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Laptop
SPRINTSTAR - February 13th, 2008 at 06:05 PM

Can anyone suggest which one? I've narrowed it down at the moment to either a HP,Asus or Toshiba...(Pentium/Centrino Duo Core/2Gig Ram etc..)will mostly be for 3D Architectural modelling. Any feedback would be appreciated regarding reliability and after sales service experience.

mackaymanx - February 13th, 2008 at 06:09 PM

3D Architectural modelling will require a very good video card.

kombikim - February 13th, 2008 at 07:03 PM

checked with my son, who has worked at Dick Smiths for a number of years, he said that over that time Toshiba has been the most reliable & have the best warranty, if you have a problem, they send a courier to pick up & to return it, nobody else does that, he says generally Toshiba cost a bit more but it is worth it,

(disclaimer - blah blah blah etc)

BUGBOY - February 13th, 2008 at 07:51 PM

Toshiba

Don't know much about the rest but had never had any problem with running 3D modeling and power mill for cutter paths for machining of automotive tool dies when i was at work. But not sure what the specs of the laptop was?

For my own personal use I have Toshiba aswell.
Once had a battery pack up and had a new one in the mail in two days, very good after sales service.
But as far as running your software, I'd recommend you contact Toshiba and tell them what programs you wish to run.
You don't want to end up under powered!

h - February 13th, 2008 at 08:03 PM

Apple MacBook Pro is the way to go..

c'mon cross over you'll never go back.. :smilegrin:

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/ 

barls - February 13th, 2008 at 08:05 PM

plus one to what h said
come to the light my son

type3lover - February 13th, 2008 at 08:32 PM

There are Toshiba Satellite A200 or P200 (15.4" or 17" screen) that run 2.4Ghz+ Intel Core2 with 2GB RAM, 320GB+ HDD, DVD burner , WiFi, bluetooth, webcam and an ATI 512MB graphics card starting from $2K.

Mac owners are funny... :lol:

Toshiba are still the most reliable brand. HP look good but can develop issues early on and Asus are cheap for a reason...kinda like the hyundai of notebooks.

For any type of CAD work you need a good graphics card and lots of RAM. A 2Ghz or better processor would be wise depending on your budget and whether you want a fast laptop or not.

StenGuns - February 13th, 2008 at 09:03 PM

Juat bought 4 toshiba Satellite A210's with 2gb ram for about 1300 each.. Don't like vista but getting used to it.. Unless your building a frickin space shuttle.. you should be able to do CAD and 3D modelling with one of these entry level machines..

StenGuns - February 13th, 2008 at 09:07 PM

PS.. nothing wrong with ASUS but I'd never buy another HP.. I used them (perservered) for years.. Any high end (MS-OS, always found Macs scary) machines, we get custom built using geoff at affordable laptops in Perth..

Baja Wes - February 13th, 2008 at 09:20 PM

Entry level machines won't handle 3D cad style programs.

I have a $4000 HP notebook for work. It is very buggy, lots of strange unexplained crashes. I don't like it much, but I didn't pay for it. It has a high end graphics card for the 3D programs I run.

I also personally have an entry level Dell. It has been trouble free and I have been happy with it. It doesn't have a dedicated graphics card so doesn't like 3D programs, but does everything else fine.

My brother has an ASUS, it was very good value for money. My other brother had a Toshiba and it was expensive for what it was.

byronbus - February 13th, 2008 at 10:22 PM

I have an asus, only notebook i could find with factory 2 year warranty, very satisfied, had it over a year...

555bug - February 14th, 2008 at 12:11 AM

I have a older Asus v6v and it one of the best laptop I've owned, batteries shit themselves frequently however, I'm also running a Dell d630 with 4GB RAM that is a pig, loads of crap that just slows it down...format+xp sp3 and your off and running. My 2c get a 7200rpm drive and as much ram as you can afford and it will do everything.

butidontunderstand - February 14th, 2008 at 12:48 AM

mac

Baja Wes - February 14th, 2008 at 06:32 AM

I should also point out a gaming 3D card and a CAD 3D card are different. They both have different 3D requirements. Games don't use solid lines as outlines to object, CAD does, apparently that takes a lot of graphics card power.

Bizarre - February 14th, 2008 at 06:46 AM

For what it is worth i will say Toshiba

I will also add why lap top??

You can get more cooling power in a desk top.
From what i have seen much over 1.6MHz and they start to cook

I would also stay away from Vista. All ours at work are XP Proffessional
Memory chewer and no networking

What 3D package are you going to use.
We do mechanical and are getting into Rivett(sp??)

AMAZING programme

sinecure - February 14th, 2008 at 08:20 AM

If the budget is fat and you want a lightweight notebook with massive power:

http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/area-51_m15x/area-51m_overview....

Or a heavyweight laptop with massive power:

http://dellstore04.dell.com.au/public/cart/configurator.jsp?prd_id=614150&...

Whatever you end up buying, sacrifice CPU power for more RAM if you have to for your budget, 4gig should future-proof it for a while. CAD programs don't reallly thrash the CPU that much, but will gobble all the RAM you can give them. If you go for 2gig, get a system that will at least support 4gig.

Running Vista on a laptop with less than 4gig of RAM can be quite painful for other apps, so XP Pro would be your best choice for OS. Even XP Pro won't address more than 2gig of RAM to any single app unless the /3GB switch is used in the Boot.ini file.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx 

Do the above linked 'hack' :) , and you get 3gig of addressable memory for your CAD program ( or game for those of you 133+ ) , and the OS with the smallest memory footprint apart from Linux.

rob53 - February 14th, 2008 at 08:38 AM

My previous laptop was a dell and had it for 5+ years, my new laptop is a dell also and I couldn't be happier. There is a reason why dell is now #1 pc maker in the world ...
As for windows, I have heard of lots of compatibility issues with vista, and performance problems and etc. But for XP, despite is millions of problems, it's not a bad OS.

BiX - February 14th, 2008 at 08:38 AM

The guys at my work all run hi end dells for 3d cad work (civil 3d) that includes huges 3d models with file sizes greater than 100mb....

The desk tops to run it require min 4gb of ram, and 512 gaphics(thoug to render larger drawinsg most run sli 1024 video cards min) so trying to get a lappy to run that is hard!!

Iam in the same boat the moment, as i want to upgrade mine as the later version of C3D won't run on many std systems. Looking at 3.5 to 5k for a machine to run the programs we work on. There are a few newer machines working their way through that have 512 deicated graphics memory. Most of the upper end ones still only have 256, with possibly 256 shared. Also look at some of the gaming lattops.

Matt Ryan - February 14th, 2008 at 08:48 AM

Haven't heard a good thing about vista yet, google some reviews & you'll see what I mean. Apparently, if it's already installed, it won't let you put xp on, as it considers that to be a downgrade. You have to stuff around removing vista first & wiping hard drive etc. Vista also requires lots of memory just to run, not leaving much for programmes. It is a real big resources hog.

On their business spec pc's & laptops a lot of the big names (Hp etc.) include a free copy of xp so you can "downgrade".

Regards,

Matt.

Turkeyss - February 14th, 2008 at 11:50 AM

I'm no wizz but i've seen this on this site...

http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/toshiba-a35-s2276-notebook-pc-15-4-1-6ghz-1gb...


There are also a few different makes on the website if you do a search.


Good luck, Rowan

syncropro - February 14th, 2008 at 04:53 PM

Quote:
(MS-OS, always found Macs scary)


First drive in a LHD Carrera turbo might be too,
So I'll just stick to my Hyundai Excel, I'm used to that.

syncropro - February 14th, 2008 at 04:58 PM

Quote:

Mac owners are funny... :lol:



Of course, happy too, no viruses, malware, regular crashes, slowing systems, etc

SPRINTSTAR - February 14th, 2008 at 08:28 PM

Thanks guys, for the record, I'll be running Autocad,Microstation,PhotoshopCS and Revit. I'm afraid I'm even more confused now!:mad:

mackaymanx - February 14th, 2008 at 08:48 PM

Glad we could help!:lol:

vwkg - February 14th, 2008 at 08:54 PM

Have a HP Pavillion "Entertainment PC"
From Harvey Norman up here in Darwin.
17 inch moniter, good graphics card
Used for exactly your purposes, no troubles at all.
Runs great, never slow.

BUGBOY - February 14th, 2008 at 09:20 PM

just spend about $4000 and you should be right!:lol:

crewcabconnection - February 14th, 2008 at 10:20 PM

... you know why they make PCs? ... to keep fkwits off Macs. A Macbook Pro will churn through the work, RAM it up. Then have PC start up races with your Mac. Mac will load XP and OSX in about the same time you PC finished twatting about with it's BIOS. Can't compare a Macbook Pro to a Toshiba/Dell/Asus/Acer/HP. Yeah they cost, but they are worth it.

type3lover - February 14th, 2008 at 11:28 PM

Quote:

... you know why they make PCs? ... to keep fkwits off Macs



That was plain uncalled for in my opinion :td:

In response to that remark I'd like to also say that the majority of mac users are complete wankers but I won't... :ninja:

Both brands have their merits and either way you go you will have a good machine for 2-3K.

I run a Harvey Norman store and since we don't sell macs I can't really comment on them other than I know that they are a very well marketed product and generally more expensive than an equivalent name brand windows based machine. I also know that they rarely discount (would you if you were only making 4% on it?), it's much harder to buy software for them and the cost of repairs is high.


Yes, Vista uses more Ram than XP. It requires a more powerful processor, more Ram and more graphics memory than XP just to run idle. Personal computing technology is advancing and there is no stopping it and no point whinging about it either.

I do think that the release of vista was premature and that is why it received so much negative feedback. The third party companies just weren't prepared for it hence the lack of drivers, incompatible software, underpowered hardware and the list goes on. Suddenly people had a very limited choice as to what peripherals were vista compatible. It took months for the third party companies to actually release new drivers for their products...Shit, even Tel$tra's bigpond connection software didn't work with it for ages. Overall I think it just left a bad taste in everyone's mouth early on and hence all the prejudiced remarks. It's been out for over a year now...

Vista Ultimate is the pick of them and usually comes standard on the more high end models. Has all the networking, security and backup features of XP Pro / Vista Business as well as the entertainment software of Home Premium. If you can use windows then it will take very little to master vista. Essentially it is not too different to previous versions of windows once you know where everything is.

I know I ranted a bit there but I am tired of people just jumping on the "anti-vista" warpath when they are clearly uninformed.

Disclaimer: I wasn't talking about you! :cool:

koolkarmakombi - February 15th, 2008 at 08:16 AM

Just bought a Dell XPS1530 with the 1650 x 1080 res 15inch screen sweeeet.

8600m 256 ddr3 graphics, t7700 processor, 3g ram etc etc

vista ultimate that is a resource bitch. I hear what t3lover ^ says but it should run at least as fast as xp pro but it doesn't. And if you have to use printers/software etc that you already own that are pre vista good luck :mad:

So if you are buying a new standalone suite go vista, if not stick with XP. I dont sell it, I just use it.:starhit:

This laptop pushed out a 13.5k 3dmark03!

StenGuns - February 16th, 2008 at 03:55 AM

Don't know if this is any help to anyone but I have an authentic copy of TurboCAD Pro V14 here that has never been installed.. Its recommended system requirements are 2ghz cpu, 2gb ram and 3d graphics accelerator card.. pretty standard stuff thse days on entry level machines.. Sprintstar.. don't get snowed by all the hype of needing bigger, better faster..
PS: happy to donate this software if anyone wants to learn CAD..