Purchase Advice for a Fellow Revit User

I received a message the other day asking me for advice; that classic conundrum Mac or PC? I don't have a Mac and rarely get to use one. I do know quite a few people who love their Macs, likewise for PCs. I thought I'd share some of the message here and see what sort of comments it might spur, advice or otherwise.

He writes:

I am hoping to get some advice from a fellow a Revit user about a pending purchase decision.

I have been using Revit now for almost 4 years, even somewhat addicted in spite of it's occasionally awkward ways. A client has offered to buy my next computer and has offered up a spec for an Intel PC. I'm using a 2009 iMac w/ 8 GB RAM, Intel 2 Duo 2.93 with 6 MB L2 NVIDEA MCP79. I run Revit using Parallels. I recently found out about maximizing the RAM in parallels and accessing the 2nd core processor and it has helped to speed up Revit.

I was having some performance issues (slow response) using materials palette. It could take 30-40 seconds to open up and I did have some wicked crashes. But after making the adjustments I have found it quick, responsive and stable. I was having 45 minute restarts but now it works smoothly. I have heard of people running bootcamp but I can't at this point because my partition is too small and I'm not eager to reformat my current setup.

I'd prefer to stay with a Mac but I get that Revit doesn't run on the Apple OS. Should I stay or should I go?
Btw, I also got a quote for a Boxx PC but it's expensive.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

What say ya'll?

Autodesk Hardware Selection Support Site

This site was created with the intention to make it easier to make sure our computer and graphic card choices are supported by Autodesk's software. Unfortunately the site has died...with 2014 version support or at the very least, the appearance of a lack of support for 2015/16 versions.

It's time to update it?!?

Video Settings and DPI

Be aware that Revit does not support increasing a computer's DPI (dot per square inch) video/graphics settings beyond 150%, assuming your computer permits it all. There are numerous cases where doing so causes either instability (crashing) or just poor graphic display quality.

Revit Memory Usage and Performance

I read about this video on Erik van Eck's blog the other day. He's Dutch but he writes a number of his posts in English just for me! (not really) I try to read the other posts in Dutch and some words are more memorable than others, but I was only nine when I spoke it. A couple years since...have ... past...

The video is 14 minutes and 49 seconds (14:49) so you'll need to set aside a little more time than for my normal posts. It took me several days to get back to it to watch myself.

This video is from Microsol Resources and runs six minutes twenty seconds (6:20).

Computer Specification Request

In response to an email I received today I'd like to ask for some feedback. If you are pleased with the current computer configuration you have please leave a comment that offers the highlights, maybe something like this?

Brand: MyFavoritePC
Type: Notebook/Desktop/Workstation
Operating System: Linux
CPU: really fast
RAM: wow that's a lot!
Video Card: swoosh
Hard Drive Configuration: Raid Array
Monitors: 12
Software: Revit, iTunes, Weatherbug
Comments: It's really really great!!

Feel free to add whatever you believe makes the computer really well suited for Revit. I don't want you to spend a lot of time but it would be cool to see if anything in particular stands out among those of you who have the time to respond. Thanks!!

Intous 4 - Pen Tablet

I wrote a response to a thread at AUGI a long time ago that discussed using a pen tablet instead of a mouse with Revit. I was using the Wacom Graphire then. I wrote a post here called The Mighty Pen after the post at AUGI.

I stopped using it when I started traveling a lot. It was just another thing to pack and I gave into the smaller simpler mouse. I pulled it out every now and then but the last time I realized our new puppy had managed to sink her teeth into the cord in such away that I couldn't repair it. I tried with solder and iron in hand but gave up.

Last week I was contacted by Mike at Wacom about my experience with their products and Monday I responded to the door bell to find a couple boxes with the Wacom name on them. The smaller one contained their intous 4 Pen Tablet. I'm not going to get into what the larger box contain in this post, doing so would break my Five minute rule.

The packaging is first rate, very polished looking and everything very neatly presented as you opened it up. It only took a few minutes to get up and running. The tablet software took the longest to install but even that was only a couple minutes. I received the smallest version because I mentioned that arm travel can be a bit of a problem while using Revit. The conventional wisdom that I've acquired and heard from others is that smaller is better for Revit work and the larger sizes are better for graphic artists. It still comes down to personal preference I suppose.

The Graphire that I had didn't have scrolling functions or any extra buttons. The intous carries a scroll wheel (think iPod) and a center button as well as six extra buttons, three above and below the wheel. I quite like the wheel for scrolling web pages and documents. I still haven't gotten used to using them for SHIFT, ALT, CTRL but its only been a couple days now. It comes with a mouse too but I've only used it for a couple of seconds here and there. I've stuck to the pen.

In my previous post I mentioned poor posture and arm discomfort. Since I went through that before I've been better about it from the start. I hold the pen so that my thumb can trigger the toggle button for Right Click and Double Click. I settled on that arrangement before too so I didn't have to struggle with it either. The pen is much more substantial than the one I had before. I was always worried about breaking the Graphire's pen. This one doesn't worry me at all.

I picked the right side orientation, it supports either orientation. Here's how it's playing with my other stuff right now.

This next image is a long one, I'm sorry about the scrolling! It's the menu that shows what each button is programmed to do. The top button turns it on.

If you've thought about getting one the Intous models are a bit pricier than the Graphire I had before. The Small (approx. 12x8) that I'm writing about now lists at $299.00 on the Wacom site. The XL size (approx. 24x18) hits $798.00 and the Wireless version (about the same size as the Medium (approx. 14x10) is $399.00.

If you can't tell, I'm enjoying getting to use a pen again! After I've been at it a bit longer I'll follow up with some additional thoughts. That other box is for another post *-)

[Full disclosure: I may get to keep the intous. They made no requirement for posting or otherwise was imposed on me but I wanted to be able to try them out and post reviews.]

Hard Drive Space - A Little Off Topic

This morning was all planned out. Then an email in the first of the climb out of bed bunch changes things a bit. Living on the "left" or West coast means that most of the country gets at least a couple hour head start. I now need to download and install some stuff. Download done...start install, no disk space...huh??

But I've got a 150gb hard drive and most of my stuff is on an external drive. Where did it go? I'm not really sure...yet. I have been on a splurge lately installing various applications to check out etc. I guess I lost track of the impact on the hard drive. I swear it was half full last night...well, I think so...maybe.

Then again I've been enduring the same Microsoft Update attempting to install for the last month and a half. Install it and the little shield goes away for about ten minutes and up pops another warning, "Update Ready"... A check with Microsoft's site suggests running a check for Update status. Sure enough there it is and a couple others. Finally today...it appears to have stuck, or they've killed it so it doesn't hassle anyone anymore.

So I spent my day, in between doing the things I was supposed to do, deciding which applications I really need to keep on my computer. Throw in a disk cleanup session that ran for most of the day... Oh, well...10 hours later and I can now install what I started to install at 7:30 am.