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Design student needs sub $1500 cad machine

post #1 of 8
1/11/08 at 12:38am
Thread Starter 
hey..industrial design student here...it looks like my old sager 3790 isn't gonna be enough for my school needs this semester...my main concern is solidworks..i won't be doing any serious gaming..so SW is gonna be my most demanding program..i've been searching the forums..came up with the IBM T61P, HP 8510P or W, or a few dells (4300, m90). But all of these are approaching $2k..before i start to convince myself that i need to spend that much, are there other options?..do i need to go that high end?..i was looking around and found the lg r700 http://ca.lge.com/en/products/model/...x.ap01a9.jhtml
anyone have any opinions on this?..anything wrong that i'm not seeing?..cuz so far this looks like a really good deal to me..just wanted to ask around before i jumped into anything..thanks for any help..
Maisan
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post #2 of 8
1/11/08 at 9:33am
Get the T61P if you get anything less you will regret it. If you are serious that you want something to run Solidworks. I am a machine designer and just bought on of these and for the money you can't beat it. HP is to expensive. Dell has the low end graphics card. For solidworks or any 3D solidmodeling program get a nVidia Quadro card. I have a Del Inspiron 1705 that will run solidworks but not great.
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post #3 of 8
1/11/08 at 4:22pm
Thread Starter 
would the quadro in the T61P work better than the 512mb GeForce 8600M GT in the LG i mentioned? i was looking at the two cards and they seem to have very similar features...just asking cuz the ibm is a bit out of my student budget unless i can find somewhere selling it really cheap

EDIT: if i build the T61P on the lenovo site right now i can get it for about 1400 CAD with a student discount...does everyone recommend this over the LG?....i couldn't find any reviews on it anywhere..thanks
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post #4 of 8
1/16/08 at 12:33pm
Get the T61p and make sure that you get the WUXGA screen. The LG comes with a lower resolution screen. Lots of positive reviews for the T61p.
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post #5 of 8
1/16/08 at 2:25pm
Get a used dell m90 off ebay with remaining warranty. I got one fully loaded for $1400. I don't do cad, but you can't seriously be saying that a 512mb fx2500m is a low-end card.
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post #6 of 8
1/16/08 at 2:32pm
You need the Quadro for Solidworks, M90 is very good. just not the latest processor. but, a very good machine if you can get one on eBay. I just bought a T61P I had a Dell Inspirion. It could only handle a few parts at a time. The T61P works great and is certifeied on the Solidworks site.
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post #7 of 8
1/16/08 at 2:34pm
For most intents and purposes I usually recommend Dell just because their tech support is the best. Nothing really comes close to having next day onsite service. It really is worth the premium as I could think of so many times it's saved me. I therefore recommend to you the Dell Latitude D830. It has everything the T61p has and on top of it has better service.

For the two laptops you are comparing though, I do think the T61p is better than the LG. I think the 8600m is the same thing as the quatro(haven't looked at the model of the quatro, so I'm guessing), except the quatro has optimizations specifically made for cad, solidworks, etc. It will be faster even if marginally.
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post #8 of 8
1/17/08 at 1:50am
Thread Starter 
thanks a lot everyone..i ordered my t61p on sunday night..can't wait for it to come..thanks for your help..i'll let you know how it turns out
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