need a notebook for CAD work

[ElFenix]

my gf's aunt wants a notebook to run CAD software on for her architecture business. anyone have any experience at that?

 

[AtlantaBob]

Sounds painful. I'm guessing she's planning on running AutoCad 2004? Does she want it to do actual design work on the laptop, or does she want to just use it to show clients final designs and presentations (something that can also be done in AutoCad)?

Regardless, a large screen would probably be the most useful thing you could get. External mouse, would be essential as well. You might try and ask what her setup is at work now... and would she consider an extra external monitor?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

You need horsepower - CAD requires a fast processor and a good graphics card. It'll be heavy too. Your average laptop generally trades off power for light weight.

I would recommend a Dell Precision M70 Mobile Workstation: http://www1.us.dell.com/content/product...s.aspx/precn_m70?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

You want at least 1Gb for CAD.

Not cheap though.

Does it HAVE to be a laptop? If you're a serious CAD user you generally want a bigger screen than a laptop has to offer, unless you connect an external monitor.

Not to mention a desktop workstation would be a lot cheaper than a lappy.

 

[jaykleg]

I do several types of process design work on a Dell Precision M70. It has an nVidia Quadro FX Go 1400 video card and a very good 15 inch 1920x1200 screen which work very well for personal display of the information at typical laptop-display-to-user-eye distance. If the system is going to be used for showing drawings to other people in meetings the architect will want to use an external display. (NOTE: DVI for the external display is NOT available without a port replicator or dock. The only external video connector on the notebook itself is VGA.)

System has four USB 2.0 ports, a parallel port, a serial port (yeah!), S-Video (not much use to me), gigabit Ethernet connector, V.92 modem phone connector, one PC Card slot, a smart card slot, headphone/speaker port, microphone port (no built-in mic), infrared port. There is no firewire. Not a loss for me, but a serious shortcoming for some.

System is a two spindle design, meaning you can't have two hard drives without removing the optical drive. Case is solid magnesium alloy with some steel reinforcement. Plastic palmrests. Good keyboard. Quality control is very good on my example with absolutely no pixel issues on the LCD and with very uniform backlighting on all but very dark gray or black backgrounds.

I use it at home with a port replicator and a 2005fpw display connected to the port replicator's DVI port. That combination provides a very nice and useful pair of wide screen monitors over which to stretch desktop and applications. If I hadn't been in a hurry when I purchased this I would have waited for the larger 2405fpw (?) to come out.

My system uses the 7200 rpm 60 gig hard drive and works well in combination with external USB 2.0 drives for extra storage. When doing design work this thing won't set your hair on fire, but it is faster than the most recent generation of desktop CAD workstations. It's not a disadvantage to use it as a main design machine, assuming you add the drawing peripherals you need for your application. I know folks who try to use trackpoints and touchpads to do CAD work. I wouldn't even consider trying.

By the time you add up all the stuff you might be carrying around it can get to be a pretty big bundle. More portable than a desktop system, but a long way from a ultralight.

Edit: I should mention I got this with 2 gigs of RAM and the fastest process (2.13 GHz Pentium M) available at the time. Wouldn't want to go too much lower for CAD.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

It depends on the CAD. My dad does extensive CAD work designers dryers and whey processing plants in mostly 2d. His basic 2.8 Pentium M with 17inch screen runs quite quickly. It is when he gets into the 3d stuff that there is a slowdown.

How big are the drawings?
Are they 3d?

The AMD Turion is arriving soon at 2.2 AMD64 at 35 watt so AMD is now entering the picture as well as the Dothan.
I would get a 17inch screen for sure and at least 1gig of ram and a 7200rpm hard-drive myself

 

[ElFenix]

looks like i'm going to have to get more specific answers to my questions of 'what software will she be using' and 'what exactly does she want to do with it'

 

[w00t]

wow cad on laptop wheew make sure you get some good stuff from what i hear you need 2 gigs.