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Is this a good laptop for CAD Software ?

post #1 of 6
7/6/10 at 8:07pm
Thread Starter 
Ok so I have around £1,000 pounds to spend on a new laptop for university.

My laptop will be used primarily for 3D modelling software such as 3D Studio Max and Maya. Although I may use it for some light gaming as well.

I know little about the specs of computers I'm just rather handy on the software front. I want plenty of speed and RAM but a large harddrive isn't of importance as I have a 1TB external hdd.

Initially I looked at the Alienware MX11 but then I found the Sager NP2180 which offered more RAM as well as High Def and a Blu-ray player.

Here are the specs for the Sager laptop that I am looking at...

Display: 15.6" Full HD LED Display - 1920 x 1080
Graphics Card: ATI MOBILITY RADEON HD 5650 Graphics with 1GB GDDR3 Memo
CPU Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor ( 45nm, 6MB L3 Cache, 1.60GHz)
Operating System: Windows® 7 Home Premium 32/64-Bit Edition
Memory: 6GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 1 X 4GB + 1 X 2GB
Primary Hard Disk Drive: 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300
Optical Drive: 4X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
Wireless Network Card: Internal 802.11 B+G+N Wireless LAN
Bluetooth: Internal Bluetooth V2.1
Integrated Security Device: Fingerprint Reader

Total Cost: $1,354.00

Would this laptop do the trick or do you have any suggestions of your own ?
Thanks
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post #2 of 6
7/6/10 at 8:11pm
Specs look good to me, and I like that 15.6" high resolution screen

cheers ...
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post #3 of 6
7/7/10 at 3:30pm
If you are using CAD and other 3D modelling software, a 17" or larger screen may be more suitable... However if you are at home, using a larger separate LCD screen is a viable option... Specs look fine though for what you want, apart from the operating system - look at win7 pro, the XP virtualization is very handy....
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post #4 of 6
7/7/10 at 6:58pm
Thread Starter 
Hey thanks for the replies

I'm glad the specs are good enough for my needs, I want a laptop good enough to last 2-3 years. The larger screen thing doesn't matter that much, I have a 15" and i'v never had a problem before... plus will be using dual screen monitors in uni.

I will bare in mind the Win7 Pro thing though because its only a tiny bit more.
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post #5 of 6
7/8/10 at 9:57am
You should be fine, I have a Dell Vostro 3700 with slightly lower ram, hd, processor and for 95% of the day I can fly around in cad(my job) .....but these babies get hot....thats why i'm on here to see what everyone recommends for a laptop cooler. If you are not using cad type programs more than 6-7hrs a day then you should be fine w/o a cooler. Occasionally I have to let her cool off for a few minutes, that's what takes up the other 5% of my day.
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post #6 of 6
7/11/10 at 2:37am
I suggest that you try business class laptop for CAD/Maya type software. Quadro or FirePro video cards have drivers that are optimized for those applications. Although, you might have to increase your budget a little.
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