the quote i have for the boxx is for $2800. specs that differ from your assumptions are:

8GB DDR3-1600 (figure I can add more later if needed)

NVIDIA Quadro K600 1GB (what compromises am I making here?)

1TB 7200rpm sata -rep suggested this would be ok since it has 24GB SSD Cache- would like some input here. I need the 1TB capacity as I have a lot of data that needs to exist on this machine.

When I go to jncs and select options that seem close, it says the price is $2271 (that is using a gtx770 video card which i am guessing is better than the boxx card- I don't know which one listed would be more comparable?) That is also before liquid cooling which the BOXX includes. The gap is narrower than you mentioned.

If you can't tell by now, my knowledge of hardware is elementary- i replaced a power supply once and added a new hard drive but that is about the extent. A lot of the forums I have been on suggest modding or building systems to save some money. Frankly, while tinkering actually sounds fun, I have my hands full running a business and meeting deadlines. Downtime is expensive so I place a fair amount of value on a machine that will be reliable out of the box/ doesn't need to have the hood up on day 1, will perform and today and for a reasonably long time, and offers the piece of mind of a warranty for when something does go wrong. I am willing to pay a bit more for these things. Given this, I would love to know if anyone has experience with JNCS from this perspective.

Thanks!

while we are at it, I am considering a new monitor as well- prob 24", maybe 27" what do you think of this one http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-T24B350ND-24-Inch-LED-Lit-Monitor/dp/B007ILEHNU

north carolina

do you have a preffered source/ mfr?

And, if I want to keep the option open for rendering in the future what do I need to consider in terms of specs?

Thanks for the response. My current machine is about 6 yrs old (1.86ghz, 1.98 gb of ram). It runs sketchup fairly well unless I have other applications running in which case everything slows way down. It's been getting slower over time and Autocad in particular becomes painfully slow to work with when other applications are open. Often times I use Autocad, Sketchup, and CS6 and need to be able to move back and forth quickly. That is painful to do with my current set up. I suspect I could probably improve my existing machine, but I am hesitant to put money into it based on age. I am also concerned about reliability. This machine has been good, but I am concerned that given it's age, a hardware failure could be a reality at any time and I'd like to hedge against that possibility- since unplanned down time for a 1 man firm can be a major problem. When I buy equipment, I am more of the mindset that I'd like to buy better stuff that lasts longer even if it is overkill for the way I use the machine today. So that is how I ended up looking at BOXX. A little overkill doesn't bother me. Too much is foolish. If only there was a way to quantify...

Hi All,
The time has come for a new machine and I stumbled across the BOXX website. After talking with what seemed to be a knowledgeable sales guy, he pointed me towards the 4150 Xtreme http://www.boxxtech.com/Products/3dboxx-4150-xtreme[/url][/url] I can get this machine for $3000+/- depending on options. That price would have an NVIDIA quadro k600 1gb video card. Anyone have any experience with BOXX machines or an opinion of if this is an appropriate machine for sketchup? I am a one man architecture firm that does mostly residential work . I use sketchup for design of most projects. I typically export images right out of skup and put presentations together using CS6 (no rendering at this point). I also use Acad's building design suite for working drawings. My primary question is about the video card, but I'd also like confirmation that this machine would allow me to run multiple programs and bounce back and forth without ridiculous delays. Obviously, I am a user and not real knowledgeable about hardware... Any input is welcome.

J

I am working on a project- call it a significant renovation of a mid century modern house. In one section of the house we are raising the roof structure and adding significant glass around the perimeter. Instinct and experience tells me there will be a very good quality of natural light. One of the owners has requested the addition of skylights based on the opinion that the space will be too dark. My opinion is that the addition of skylights is unnecessary and I fear they will create glare issues along with excessive heat gain. I have a detailed model of the house in sketchup. Is there a plugin or 3rd party program that will allow me to quantify the daylighting of the space so that I can represent to the owner that the skylights would be detrimental to the design (and performance) of the space?

Thanks for any help!

nice! this works perfectly. thanks!

Thanks for the input. If I am going to use it without the software, the scroll wheel button works for orbit, I just don't get the functionality of the side buttons. Since I switch back and forth between PC desktop and mac laptop, I'd rather stay conistent with my pc's and what I know.

I am sketchup user who has always worked on a pc. Recently I purchased a macbook with the intention of using it for client presentations in sketchup. I have had good luck using sketchup with the logitech mx310 mice on my pc's. Earlier this week I purchased a logitech lx8 wireless laser mouse to be used with my macbook. I downloaded and installed the software from logitech and after much tinkering and an hour on the phone with logitech I can not get the scroll wheel button to properly function (orbit) in sketchup.

My pc's have the scroll wheel button set to "Autoscroll" in the mouse properties. "Autoscroll" is not an option in the mac version for the scroll wheel button. I tried every other option provided for the scroll wheel in the logitech software and nothing fixes the problem. Logitech technical support guy was pretty much useless and then advised me download steermouse- a third party "unofficially reccomended" software. This software did not offer the Autoscroll option either (though it does seem to have some pretty cool features).

Worth noting is that the when i uninstall the logitech software the mouse works fine in sketchup with great orbit control. The problem with not using the Logitech software is that I bought a 5 button mouse because i like to asign the 4 and 5 buttons to be esc. and forward delete. Without the Logitech software, the mac does not offer me the ability to customize these buttons so I might as well just use a 3 button mouse. Frustrating to say the least. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Agreed, layer managing is mandatory. What size models are you typically working with Edson?

Related to this thread, does anyone know if I can use the same lic./ auth number for skup if i switch from windows to mac?

not looking to spend $2000 which is why i was considering the macbook for $1299... as for the "sticky" factor i have worked on machines with insufficient video cards (i think) where large models move very slowly or abruptly when panning, selecting, etc. I need to make sure this is not going to happen. sketchup reccomends a 512mb (dedicated) video cards whereas the macbook is 256mb (shared) as I understand it. Thus mu concern.

Hey Rick,
Did you ever end up purchasing a Macbook? I am in a very similar situation. Looking for a secondary computer- a laptop to mostly be used by my wife for internet and light office work, but I would like to run skup and maybe acad occasionally when I travel or for client presentations. I won't be doing a lot of heavy modeling but also can't deal with the "sticky" factor. My models are usually in the 15-30mb range.

I just got back from the apple store. The salespeople there were... frankly unimpressive and did not give me much definitive info other than "you will love it". that helps. I then went to best buy and actually got a guy who seemed to know what he was talking about. He told me the new alum. macbooks have a much improved video card and that he suspected it would run skup quite well. Still nothing definitive though...

So needless to say, I'd love to know if you ended up getting a macbook and if so how it is working out?

well... $1000 was the hopeful budget... then several trusted friends/ coworkers gave the macbook pretty high marks for reasons other than sketchup. I am also a sucker for well designed products- which the macbook is... The local apple store apparently has skup loaded on some of their floor models and you can try it out. I am going to take a nice size model to the store and drop it on a macbook and see what happens. Will let you know.

yeah, my wife will be the primary user and she does not use sketchup. I am an architect and use sketchup mostly for single family residences. Occasionally I may use the laptop for casual client presentations or marketing. My models usually are in the 15-30 MB range and while I will rarely be doing a lot of editing on the laptop, I can't deal with the "sticky" factor...

This is from left field, but a friend of mine suggested I look into a Macbook... Any thoughts on that?

Gai,
care to point me in the direction of something "really cheap"? Can't say I have had much luck finding anything in that category to date...

Hello,
I am an architect who uses sketchup frequently. I need to purchase a laptop for my wife and need it to be able to run sketchup on occasion. I have been looking at ordering from Dell since I have had good luck with them in the past. Many of the Dell laptops in our price range (hopefully <$1000) come with a "media accelorator" rather than a video card. Adding a 256 or 512 card really runs up the price. Does anyone know if the higher performance media accelerators such as the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD will work with sketchup? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Josh

Hi
We use sketchup a lot for single family home design. We always model the interiors as part of our design study, but have not done much with interior lighting/ plug ins. Can some one point me in the diretion of an eefective tool to get started that is on the simple and cheap side.

thanks
j

Does anyone know if a plug in exists that allows you to lock certain guides so they are not deleted when you choose edit>delete guides. This would be useful in complex structures where a guide is desired at say the floor line for reference but you do not want it to delete when all other old guides are deleted. Curious if a script or plug in exists?

Thanks
J