I'd look at Sony's new 17", it's got the best screen. Boxxtech has got the most powerful laptop available now, with RAID, 256 mb graphics, 17" screen - simply awesome!
CFM - you must not have been looking in the right spot:
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 256 MB DDR video
is the exact card it comes with, by far the best in any notebook that I have seen. It's not cheap, but with things like RAID and a great graphic card, it's certainly the best out there.
Actually trace check the Alienware MJ-12 and Dell M60 it comes with the Quadro FX Go 1000 which is far better for 3D workstation applications than the 9700 which is geared toward gaming.
I am on my 2nd Toshiba LAPTOP in 8 years... use it everyday for Autocad, do 3d renderings, and online gaming, and it is by far the best LAPTOP that I've tried.
When it comes to Battery Life, Screen Adjustments, Video Graphics, etc Toshiba has been better than Sony which I would rate as #2.
In my opinion, any other wireless technology chip for laptops will not serve you well with the amount of battery that Autocad will eat up. Wireless technology does not account for programs like Autocad
Pimp - I hear you, but I am not sure I agree. In my office, we have everything from Quadro 3000s, to Fire GLs, to Geforce 6800 (it's all high end 3D), and nobody has noticed a recognizable improvement with the Quadro cards. The only advantage that we see (and use) in the Quadro cards is the ability to display in stereo (we have a dual LCD projector setup that projects in 3D - pretty cool, all for real time presentations of some pretty complex models). And even this should be available in the new Geforce cards.
Better to have a new Geforce than an old Quadro (that I have in my workstation at home).
Truth be told, they are all going to be good in that range, unless you are working with complex character modeling, where there might be a noticeable difference (I don't know, either way). A few months ago I would have agreed with you completely, but I've seen other wise.
The laptop I've got my eye on is the 17" Sony, once they upgarde the video card (which they'll have to do soon, as it's outdated). The new screen is the nicest, at least from the reviews I've read, and that's a big plus. The Boxxtech's screen isn't as nice, which would keep me from getting it.
Ex has some good points about battery life and I'd like to add some concerns, at least from research, about the heat. If you do a lot of 3D, it will cook the processor, making it eventually shut down, or slow down with the Speed Step, making it much slower. Not so good, imho. I am not sure laptops are there for 3D yet.
Just bought myself an Asus W1000N laptop, a brand which is very popular here in Europe. The design is extremely sharp - all other PC laptops look like ugly bulky toys to me now. No problems with it this far.
No, the Asus itself is silent, although I find the sound of the DVD-RW a bit loud. A drawback is that it's quite big, altough this is because of the size of the screen. And the built-in sub-woofer seems to be only some decorative gadgetry. There's not such a big difference to an ordinary internal speaker. Maybe it depends on the type of table I use?
If I were to buy a laptop right now I would get the Asus W1000N, with the high res screen. It's an awesome machine. Whatever you do don't get a laptop with a desktop CPU. Don't go for anything but Pentium-M (centrino).
Maybe the new mobile athlon 64 is OK, but I honestly don't know.
Good point that with the service and support of IBM. They used to give us those at Intel and never saw one of those fail. But frankly, most of the time those ThinkPads were used for MS Office software and e-mail. I never saw actually an IT or engineering guy using one of those, so I tend to think that they have some sort of heat problem working with 3D and graphics.
Does anyone have had any problem working on 3D in a ThinkPad?
Thank you guys for your inputs, am getting lots of help of it.
I believe all the manufacturers have a 'no questions asked' replacement, they just give you the option of purchasing it. I know Dell and Sony do, and HP I think. IBMs are notoriously expensive, but they probably have the best reputation.
Have you read about WiMax. The new wireless technology being developed. I don't know if it would still eat your battery up, but I think it is an interesting way to integrate an infrastructure into an area that does not have one.
The article is in this month's Wired magazine if you are interested.
Just bought a Averatec 6000 for $900. Good start I tend to think because have P4 3.0G and ATI9600 on graphics. Screen looks better that my desktop Sony monitor and that's a big plus.
They told me that everything is upgreadable and thats another good thing. So far it have 512 RAM but can get to 1G. The HD is 40g (I know, but enough for some good-old .dwgs on the run) and can be upgraded to 80G and the Pentium 4 to the M or HT. That will come down the road (courtesy of the warranty, of course!) JE-JE
Thank you guys, If i had any problem with this, I'll let you all know.
looking at laptops as well, above someone suggested not to buy with a desktop cpu? I would assume this would run faster, however battery life may be short and it may be heavy(not a big deal to me)?
Oct 20, 04 8:55 am ·
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Best Laptop?
Can anyone help me? I need to know what would be a good buy in terms of Laptop Computer. It must run AutoCAD 2000-2005 and SolidWorks.
I know that a lot of you guys have been using Laptops at work. Any suggestions or warnings on specific equipment?
DELL xps and M5 is the best out right now. HP has nice 17" laptops if viewing real estate is what you are concerned about.
I'd look at Sony's new 17", it's got the best screen.
Boxxtech has got the most powerful laptop available now, with RAID, 256 mb graphics, 17" screen - simply awesome!
id look at the alienware laptops too..the screens are not very big, but good video cards
Thank you guys for your response. I did check Boxxtech but have doubs about that price with a 64mb video card. Sounds bad.
I've heard horror stories about Dell, mostly related to the keyboards on the laptop. Good thing is the standard parts. Any comment?
I'll check Allienware. Thanks!
CFM - you must not have been looking in the right spot:
ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 256 MB DDR video
is the exact card it comes with, by far the best in any notebook that I have seen. It's not cheap, but with things like RAID and a great graphic card, it's certainly the best out there.
Actually trace check the Alienware MJ-12 and Dell M60 it comes with the Quadro FX Go 1000 which is far better for 3D workstation applications than the 9700 which is geared toward gaming.
I am on my 2nd Toshiba LAPTOP in 8 years... use it everyday for Autocad, do 3d renderings, and online gaming, and it is by far the best LAPTOP that I've tried.
When it comes to Battery Life, Screen Adjustments, Video Graphics, etc Toshiba has been better than Sony which I would rate as #2.
In my opinion, any other wireless technology chip for laptops will not serve you well with the amount of battery that Autocad will eat up. Wireless technology does not account for programs like Autocad
Pimp - I hear you, but I am not sure I agree. In my office, we have everything from Quadro 3000s, to Fire GLs, to Geforce 6800 (it's all high end 3D), and nobody has noticed a recognizable improvement with the Quadro cards. The only advantage that we see (and use) in the Quadro cards is the ability to display in stereo (we have a dual LCD projector setup that projects in 3D - pretty cool, all for real time presentations of some pretty complex models). And even this should be available in the new Geforce cards.
Better to have a new Geforce than an old Quadro (that I have in my workstation at home).
Truth be told, they are all going to be good in that range, unless you are working with complex character modeling, where there might be a noticeable difference (I don't know, either way). A few months ago I would have agreed with you completely, but I've seen other wise.
The laptop I've got my eye on is the 17" Sony, once they upgarde the video card (which they'll have to do soon, as it's outdated). The new screen is the nicest, at least from the reviews I've read, and that's a big plus. The Boxxtech's screen isn't as nice, which would keep me from getting it.
Ex has some good points about battery life and I'd like to add some concerns, at least from research, about the heat. If you do a lot of 3D, it will cook the processor, making it eventually shut down, or slow down with the Speed Step, making it much slower. Not so good, imho. I am not sure laptops are there for 3D yet.
But this one goes to eleven.
Just bought myself an Asus W1000N laptop, a brand which is very popular here in Europe. The design is extremely sharp - all other PC laptops look like ugly bulky toys to me now. No problems with it this far.
The Asus W1000N looks really nice. And its around 1000 $ cheaper than a DELL or IBM.
Is it noisy?
ap
dont buy alienware-- i have one... it works ok but you are way better off buying a sager and saving yourself the heartache and headache
No, the Asus itself is silent, although I find the sound of the DVD-RW a bit loud. A drawback is that it's quite big, altough this is because of the size of the screen. And the built-in sub-woofer seems to be only some decorative gadgetry. There's not such a big difference to an ordinary internal speaker. Maybe it depends on the type of table I use?
If I were to buy a laptop right now I would get the Asus W1000N, with the high res screen. It's an awesome machine. Whatever you do don't get a laptop with a desktop CPU. Don't go for anything but Pentium-M (centrino).
Maybe the new mobile athlon 64 is OK, but I honestly don't know.
The IBM T42 with a 15" screen is also cool. Thin and light and good graphics card...
Or the Dell latitude D600 or D800.
The good thing about buying a dell or IBM is the service...You can basically pour a Coke in it after three years and get a brand new machine for free.
Good point that with the service and support of IBM. They used to give us those at Intel and never saw one of those fail. But frankly, most of the time those ThinkPads were used for MS Office software and e-mail. I never saw actually an IT or engineering guy using one of those, so I tend to think that they have some sort of heat problem working with 3D and graphics.
Does anyone have had any problem working on 3D in a ThinkPad?
Thank you guys for your inputs, am getting lots of help of it.
I believe all the manufacturers have a 'no questions asked' replacement, they just give you the option of purchasing it. I know Dell and Sony do, and HP I think. IBMs are notoriously expensive, but they probably have the best reputation.
Ex-Army Dude,
Have you read about WiMax. The new wireless technology being developed. I don't know if it would still eat your battery up, but I think it is an interesting way to integrate an infrastructure into an area that does not have one.
The article is in this month's Wired magazine if you are interested.
Thank you all!
Just bought a Averatec 6000 for $900. Good start I tend to think because have P4 3.0G and ATI9600 on graphics. Screen looks better that my desktop Sony monitor and that's a big plus.
They told me that everything is upgreadable and thats another good thing. So far it have 512 RAM but can get to 1G. The HD is 40g (I know, but enough for some good-old .dwgs on the run) and can be upgraded to 80G and the Pentium 4 to the M or HT. That will come down the road (courtesy of the warranty, of course!) JE-JE
Thank you guys, If i had any problem with this, I'll let you all know.
looking at laptops as well, above someone suggested not to buy with a desktop cpu? I would assume this would run faster, however battery life may be short and it may be heavy(not a big deal to me)?
Block this user
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