Architectural Designs

Good graphics laptop PC for architecture?

Hello! I'm a recent grad with a Bachelor in Architecture. I've never owned a laptop before, but now I want one before I put myself on the market. I've seen many pro-Mac answers here for the perfect "architectural design program" laptop. Apparently, Mac is THE professional design/graphics computer, more than a PC is. But after weighing the pros/cons in light of my personal situation, I think I'm going to stick with a PC for now. I'm looking to run mainly AutoCAD, 3dsMax, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Rhino (definitely 3D design/render capabilities). I'm not looking to run these all at the same time, of course. I'll probably be using iTunes while I draft/render though. So perhaps my taskbar will contain iTunes + 2 design/render programs + Internet. It's possible that in the future I'll tinker and try to familiarize myself with additional programs (Revit, Maya, etc). I'm not really looking for anything over $1700, but if there's anything out there that's more than that, I'd like to know anyway. So hopefully this is a valid question: Knowing all the above info, what specs must my laptop PC have in order to simulate the best features of a Mac from a design/architecture perspective (good graphics/speed/power)? Naturally, custom-made isn't out of the question. Also, I hear a lot of people praising Toshiba and Sony Vaio. Any merit in this? Thanks a lot!

Public Comments

1. HP Pavilion dv8t Quad Edition series $1,299.99 I would recommend that you customize it at HP website to get at least 6GB DDR3 of memory http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Processor&v1=Intel&series_name=dv8tqe_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/Intel/dv8tqe_series