More laptop advice needed
Discussion
I'm looking for a laptop but cannot seem to find anything worth imparting my meagre student funds for, so am throwing the problem out to the PH massive.
The computer will be used mainly for running ADAMS simulations and doing CAD work (Solidworks) when away from my main desktop. For this reason I want something that balances portability with as high a spec as possible for less than a grand (
)
A puny hdd would be fine but in a further twist, I have heard that ATI graphics card are poo with CAD. Twiddly bits, such as card readers and bluetooth would be dead useful but are not ultimately essential.
Does anybody have any thoughts?
Edited to say: Thanks in advance!
>>> Edited by Frik on Monday 25th October 00:25
The computer will be used mainly for running ADAMS simulations and doing CAD work (Solidworks) when away from my main desktop. For this reason I want something that balances portability with as high a spec as possible for less than a grand (
) A puny hdd would be fine but in a further twist, I have heard that ATI graphics card are poo with CAD. Twiddly bits, such as card readers and bluetooth would be dead useful but are not ultimately essential.
Does anybody have any thoughts?
Edited to say: Thanks in advance!
>>> Edited by Frik on Monday 25th October 00:25
If you handle larger assemblies with any MCAD application (Solidworks, Unigraphics, Pro/Engineer, ...), you will need a graphics chip that supports hardware acclerated OpenGL. You'd then be looking at a laptop with Nvidia Quadro FX Go chipset, which start far above 1k...
The cheapest Dell Laptop, for example, with said chip would be the Precision M60, which starts at £1,519 (refugee spec). Kitted out to medium spec (1G RAM, faster CPU), the machine would cost around 2k. IBM, HP, etc. will be the same. Mobile workstations are usually not offered by whitebox manufacturers or highstreet computer shops.
Playing around with one part or small assemblies with few features will easily work with mainstream graphics chips. Don't expect high performance or sophisticated rendering though. If you're just looking for something to install student licences of 3D software on, and not doing productive work with it, set the machine's main budget on RAM, then on CPU, and then on graphics performance IMHO.
The cheapest Dell Laptop, for example, with said chip would be the Precision M60, which starts at £1,519 (refugee spec). Kitted out to medium spec (1G RAM, faster CPU), the machine would cost around 2k. IBM, HP, etc. will be the same. Mobile workstations are usually not offered by whitebox manufacturers or highstreet computer shops.
Playing around with one part or small assemblies with few features will easily work with mainstream graphics chips. Don't expect high performance or sophisticated rendering though. If you're just looking for something to install student licences of 3D software on, and not doing productive work with it, set the machine's main budget on RAM, then on CPU, and then on graphics performance IMHO.
Cheers for the swift response Bodo.
Budget is very much limited and it's a case of whatever I can get for that really. I have never had trouble with the speed of Solidworks on my desktop (1gb ram, 1800 Athlon and a 64mb nVidia card) so I suppose I'm not really an intensive user!
I think the main deciding factor should be the ADAMS simulations really. The separate solver takes a whole lot of processing power when the it is run. Do you reckon the above mantra of ram>cpu>graphics card will hold true here too?
Budget is very much limited and it's a case of whatever I can get for that really. I have never had trouble with the speed of Solidworks on my desktop (1gb ram, 1800 Athlon and a 64mb nVidia card) so I suppose I'm not really an intensive user!
I think the main deciding factor should be the ADAMS simulations really. The separate solver takes a whole lot of processing power when the it is run. Do you reckon the above mantra of ram>cpu>graphics card will hold true here too?
I'm not into CAE applications, so I can't judge on hardware requirements; but if Adams does not produce dynamic detailed 3D output I'd spend more money on RAM and CPU too. IIRC, mainstream graphics chips use the laptop's RAM as they don't have their own anyway.
Perhaps some other PHer could give advise on the CPU type with the best performance. I understand that they differ in power consumption, performance and price. Celeron/Sempron/Duron are definitely a no-no.
Perhaps some other PHer could give advise on the CPU type with the best performance. I understand that they differ in power consumption, performance and price. Celeron/Sempron/Duron are definitely a no-no.
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