Hello Folk, I need to buy new 2-3 computers for my new architectural office. please enlighten me what would be the best for long term investment, while I cannot invest so much. Many thanks, and enjoy the forthcoming days of Advent. Kindly, Siamak

You need to investigate "in person" .... Go to the Apple Retail Store (or an "Apple Shop" located in a section of another store) > click here > https://locate.apple.com/ch/fr/sales/?pt=4&lat=47.3692907&lon=8.5418192 for locations in or near Zurich

Also, it is very difficult to consider any electronic device a long term investment. Any device will be supported for the warranty period - and that makes the extended Applecare Protection Plan a good deal (that is an additional 2 years full coverage in the US; in Europe, I believe your standard warranty is 2 years, so it would add another year) as any repair, especially on the newer iMacs, is difficult and not exactly inexpensive. I would expect mine to last 3 years, but be happy with 5 or so - at that point, they would be quite far behind in processor and graphic card capabilities that you might need/want to consider a new one.

A desktop Mac Pro would be the most robust and the most customizable, but also very expensive. Is that what you have now (that is what you show in your profile)? Or do you have a Macbook Pro? FWIW, you are not running IOS on it, it would be a version of Mac OS X.

You need to base your purchase decision on your business and operational requirements. If your firm and clients use Windows only programs then you should equip your office with Windows computers. If your architectural and business support software runs on Apple computers get Apple computers.

Don't base your decision on initial cost but rather base it on your requirements.

The least expensive way of owning a new mac is to go with the mac mini. Remember with the new mac mini, you cannot add more memory after buying. That forces you to max out the memory to 16gig when you buy. Remember to double any memory requirements you see as the minimum. The entry level mac mini is rather slow. You should go with a faster mac mini.

You could buy one system and load it up with all the software you will need and see how it works. I think you can load your software in an apple store and try it out there too. Just delete when done.

The cheapest way setting up your shop will be to go to ebay and buy all your software and hardware there. This puts a large burden on you to make knowledgeable purchases. You can save a bunch of money on software if you know that you can get by with an older version. You have to factor in your time. You want to be doing business not being an it guy.

You will save a lot of money by going with the mac over time. You will spend a lot less time on it administration.

You should think of customer impressions too.

Hi Siamak,

I am no expert but I tried to do a lot of research before selecting my most recent MAC. I purchased a MacBook Pro. You really do need to identify the specific software programs that you need for your business. Armed with that list, I would contact Apple or go to an Apple Store to see if those specific programs will run on the MacBook Pro. It they will run, I would select that computer. I would also agree with another responder's recommendation that you upgrade the memory as much as you can.

The MacBook Pro is a very powerful and stable computer -- and it is not that much heavier that the Air. I am thrilled with mine and have had it for four years. I do upgrade the operating system every time that I am given the opportunity to do so. The is the sixth MAC that I have owned and am very happy with them. I think that I may need to upgrade to a newer MacBook Pro within the next year because every computer has a relatively short useful life.

JDandMcGee

Some Apple stores are specially equipped and staffed to help with business and commercial needs; they will have experts from many different fields. Check out the stores that are accessible to you and ask if they have staff with the specific expertise you need.

Siamak_from_Zurich wrote:

I do need to get the right computer for ArchiCAD

You need to ensure that this particular software will work properly on OS X 10.11 El Capitan, which is what any new mac you get will be running.

Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan | Help Center | ArchiCAD, BIMx ...

Oct 27, 2015 - Apple has released MAC OS X 10.11 on the 30^th of September, 2015. Please note that in MAC OS X 10.11 the current builds of ARCHICAD ...

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