Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Annetta Tang on February 11, 2013 at 2:13pm

Hi Jay,

I am in the same boat so was doing research myself when I stumbled across your page! So far, I have discovered that Rhino is actually a Windows based software, so MACs aren't necessary. Rhino Gold is a new tailored software coming out (if not already) that is tailored for jewellers, but I really don't have any idea if there is much difference. Either way, I have read the more RAM you have on a laptop the better. So at the moment, I'm looking at upgrading my laptop (Fujitsu) as it is almost 5 years old and I doubt it will handle Rhino! 

By the way, when do you start your course and where? 

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Permalink Reply by Jay Manek on February 17, 2013 at 3:28am

I'm looking for a Rhino tutorial course in London. I will probably start in march. What are you studying?

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Permalink Reply by John Brock on February 11, 2013 at 2:39pm

1) yes and yes

2) No, since Windows can't handle the high desktop resolution needed for the retina display

3) The people that have them seem to like them but have taken two steps towards to "poor farm"

4) Hard to say. I you use a lot of textures then more video memory will allow more.

5) Yes

6) Yes. If Rhino was my main application and I didn't need a Mac for other OSX based tools, I would not spend the money on a Mac.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Manek on February 17, 2013 at 3:31am

Hi John,

Many thanks do your clear replies. I wanted to double check answer 5). Did you confirm that people are successfully using MacBook "AIR" with Rhino? I was under the impression that without the dedicated graphics card, Rhino doesn't work well. The MacBook Air doesn't have a dedicated graphics cards.

Thank you for your help
Jay

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Permalink Reply by Alex Manuele on February 11, 2013 at 6:54pm

You might want to look at one of the custom builders like Maingear, Digital Storm or others. These are PCs made for gamers so they tend to be top of the line in terms of graphics handling.

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Permalink Reply by Abraham Wechter on February 12, 2013 at 3:51pm

I use a MacBook Pro for Rhino5 and love it. But you should plan on using Bootcamp and reboot to Windows when you want to use Rhino rather than trying to use Parallels.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Manek on February 17, 2013 at 3:40am

Hi Abraham,

Thank you for your reply. How do you find using the MacBook Pro on the latest Rhino? What do you love about it, and do you think you would have as much love with a Windows's laptop!

Also, a few more questions if I May:
1) do you have the latest Pro? If so, is it the retina display one?
2) Do you get a lot of glare from the gloss screen? Would you recommend getting the Matt screen (instead of gloss) screen on the Pro?
3) Any thoughts on whether I should go for the retina display vs the non-retina? The disadvantage of the retina display is that you can't upgrade the memory, but with the non-retina one, you can.

Many thanks
Jay

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Permalink Reply by Aleksandr Vasilyev on February 15, 2013 at 7:35pm

You should look into workstations or generally high end gaming computers. You will be able to use rhino with most modern laptops on the market but that does not mean that the program will run smoothly; It depends entirely on what you are going to be using the program for.

You need a good video card (I'd say at least 1G) for rotating around, panning in/out, general work in the model space. And you need RAM for large operation commands / rendering. I had a dell 6400 when I first started (4 years ago). Nowadays, I'd recommend something more like Oasis. Look into Asus for more pragmatic options.

A thin/ sleek 13/15 inch laptop can run rhino but if you are going to be working with complex geometries then it is not a practical investment. At this point I'd say there is no practical laptop solution and it makes much more sense to build a custom desktop.

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