Contents hide
1 What you can do
2 Apple MacBook
3 Desktop

Prevent disappointment: check before you buy!

Since there are plenty educational programs a laptop advice will always be personal. If you have a specific laptop in mind, you should do a final check to make sure what model will work best for your needs.

Click this button if you want to do the hardware check.

Unfortunately, we’ve noticed that you can’t rely on advice from most computer shops. The software we use at the faculty of Architecture is unique and the workload is atypical. Most computer re-sellers don’t take these details into account, which may lead to incomplete advice and disappointment eventually.

What you can do

Most important! Software specifications:

  • What software do you intent to use and what are the System requirements
  • Aim for the recommended settings or higher
  • Find the most demanding software and base requirements on that

Other considerations:

  • Materials and durability: Avoid plastics if budget allows it. Especially screen hinges are notorious to fail. Read the reviews.
  • Ports for peripherals: How many do you need and what would be nice to have? Think of Ethernet, HDMI, USB-A, USB-C, etc.
  • Battery life
  • Warranty duration
  • Screen: What size, resolution, refresh rate etc.

Apple MacBook

If you’re interested in buying a Apple MacBook, keep in mind that not all software you need is available for macOS. Running Microsoft Windows on your MacBook with Parallels Desktop or even Boot Camp could be a solution but there are major downside to this. Boot Camp can only run on the Intel-based MacBooks and not the M series models. Although Parallels Desktop can run on every model it will decrease the performance.

The workload and professional 3D applications for the Architecture degree requires a powerful dedicated graphics card. The M-series do not mention a dedicated graphics cards since it’s all in one package (CPU/iGPU/dGPU).
Only the M1 Macbook Pro 16-inch with either M1 Max or Pro is sufficient to run the software you are going to use during your architecture study. Take into account that not all software has been tested on the models mentioned above and so nothing is guaranteed, even with Parallels Desktop.

More info on Windows software on M1 MacBooks and up

Desktop

A laptop is never going to match the performance of a desktop. You could build one yourself or buy a pre-built. Building your own can be daunting for a lot of reasons but if you like to and can build an Ikea table you can build a PC. Again doing research is necessary since the available hardware is constantly changing and the prices constantly fluctuating. There is not a specific or perfect build we can recommend. This obviousy is very person and situation dependent . Below are a few sites to help you get more in-depth information on the components.