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    Vectorworks users, please help me pick a laptop!

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by theatregal, Feb 13, 2005.

  1. theatregal

    theatregal Newbie

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    Hey all,

    I'm hoping someone out there can help me pick the right computer for my needs. I am a stage designer and am looking for something that I can carry everywhere with me, but that is fast and powerful. I need all of the basic office formatting, and I do a lot of web browsing. But I also am a heavy user of Vectorworks Spotlight with Renderworks. I've worked on a number of machines that have painfully slow rendering capabilities. I want a machine that renders drawings quickly. I also want the ability to do a little bit of video and sound editting.

    I have been a desktop PC user all of my life, but have split the last year of my time going between Macs and PCs.

    Price is a bit of an issue. I'm willing to pay what it takes to get a high performance laptop, but would love to NOT spend $3500 when all is said and done. Customer service is also important to me. Almost all of the laptop users I know have had to send their computers away for repairs, so when the time comes for me to do the same, I'd like to not be without a laptop for weeks on end.

    I have been looking at getting a Powerbook 15" Combo drive/1GB RAM/80GB Hard Drive. It's a bit on the pricey side, but I can't seem to find a viable PC alternative that has similar specs for less money. I was looking at some HPs, like the dv1000, but I live in Canada, and apparently HPs are only customizable in the States. I was also looking at the Dell 9200, but I heard some really mixed things about their reliability. Started looking at the IBM T42/T43, but those don't seem to be much cheaper than a mac once customized.

    Does anyone have any suggestions???
    Feel free to email me.

    Thanks!

    Theatregal
    [email protected]
     
    theatregal, Feb 13, 2005
    #1