PowerCADD Forum

Hi guys, looking for a bit of advice. I'm wanting to buy a 2nd hand backup computer that will only ever be used for powercadd 9 and checking emails but I'm not sure what the actual best specs for running powercadd are? Thinking a i7 with 16gb ram, 2013 imac or 2012/2014 mac mini that I will keep on mojave. But maybe an i5 would be fine with just 8gb ram?

I've been using a 2010 i3 imac with 12gb ram as 2nd computer as a test and only difference I can see compared to my main computer is saving times but I've not been doing complex drawings on the i3 imac.

Thanks

I am no authority, but I suspect that any i3, i5, or i7 processor will run PC9 satisfactorily, with not much difference between them. However, a computer with an SSD drive, as opposed to mechanical or fusion drive will likely be faster, especially for opening and saving documents.

Thank you both for the reply.

I upgraded the i3 I have to SSD as a test and it did make a difference to general speed of accessing files so will definitely get SSD storage.

I saw the minimum specs on the website but often software companies have 'minimum' and then a 'recommended' list of specs. I guess my query was if I bought a computer with the minimum specs and compared it with 16gb i7 would there be a significant difference in using powercadd. Using Activity Monitor I can see with Powercadd, mail and safari running I am getting over 4gb ram usage so minimum specs for real-world use would be 8gb ram.

Decided I will just go with the i3 Mac mini 2018 using Mojave, speeds are similar to the 2012 i7 and not too dissimilar in cost and it future-proofs it a bit more for accessories with the thunderbolt 3.