PC or MAC | Does It Matter… Really?
#2 | The Computer Requirements and Models You Need as an Interior Designer, Virtual Design Assistant, and Rendering Artist
Alright, so you’re reading this post for a reason, and most likely because you’re an Interior Designer who’s looking for a new computer, but have absolutely no idea where to start. First things first, I will recommend you read my primarily dry and, yet, trying to be witty, previous blog post, PC or MAC | Does It Matter -#1 | What to Keep In Mind When Purchasing a Computer as an Interior Designer, Virtual Design Assistant, and Rendering Artist. Designed as the precursor to this post, I mainly discuss the technical details and definitions Interior Designers need to consider when purchasing a new computer. There is just too much information out there and many of us are too busy to try to earn another degree or let’s say always listen to teenagers of the Geek Squad pitch us a computer without fully understanding what we ACTUALLY NEED. So before you walk into Best Buy, Apple, or call Dell, brush up on the basics to make sure you can at least understand the equivalent of laying a beautiful and efficient kitchen design, but not necessarily drafting the shop drawings.
As I mentioned in the aforementioned blog post, you need to take into account your business goals, investment abilities, software, and project scope before looking into computer specifics. All too often I’ve found that many designers have their heart set on a specific brand or model without fully researching what they’ll need to smoothly run their business… and this was before COVID and the giant leap for virtual design. I’ll be perfectly frank here, I am a MAC girl, but due to too many requirements within my business, I re-converted to a PC when I purchased my secondary business computer, a laptop. I probably spent far too many hours cursing Windows 10 to count and being frustrated that so many games were unnecessarily loaded onto my machine, but it was the best purchase for me at the time, and I just recently purchased my new desktop, which is also a PC. To give you an idea, I don’t even have games on my phone, I know I’m boring, but to be honest, Pinterest is one rabbit hole that can grasp my attention more than any Angry Birds ever could (was that a computer game).
Even after hours of watching Youtube reviews, reading specs, talking to Dell sales support, and highlighting the quote sheet like I was reviewing a window order; I still made mistakes with the specs of that computer. I thought I was looking toward the future but didn’t fully take into account various OTHER software requirements (other than Chief Architect). And so, with much ado, we will be covering the most popular software for the Interior Design industry and their recommended minimum requirements and what that means, I will then provide a few options (which I haven’t at this point personally vetted and only linking below per other reviews and/or meeting the technical necessities).
***Again, please keep in mind that I am not an engineer, nor a tech specialist, so I’m translating what I UNDERSTAND into layman terms for other Interior Designers to understand. All final specs and details are to be verified by a qualified professional, sales rep, and/or IT Specialist prior to purchasing.
Note: I will be using the RECOMMENDED minimum, rather than the ‘minimum’ per software since my goal is to provide you the basics for you to have growth and maintain a computer that provides you more future options.
*This blog post contains affiliate links where I will earn a small commission from your purchase. All support is appreciated.
Chief Architect Interiors & Premier X13
Windows & Mac (limited) Compatible
Memory: 32 GB of RAM + Minimum 512 GB SSD
Video/Graphics Card:
Desktops: Windows 10: Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Series or AMD Radeon™ RX 6000 Series
Mac OS 10.15/11: AMD with 4GB+ Memory
Laptops: Minimum 15" screen | Intel i7 | 8 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
*Real Time Ray Tracing coming in Chief Architect X13 requires a Windows 10 computer with a Nvidia RTX or AMD Radeon™ RX 6000 Series video card (via Chief Architect Blog, Computer for Design and Gaming).
Processor (CPU): Recommended
6+ Core Intel i7+ or AMD Ryzen Class Processor
Mac M1 or ARM processors are not supported (as of February 2021)
Home Designer Pro 2021
Windows & Mac (limited) Compatible
Memory (PC & Mac): 16GM of RAM + 50 GB+ of Harddrive space
Video/Graphics Card: 4 GB or greater gaming video card
Computers with ARM or Mac M1 processors are not supported.
For laptops, a minimum 15" screen.
Learn more via their website.
*I recommend if you plan on growing your business to consider purchasing the specs for Chief Architect. This will allow a longer life span for your computer than meeting just the recommended minimums for HD Pro.
Interested in learning Home Designer Pro? Check out Kelly Fridline’s course Home Designer Pro for Interior Designers for a pre-recorded, learn as you go option specifically tailored to the Interior Design Industry. Available 40% off when you follow the link here.
Sketchup
Windows & Mac Compatible
These specs do not take into account any rendering plugins.
Per the Sketchup System Requirements page:
2.1+ GHz processor
Memory: 8GB RAM (aim for 16 GB) + 700MB of available hard-disk space
3D class video card with 1 GB of memory or higher and support for hardware acceleration. Please ensure that the video card driver supports OpenGL version 3.1 or higher and is up to date.
Autodesk AutoCAD 2021
Windows & Mac Compatible
Note: AutoCAD 2021 is different than AutoCAD LT.
Per the AutoCAD 2021 System Requirements page on the Autodesk website**:
PC / Windows
Operating System: 64-bit Microsoft® Windows® 8.1 and Windows 10
Processor (CPU): 3+ GHz processor | Memory (RAM): 16 GB | Video Card (GPU): 4 GB GPU with 106 GB/s Bandwidth and DirectX 11 compliant | Hard drive Space: 7.0 GB
Mac:
Operating System: Apple® macOS® Big Sur v11 (requires Update 2021.1), Apple® macOS® Catalina v10.15, Apple macOS Mojave v10.14, Apple macOS High Sierra v10.13
Model: Apple Mac® models supporting Metal Graphics Engine Apple Mac models with M series chip are supported under Rosetta 2 mode**
Processor (CPU): Intel Core i7 or higher | Memory (RAM): 8GB or higher | Hard Drive Space: 3GB | Video/Graphics Card (GPU): Mac native installed graphics cards
Autodesk Revit 2021
Windows ONLY Compatible.
Available on MAC via Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop, VMware, or Citrix.
Per the Autodesk Revit 2021 website System Requirements:
PC/Windows:
Operating System: 64-bit Microsoft® Windows® 10
Processor (CPU): “Single- or Multi-Core Intel®, Xeon®, or i-Series processor or AMD® equivalent with SSE2 technology. The highest affordable CPU speed rating recommended. Autodesk® Revit® software products use multiple cores for many tasks.”**
Memory (RAM): 16 GB RAM | Video Adapter**: DirectX 11 capable graphics card with Shader Model 5 and a minimum of 4GB of video memory | Disk Space (HD): 30 GB free disk space
MAC: to run Revit on a Mac there are various options, but if you plan to use Revit as your primary BIM software investing in a PC may make more sense (personal opinion). You can learn more about the options for MAC here.
Lumion 11
Windows ONLY Compatible.
Available on MAC via Boot Camp (not officially supported).
Per Lumion System Requirements as noted (and quoted) from their website:
Operating System: Up-to-date Windows 10 64-bit
Processor (CPU): AMD Ryzen 5 2600, Intel Core i7-4790 or better
System memory (RAM): 32 GB or more
Graphics/Video Card (GPU): Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070, AMD Radeon RX 5700XT or better - GPU Memory: 8 GB or more
Hard drive space: minimum 40 GB of free disk space in the drives where the Windows User Account and Documents folder are located in.
Adobe Creative Cloud
PC & MAC Compatible
Per Adobe Creative Cloud System Requirements noted (and quoted) from their website:
PC/Windows:
Processor: Intel® or AMD processor with 64-bit support
Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit) version 1809 and later
Memory/RAM: 4 GB or more
Hard disk space: 4 GB of available hard-disk space; additional space is required for installation
MAC:
Processor: Multicore Intel processor with 64-bit support
Operating system: macOS Sierra (version 10.12) and later
Memory/RAM: 16 GB or more
Hard disk space: 4 GB of available hard-disk space; additional space is required for installation
***Again, please keep in mind that I am not an engineer, nor a tech specialist, so I’m translating what I UNDERSTAND into layman terms for other Interior Designers to understand. All final specs and details are to be verified by a qualified professional, sales rep, and/or IT Specialist prior to purchasing.
**Not all the computers and accessories below meet the requirements for every software above. It is YOUR responsibility to review your business goals, budget, and software prior to purchasing.
*This blog post contains affiliate links where I will earn a small commission from your purchase. All support is appreciated.
Computers for under $2k
Because of the price bracket of these computers, they may not meet all specs needed and/or vary in quality specific for the Interior Design Industry.
Laptops:
Lenovo 15.6" Legion 7i Gaming Laptop
MFR #81YT0000US
2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-10750H | 512 GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Max-Q 8GB | 32GB RAM
$1,499.00 at B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
Razer 15.6" Blade 15 Gaming Laptop
MFR #RZ09-03287E72-R3U1 |
Core i7-10750h | 512GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 MAX-Q 8GB | 16GB RAM
$1,599.99 at B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | ADB
ROG Strix G15 by ASUS 15 inch Gaming Laptop
Intel Core i7, 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8GB, 15.6" FHD 240Hz, Windows 10 Home
$1779.99 on Amazon
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
New Alienware m15 15.6 inch FHD Gaming Laptop
AWm15-7418WHT-PUS
Intel Core i7-10750H 10th Gen, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, Nvidia Geforce RTX 2070 Super 8GB GDDR6, Windows 10 Home
$1859.98 on Amazon
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | ADB
Desktops:
MAGNUS ONE Desktop Computer from ZOTAC
2.9 GHz Intel Core i7 8-Core (10th Gen) | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 | 16GB DDR4 RAM | 512GB M.2 SSD + 1TB 2.5" HDD
$1899.99 on B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | ADB
NZXT H1 Mini PC Desktop
Intel Core i9-9900K 8-Core 3.6 GHz | GeForce RTX™ 3070 | 32GB RAM | Seagate Barracuda 510 1.0 TB | Windows 10
$1999.00 on NZXT: Lets BLD
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
Apple Mac Mini
Mac Mini with M1 Chip | Apple M1 chip with 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU | 16-core Neural Engine | 16GB RAM | 256GB SSD storage
$899.97 on Amazon
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | ADB
Note: Macs are not compatible with all software, see specs above before purchasing.
CyberPowerPC Gamer Supreme Liquid Cool Desktop Computer
3.8 GHz Intel Core i7 8-Core 10th Gen | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (8GB GDDR6) | 32GB of DDR4 RAM | 500GB NVMe PCIe SSD | 2TB 5400 rpm HDD
$1,949.99 on B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
Computers for under $3k
Laptops:
NEW Razer 15.6" Blade Advanced Edition Gaming Laptop
MFR #RZ09-0367CED3-R3U1
2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 6-Core 10th Gen | 32GB 2933 MHz DDR4 | 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (8GB GDDR6)
$2,899.99 at B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
ASUS ROG Strix Scar 15 G532LWS-XS99 Gaming Laptop
Intel i9-10980HK | 32GB RAM | NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super | 15.6" | 2TB PCIe SSD
$2799.00 on Michael Electronics 2
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
MSI GE66 Raider 10UG-211 15.6"
300Hz 3ms Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7-10870H NVIDIA GeForce RTX3070 8GB GDDR6 1TB NVMe SSD Win10 VR Ready
$2,299.00 on Amazon
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
NEW MSI 17.3" GE76 Dragon Tiamat Gaming Laptop
2.2 GHz Intel Core i7 8-Core 10th Gen |
32GB DDR4 | 2TB NVMe SSD | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (8GB GDDR6)
$2,599.00 at B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
ASUS 15.6" Republic of Gamers Zephyrus GX502LXS-XS79 Gaming Laptop
2.3 GHz Intel Core i7-10875H Eight-Core | 32GB DDR4 RAM | 1TB NVMe SSD (RAID 0) | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER Max-Q
$2,922.66 at B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
Desktops:
27" iMac with Retina 5K Display from Apple
3.8 GHz Intel Core i7 8-Core (10th Gen) | 32GB of DDR4 RAM | 512GB PCIe SSD | Radeon Pro 5500 XT (8GB GDDR6) | 27" 5120 x 2880 IPS Retina 5K Display
$2,899.00 at B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | ADB
Note: Macs are not compatible with all software, see specs above before purchasing
NEW! CUK MEG Trident X by MSI Gaming Desktop PC
Intel Core i9 K-Series, 64GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD + 2TB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB, 650W PSU, Windows 10
$2,999.99 on Amazon
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
MSI Creator P100X 10TE-486US Desktop Computer
3.8 GHz Intel Core i7 8-Core (10th Gen) | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (10GB GDDR6X) | 32GB 3000 MHz DDR4 RAM |
1TB M.2 PCIe SSD + 2TB HDD
$2,899.00 on B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
2021 Newest OMEN 30L Gaming Desktop PC
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Graphics Card, 10th Generation Intel Core i9-10850K Processor, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD and 2 TB Hard Drive, Win10 Home + Oydisen Cloth
$2,989.99 on Amazon
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
Computers for OVER $3k
Laptops:
ConceptD 7 Ezel Laptop - CC715-71-7163
Intel® Core™ Octa-core 2.30 GHz | NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX™ 2080 SUPER with 8 GB | 15.6" 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) 16:9 Touchscreen | 32 GB, DDR4 SDRAM | 2 TB SSD | Includes 3 months free Adobe Creative Cloud membership
$3,999.99 on Acer.com
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
MSI 15.6" Creator Series Creator 15 Laptop
2.3 GHz Intel Core i7-10875H Eight-Core | 15.6" 1920 x 1080 Full HD IPS Display | 32GB DDR4 | 2TB NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD | GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER (8GB GDDR6)
$3,149.00 on B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
Coming Soon - ASUS 15.6" Republic of Gamers Zephyrus Duo 15 SE Series Gaming Laptop (2021)
3.3 GHz Ryzen 9 5900HX 8-Core | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (16GB GDDR6) |
32GB DDR4 | 2 x 1TB PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 |
14" Secondary Touchscreen Display | Windows 10 Pro
$3,699.99 on B&H (available Late May)
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
ALIENWARE M17 R4 GAMING LAPTOP
10th Generation Intel® Core™ i9-10980HK (8-Core, 16MB Cache, up to 5.3GHz Max Turbo Frequency) | NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080 16GB GDDR6 | 32GB DDR4 2933MHz | 4TB (2x 2TB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 [Boot] + 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD [Storage] | Windows 10 Home, 64-bit, English
$4,223.79 on Dell.com
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
Desktops:
NZXT Creator PC
Intel Core i9-10900K 10-Core 3.7GHz | GeForce RTX™ 3090 | 64GB RAM | Western Digital Black SN750 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD 1.0 TB + Seagate Barracuda 4.0 TB | Windows 10 Pro
$3,499.00 on Letsbld.com (NZXT)
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
*This is my new computer. I’ll be writing a review in the future.
OMEN by HP - GT13-0090 30L Gaming Desktop PC
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Graphics Card, 10th Generation Intel Core i9-10850K Processor, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, Windows 10 Home
$3,728.95 on Amazon
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
CUK ASUS TUF GT301 Gaming Tower Desktop
Intel Core i9 K-Series with Liquid Cooling, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 24GB, 128GB RAM, 2TB NVMe SSD + 4TB, 850W PSU, AC WiFi, Windows 10 Pro
$4,499.99 on Amazon
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | RVT | LMN | ADB
Apple 27" iMac Pro with Retina 5K Display (Early 2019)
3.0 GHz Intel Xeon W 10-Core | 27" 5120 x 2880 IPS Retina 5K Display | 32GB of DDR4 RAM | 1TB PCIe SSD | AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X GPU (16GB)
$5,699.00 on B&H
CA | HD | SKP | CAD | ADB
Note: Macs are not compatible with all software, see specs above before purchasing
Monitors
ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27” WQHD (2560 x 1440) Monitor
100% sRGB/Rec. 709 ΔE < 2, IPS, DisplayPort HDMI DVI-D Mini DP, Calman Verified, Eye Care, Anti-Glare, Tilt Pivot Swivel Height Adjustable
$289.99 on Amazon
LG 27UN850-W 27 Inch Ultrafine UHD (3840 x 2160)
IPS Display with VESA DisplayHDR 400, USB Type-C and 3-Side Virtually Borderless Display with Height/Swivel/Pivot/Tilt Adjustable Stand, Silver
$449.99 on Amazon
