand why changing? normally i just see 3 reasons to change for mac: you have a pipeline of work that uses mac or have software that specifically run on mac; you're a experienced mac user and feel more confortable with it and so making work on it better for you; or just because it's a mac and it's a beauty.
The first two reasons I can see good valid points in, but the third, who buys a computer because it is pretty? Most MacPro's sit under the table. That hackintosh is in, well a cardboard box! My MacMini sits under my NEC monitor, and is hidden. Possibly the only problem I have is that I can run x-amount of applications, which means spending too much time replying to silly remarks like this!
@unknownuser said:
I'm just saying
"I'm just", "I'm just"!
Come on. How many sentences start with a denial, then go into a the "I'm just" statement?....@unknownuser said:
this because veneto seem to have doubts about this and he's about to pay 50% more for a 50% slower and weaker machine ($1899 for a dual core and 4Gg?!?), without really saying much that justifies the change.
Err...cheap PC price good... Mac bad..... I thought you weren't trying to start another debate?
@unknownuser said:
And it's strange that, reading his initial post and see his doubts, no one seems to care or advice him about beeing a good or bad choice for his situation before he spents the money.
Oh come on. cut the ***p! No one seems to care? Like who? There are three options on the table. A nice iMac, suggested by Jeff my MacMini (hardly expensive) or a Hackintosh in a cardboard box, from Mike. I mean how little do you want to go?
If someone wants to spend his or money, why can't you just let them do so? On what he wants? Yes stick to a PeeCee if you want, (and point taken), but don't play this 50% more for 50% lower rubbish nonsense. Please? That would be like trying to talk me out of purchasing a lifelong dream of owning a Porsche 911 after being in possession of a Vauxhall Cavalier TD for the last 20 years! By all means suggest sticking to a PC, but please don't play this nonsense about throwing your hard earned money away on something that simply looks flash, because it's simply not true. I tend to have more time to chat on the internet, because I'm not having to tend to my PC all the time (I sold my HP workstation running XP, last year, after getting really fed up with all the tinkering I had to do to it every time I turned the thing on. Now I just have Macs. Three of them). OSX is a great system, whatever you choose to run it on.
Peace
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@veneto said:
For tfdesign (tom):
then , for you mac mini is a good choice and with more ram is a investment for more years? ps. your work on you tube is very very goodDon't bother getting extra ram from Apple, they will charge, because they don't actually make ram, but get it from Crucial because they are really good, and cheap. Buy the base model- it is fine, and upgrade yourself.
FWIW, I've got an older 5 year old Macbook Pro, with an ATI1600X card. This works fine with SketchUp too. SketchUp 7.1 and 8 have been fully optimised for OSX. You will have very few problems with both cards (Jeff has ATI, I think, I have an NVidia, which shares ram with the main processor. It's fine, and works really well!).
PS, thanks for the compliments about my work. Proof I think?
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...and so the argument goes on and on and on and on......
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@unknownuser said:
Do you even know anything about car design, aerodynamics or mechanic to make such a statment?
This is really silly. I have a bachelor of science degree (with honours) in computer-aided engineering & design if that helps. But you are obviously one of those warty creatures that hangs out under bridges, that mother goat warned me about as I was a kid, so I won't feed you any longer.
Good luck, and I wish you every luck with your endeavours.
Tom
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And what in the world is that comparison with the "dream of owning a Porsche 911 after being in possession of a Vauxhall Cavalier"?!? It makes no sense...Does the porsche (mac i suspect...) runs slower, brakes worse, or fails to curve like your Opel (PC)?!? i'm failing to see how paying more for a "competion" machine compares to paying more to a machine with weaker specs...or are you comparing the dream of owning a mac with owning a porsche?lolol Do you even know anything about car design, aerodynamics or mechanic to make such a statment?
...
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tfdesign
there wasn't really a need to call me a "troll"... but you are right, maybe i exceed myself, but i still think your comparison is nonsense. I edit out my posts (was all lies anyway right) and just left that part. i'll leave this topic and try to avoid anything similar now.
veneto
Forget what i just said in this topic, was all bogus, lies and errors.
If you are in a budget and work in 3d, sketchup, or whatever, the best thing to do is buy a mac, because in this area it's not about a specific computer components for this tasks it's about the right brand and OS for the job: apple. (in OSX you multiply everything by 4: a dual core 3.0 will run two times faster than quadcore/8threaded 3.0, an entry level ati is beter than high end nvidia, and 4Gg 1066 works as 16Gg 1600, and your imac will last for at least 10 years and allways faster than hardware at the that time). It's really the best buy for your money, no joking. -
Dear forum fellows, I did not want to create problems, but ONLY have tips , experience etc.
Dear dacad i thank you for your thought, but i'm not a dreamer. i thinking to become on mac in 3-4 months , i'm just feeling other experience. Yours are bad but jeff and tfdesign are ok or not?
i'm not a professional designer, i use sketchup for detailing in building ; cad for exchange with other professional ; management program for little construction company.
i need to know if with mac i can do it this things and if i can do better than win system. in more years i had some problems with hardware and software windows and othen i find win frustrating. with mac there are this problems or everything is ok?
tell me friendsp.s.1 for tom and jeff (and all other): you think imac e macmini are stable with sketchup 7 and 8 (independently from graphic card)?
and if i think to a imac which configuration average good?
p.s.2 i'm from italy and i have two little baby , i'm not very young ... -
hey daca.
to answer your question about wether or not sketchup's mac version is better than windows..
i don't think it's better per se but a list of mac only features are: [and it's not as if these features were added to the mac version and not windows.. it's just that these features are built into the os and sketchup can take advantage of them]--transparent background png/tiff exporting
--exporting 2d images at much larger sizes (up to 15,000px wide with anti-aliasing off.. around 10,000 with it on)
--this windows ruby idea: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=22599&hilit=+launchit is how all mac apps work.. (and way better than that ruby looks)
--print to pdf
--no toolbar hell + a custom toolbar where single icons can be added if desired__and layout:
--text drop-shadow effects
--ligatures
--baseline
--rulers
--tables
--pdf import
--cymk supporti'm thinking there are a few other things as well that i can't remember right now.
maybe/maybe not important to different people but man, i'm not telling you one is better than the other.. just saying that there are some differences between sumac/windows due to the os. (that's what you were asking, right?)
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@veneto said:
p.s.1 for tom and jeff (and all other): you think imac e macmini are stable with sketchup 7 and 8 (independently from graphic card)?
i would think they are but honestly, i've never owned an imac or a macmini..
it's been G3,4,5, powerbook, mbp, and macpros for me and seriously, i liked every last one of them.. i'm on a computer for up to 60 hrs a week so whatever you decide to buy, make sure you like it (and don't worry if someone else in some other part of the world doesn't like it..).. for me, it's worth a few extra hundred bucks for a computer that i know i'll enjoy working on for the next gazillion hours.. -
Oh, and daca
You've tried macs and dont like them. V wants to try one and a positive to take from that is:
Buy the Mac.. If you dont like it, sell it and you'll get enough for it to buy the 1/2price 2X better system you're talking about. So you spend a couple hundred bucks to know that you don't like osx and can quit being curious about it. Not such a bad deal.
Or, you'll like it and keep it. Works out good either way
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