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I have a old dell laptop I use for all cad/cam work, it's running windows 7, but it's slow and clunky. I'm looking at replacing it, and looking at a Asus or toshiba. Any opinions of brands and models? I want I7 processor, 16gigs of ram and SSD drive and under 2k.
I have found one thing that you need to take into consideration. If you use heavy 3d software, you need to consider finding an engineering class laptop. The gaming laptops use video cards that are good for high paced video game graphics, but they tend to suck when you want to get the same results out of them for engineering type 3d work. If you use 3d software, I would suggest that you ask for laptop recommendations from them as to what graphic cards work well with their software.
I have a Toshiba i7 with 8gb ram that is 1 year old. It runs Alibre great, but the rendering under SprutCam is average at best. To get semi-good performance, I have to switch the laptop to full power mode (keep that trick in mind too). A friend has an engineering glass video card in his computer, and I tried running Sprut on that. Very big difference. An engineering quality video card runs circles around the gaming card in my laptop.
I would also NOT considering using Windows 8. Downgrade as fast as you can to Windows 7.
Wade
To expand on Wades post.
Workstation laptops are stupid expensive and the only real difference is the CAD class open GL vid card.
I agree that is the BEST PC if budget is not an issue.
I personally have found (with MY 3D software) that gaming cards in the last 4 years or so are quite capable of rendering 3D. Sometimes a few settings need turned off or reduced is necessary.
I would make sure to have a stand alone vid vard.
Sorry Paul, I re-read your post and see that you ONLY use a laptop, might as well go for broke then. You need a Boxx. BOXX Technologies - GoBOXX Mobile Workstations
I have desktops that I use, but I like to be portable as well. Thanks for your input. I like the call for price that's when you know your in trouble. :)
If you go through the config on their site you get a price
You may need to up the budget :drowning:
For CAD and CAM processing surfaces I primarily use a desktop. My old C2duo (laptop) with Nvidea card still runs SolidWorks fine when needed on site and has no issues with most of the CAM. In this scenario I find an 800 to 1000 laptop is quite sufficient. I would put the extra money into the desktop.
(You could also build 2 PCs and have a netbook)
Every bodies needs and desires are different though
Take a look a Dell M4700. The 4800 just came out, so you should be able to find a good deal. It should ship with win 7 pro installed and media for win 8 so you can take your pick.
I would configure it with the cheapest HDD and 8 GB ram (2 x 4) and then put an SSD and 8 more GB of ram in yourself. That should be doable for just under $2k.
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Why would anybody buy a DELL?
Ummm, the OP mentioned he is looking to replace an older Dell, and this would meet the other requirements he mentioned.Quote:
Originally Posted by salzburg
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Don't waste your money on anything expensive, last place I worked we ran 2 CAD programs and a CAM program on Dell M90 laptops, Dell (and I hate Dell) M90 laptops are very adequate for $100-250 used, and XPS M1730 work very well for $200-400 used. Sometimes saving files can be a little slow when savong files (we didn't use ssd hd's with XP) but other than that more than good enough
CNCadmin
Lenovo (IBM) W530 or similar is the best I have found I7 with the up grade CPU3840QM, You can custom order what you want, add more ram yourself, the best time to get a deal is when they do a back to school special
As for using a Dell I would pass on that, if you have any serious cad/cam programs you want to run
I know Dell isn't great, but why all the bashing?
I run CAD/CAM on Dell machines all day long without issues, so I really don't understand the knee-jerk hostility.
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alexhawker
I have high end Dell commercial lap tops, not the ones you buy in the store, ( there is a big difference) that is why I said they don't compare to the W530 for performance
I'm not bashing them just saying I have real hands on experience of the 2 different computers
Fair enough. I don't think I've ever gotten a Dell in a store, so you may be right on that one.
Lenovo certainly makes some nice machines too.
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I own a Dell Precision M6300, M6400, and M6500, each configured for different things. The M6300 is now my beat-around email-checking word processing computer, but at the time dual core Xeons with hyperthreading was the big deal in laptops.Quote:
Originally Posted by mactec54
The M6500 has a quad-core 940XM, with hyperthreading, 16GB RAM, a 256GB SSD for Windows and apps, a 500GB hybrid drive for data, and an nVidia Quadro FX3800M with 1GB RAM. The big thing with workstation class laptops are the use of Intel Xeon processors instead of the Pentiums. The better floating-point performance and larger on-chip cache benefits CAD and other graphics and number-crunching software.
To clear the air a bit here, there's not too much difference between the GeForce and Quadro cards, though I believe the Quadro has a better floating-point precision which is needed when you need to analyze complex surfaces for example. (I've read this may not be the case with the new Quadro cards...) Also the drivers for Quadro cards are ISV certified, meaning they're approved by certain software vendors (Adobe, AutoDesk, Dassault, etc. up to high end software for the oil drilling, mining, geographical industries...) In fact there are preset profiles for these software in the driver settings. For most people buying these cards, the software far outcosts the computer, so 100% reliability is important. For that matter, I wouldn't buy a laptop with ATI/AMD FireGL card unless you've aready demoed your software running with those cards.
About RAM: if you run WinXP, Win7 in 32 bit mode you are pretty much limited to 3.5GB of useable RAM, so adding more RAM to these systems are a waste of money. To take advantage of more memory, you really need to run in 64 bit mode.
As to hyperthreading and multi-cores: if you run multiple apps at the same time it can be beneficial. However older software run on newer machines might not get the boost you'd expect because the software may not have been written to take advantage of multiple cores (or 64 bit OS for that matter.) So if you're runing older software and just need to upgrade machines you might save money here by getting a newer dual core; you'll still see speed increases from the newer chips and faster memory.
As to SSDs: I think running both SSD and conventional HDs have merit. Windows and all apps can be installed on the SSD for fast loading, and you won't need a behemoth of a drive to store your apps. A conventional HDD can be used for all data, which gives me peace of mind. I even have virtual memory set up on the HDD partition. The ugly truth about SSDs is that their performance and memory degrades over time with constant writes and re-writes, and you really shouldn't reformat a SSD for this reason. New firmware alleviates this problem to an extent though it still exists.
There are some great deals on M6500s. I personally do not like the new M6600s-M6800s for the fact that they switched from a 16:10 to a 16:9 aspect ratio for the screen. There's a HUGE difference between 1920 X 1200 and 1920 X 1080.
I hear about performance, what about durability/protection? I work in a shop small shop that has grinders next to mills, not to much ventilation. I worry about the dust and oil in the air getting into the internals of my laptop (and lungs, but...). I've heard SSD's are better than HDD's because of no moving parts/ magnets. I heard Panasonic Toughbooks are sealed cases but are poor performers and can be costly. I like the idea of a PC in an enclosed workstation but that does not have the mobility that I need (no network yet). Is there another laptop case other than Toughbook that can stand up to the atmosphere and vibration (occasional dropping) of a shop environment? Any opinions?
SSD's and HDD's are both sealed cases - the stuff will not be getting in there. SSD's offer great performance over HDD's, and have no moving parts, so they should survive a fall better. Most modern laptops have an accelerometer to detect free-fall and park the moving head of an HDD, so that may be a moot point.
The Toughbooks can certainly stand up to a lot, but yes, you will get much less performance (because performance generally equals heat, and it's hard to design a good cooling solution that still offers the ruggedness that line is obviously designed for) - I believe you will often be getting the previous "generation" of chips as well.
Most consumer laptops are not that rugged. "Business" laptops are generally more durable, nut not necessarily shop-rugged. This is a potential low-budget solution; this would be a high-budget solution.
I've been using a HP8740W for a while, I'm quite impressed by the way it works, it was $375 off ebay. I wish now I had bought 2 at the time.