[liftedzj]

The time has come to replace the old PC and I'm toying with the idea of going with a laptop. I know that laptops with approved video chipsets are few and far between. Is anyone using (or has used) a newer (read current) laptop with any success to run SW on a daily basis?

[ESjaavik]

Yes, I have. I have a Siemens Fujitsu Lifebook.
Not entirely without problems, but nothing I can't live with. I'll tell you my view as a regular laptop user since 1996.

- As you say video can be a problem. On mine all I have trouble with will just make a puzzle of the screen, but I can fix it by restoring the desktop. <Window-button>+M
Then switch back to the program and it's fine again. But you should check with any graphics-intensive program that's important to you.

- I use PC's a lot against PLC's, operator panels, servo drives and other automation equipment through RS232. This is a problem with my latest laptop, as well as other new machines we have at work. I often have to use my old laptop in these cases. I believe it is not driving RS232 to the necessary levels. (The level between -3V and +3V is undefined in RS232.) I haven't checked it though, as I know when it will be a problem and use the old machine or an office PC.

- I could not use it as my only machine because even when I connect my 21" screen, the laptop is not able to run it in 1200x1600 resolution. This is the only thing that keeps me from kicking out the big box alltogether. For photo and drawings there is no such thing as enough resolution.

Other than that it has lots of benefits. Even a built in UPS!

[cadcam]

There are some nice laptop with the option for even a Quodro FX 500 and up video.
But I know you can get like I have the HP that has 17' wide screen with a 128 meg FX 5700 nvidia graphics and i know this works well with SW.
Also look at getting the 7200 rpm HD.

Now you have a really nice work station.
Also this includes a full key board with 10 key.

As for the Com port or as some call it (RS232)
Go here to order from my other office a card to take care of this. here is the link to the page: http://www.shopfloorautomations.com/serial_pcmcia.php

Hope this helps.

[DareBee]

I occasionally use a P3800, 256Mb, ATI rage mobile graphics.
Even aside from the 14.1 (small) screen it is quite a painfull process.
IMHO you will have to spend big bucks to be satisfied.

[cadcam]

(256Mb, ATI rage mobile graphics.) this not a good Cad card by any means ,SW recamends using Nvidea chipset. you will have better luck.

you will spend a few thousnd dollors for a good laptop.

[HomeCNC]

Also stay away from any of the ATI Radeon cards. My New Dell is a nice laptop but with the Radeon 9700 pro card it sucks for both SolidWork and MasterCam. Pro-E seems to work fine but, I agree with CADCAM. Stick with an Nvidia card if possible.

[DareBee]

^ I agree with both of those statements

[Bartman]

I am running a emachine with an AMD chip in it, haven't had any big problems other then some times when rendering a new feature in a drawing, the machine bogs down for a couple seconds

but other then that I use it on a lap top almsot daily.


Bart

[cadcam]

Bartman , the AMD chips are good as I have tested for cad-cam work.
I was also looking at the 64 bit amd chipsets when I got my laptop.

[cadman]

HomeCNC hit the nail on the head about the ATI Radeon cards, stay away from them. Basically, don't use gaming cards for cad work. Gaming cards don't work very well with SW, as well as being unstable. Go to SW's website to see what cards are tested & certified and what problems other cards may have.

[nervis1]

I have an HP Pavilion zd7000 with a NVIDA card, works perfect with SW. Has a nice 17" wide screen too.

[Kmed]

I am using a gateway M450 with the radeon 9600 card, and so far I have a few slight problems. I sometimes get extra cursors on my screen while rebuilding (sw2005), and in Solidcam 2005 i cannot use the solid verify, but could with the demo software. I would definitally not get a radeon card, but I did not plan on using this computer for cad. The quadro card sounds very interesting though. I may be getting a new laptop..

[DDM]

Not to go backwards with the thread but I've got a HP P3 700 mhz, 128MB pc 100, running XP pro and solidworks 2004, The only problem I've had is it's a little jerky with assemblies over 100 pieces. You might have to play with settings a little bit but for mobile commuting on a budget you can't beat it. It still doesn't compare to my Desktop but I needed something to go between school and home. Don't know much on the graphics cards but you might play with updating or rolling back your drivers if it's giving you issues.

My 2 cents
Carl

[HomeCNC]

I just pulled out the Radeon card from my desktop PC and put in a Nvidia FX6800 GT card. Now I have the best of both worlds! I can run all my CAD/CAM apps flawlessly and play the latest hot games as well.

[griffithbuilt]

I have an HP Pavilion zd7000 with a NVIDA card, works perfect with SW. Has a nice 17" wide screen too.

Me too, same darn computer. Works wonders w/ SolidWorks & MasterCAM. I get the 'Plaid/Puzzle Screen' every once in a while, but I simply minimize and maximize to make it go away. Pretty rare though.

Jason

[home-tek]

I am using a Dell D610 2.0GHz with the Radeon X300 card running SW2005. I have no problems using SW2005, Inventor 9.0 and ProCAM...

[dmealer]

Hey guys,
My laptop is at the a*s end of the spectrum. It is a new Averatec AMD 2800 with a S3
unichrome graphics card and 512 megs of ram. For the little I do in solidworks, it works pretty darn good. But all I do are single parts and small assemblies. It may very well puke when I get more complicated.

Dalen

[xflukec]

In referrence to those posts to stay away from ATI Radeon cards I have had no problems running engineering software on my ATI x800pro. the cards are not unstable.Perhaps the drivers in your software packages are not very well written?

[DareBee]

It is not that ATI doesn't make working cards, but most of the older (gaming) cards didn't pass SolidWorks testing.
http://www.solidworks.com/pages/serv...rdtesting.html
SW doesn't particularly care if the software works effectively on a gaming card - you are supposed to have a proper CAD card and all of ATI's CAD cards are good.
I use my laptop for simple modelling of "onsite" components or checking part measurements while I am running CAM, my ATI card is no problem for this, Mulit-windows open or a large assembly chokes the life out of it though.
The main reason for recomending Nvidia cards is that typically speaking the standard Nvidia cards will outperform a standard ATI card in the budget systems a lot of us use.
The new ATI gaming type cards are not an issue anymore.

PS a laptop really isn't the best machine to even consider using for large assemblies anyway.

[daedalus]

i have a radeon 9800xt and it works fine in solidworks with the latest drivers, i would suggest to all those with problems to make sure that they have the latest version graphics card drivers installed, as this solved a lot of issues for me.

personally i would prefer a workstation card, but dont think its worth the money to upgrade, as cad is a hobby for me.