Laptop recommendation for CAD work

Turbulent Bill

Hi folks,
Trying to pick a laptop for my little bro for college work. The only issue is that it has to run AutoCAD Revit for CAD work, hence a bog-standard €600 job won't work (see below):

Budget: hopefully <€1500, could stretch for right machine.

Intended use: must be able to run 64-bit AutoCAD Revit, system requirements are here. Somewhere above the minimum 64-bit requirements should work nicely, so maybe a mid-range Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM would do the trick. Decent graphics card needed for 3D stuff (i.e., not integrated). Also needed for general college work, internet, e-mail etc.

Mobility: fair bit of travelling required, so maybe 15" screen - big enough to design on, small enough to carry. Must be rugged enough to survive general travel and use - which manufacturers are best at this?

Warranty: required but doesn't necessarily need to be next-day. 3 years would be nice, probably enough to cover the lifespan of the laptop.

I don't know much about the manufacturers these days (in service, price, support etc.), so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Overheal

A 3 year warranty will cost a bit. Perhaps more if you include Accidental Protection. In the course of 3 years though something will spill on it or it will be dropped. Worth it though tbh. Pays for itself the first time the screen breaks.

Every manufacturer offers Dualcore and 4GB Ram these days. The going Mobile Card if Im not mistaken is either the Geforce 8600M GT or the ATI HD3850 Mobile. Cant recall but those will either come with 256 or 512MB ram. If you are unsure about any of the offered components just google "Component_name Specifications"

For ruggedness I would not necessarily go with HP - these things are light and plasticy. Makes them great for travel and everyday laptop use. But if you are going to throw the thing around a lot you'd want to be a little bit more careful when you stuff it into a rucksack. On the Other Hand Dells feel a bit more rugged but also tend to be a few pounds heavier.

Things I like about my HP: Light, sleek and smooth surfaces (keyboard and touchpad), ergonomic
Things I don't like: Vulnerable screen lid (Not a problem 98% of the time to be fair), Noisy fan (which is not inherent to all laptops - its just a poorly designed fan)

All I can say is shop around. Don't forget to check out Komplett.ie, plus the big manufacturers like Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, Sony, etc.

Pshemko

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

Hi folks,
Trying to pick a laptop for my little bro for college work. The only issue is that it has to run AutoCAD Revit for CAD work, hence a bog-standard €600 job won't work (see below):

Budget: hopefully <€1500, could stretch for right machine.

Intended use: must be able to run 64-bit AutoCAD Revit, system requirements are here. Somewhere above the minimum 64-bit requirements should work nicely, so maybe a mid-range Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM would do the trick. Decent graphics card needed for 3D stuff (i.e., not integrated). Also needed for general college work, internet, e-mail etc.

Mobility: fair bit of travelling required, so maybe 15" screen - big enough to design on, small enough to carry. Must be rugged enough to survive general travel and use - which manufacturers are best at this?

Warranty: required but doesn't necessarily need to be next-day. 3 years would be nice, probably enough to cover the lifespan of the laptop.

I don't know much about the manufacturers these days (in service, price, support etc.), so any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

what do you think about macbook pro?

MackPaddy

I dont know if its too late...but I just picked up a Dell Precision m4400 15" laptop...and without sounding OTT it runs like a beast.Im currently running netbeans(development ide),virtualbox with xp,gimp image editor and about 20 tabs on firefox,and it flies through these.If you search on youtube for m4400 you can also see it running some demos of some topend games to see how it powerful its graphics card is.

Spec is 3Ghz dualcore,4gigs ram,512 nvidia quadro graphics card.Backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader.The best thing is it comes with 3 year warranty,for peace of mind.Its not the lightest of laptops,but it looks good and has a nice sturdy case.

Now here is the kicker...if you buy this spec of dell.ie the price is 2600 euros,however I bought from a dell reseller on ebay for 1400 including delivery.The guy was deadon,and explaiined that the machine was brand new and I would be the first person to open it.I received the laptop in 3 days from UK.Id definitely recommend him.He had a good selection of m4400s with varying specs/prices

Overheal

MackPaddy wrote: »

I dont know if its too late...but I just picked up a Dell Precision m4400 15" laptop...and without sounding OTT it runs like a beast.Im currently running netbeans(development ide),virtualbox with xp,gimp image editor and about 20 tabs on firefox,and it flies through these.If you search on youtube for m4400 you can also see it running some demos of some topend games to see how it powerful its graphics card is.

Spec is 3Ghz dualcore,4gigs ram,512 nvidia quadro graphics card.Backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader.The best thing is it comes with 3 year warranty,for peace of mind.Its not the lightest of laptops,but it looks good and has a nice sturdy case.

Now here is the kicker...if you buy this spec of dell.ie the price is 2600 euros,however I bought from a dell reseller on ebay for 1400 including delivery.The guy was deadon,and explaiined that the machine was brand new and I would be the first person to open it.I received the laptop in 3 days from UK.Id definitely recommend him.He had a good selection of m4400s with varying specs/prices

For the sake of safety, contact dell and confirm the status of your warranty.

Turbulent Bill

Pshemko wrote: »

what do you think about macbook pro?

Funnily enough, this was recommended by my brother's college, and a few of his friends seem to have one. However, I've always viewed Apples (probably unjustly) more as fashion statements with nice interfaces than technically-superior machines - they always seem overpriced for the specifications. Is this fair anymore?

Turbulent Bill

MackPaddy wrote: »

I dont know if its too late...but I just picked up a Dell Precision m4400 15" laptop...and without sounding OTT it runs like a beast.Im currently running netbeans(development ide),virtualbox with xp,gimp image editor and about 20 tabs on firefox,and it flies through these.If you search on youtube for m4400 you can also see it running some demos of some topend games to see how it powerful its graphics card is.

Spec is 3Ghz dualcore,4gigs ram,512 nvidia quadro graphics card.Backlit keyboard and fingerprint reader.The best thing is it comes with 3 year warranty,for peace of mind.Its not the lightest of laptops,but it looks good and has a nice sturdy case.

Now here is the kicker...if you buy this spec of dell.ie the price is 2600 euros,however I bought from a dell reseller on ebay for 1400 including delivery.The guy was deadon,and explaiined that the machine was brand new and I would be the first person to open it.I received the laptop in 3 days from UK.Id definitely recommend him.He had a good selection of m4400s with varying specs/prices

Not too late - it won't really be needed til September so there's no rush, I'd prefer to get the right one. The Dell Precisions look good alright, might be a contender. However the only Dell reseller I'd consider is the Dell ebay outlet - other 3rd parties are either too dodgy or complicated to be worth the hastle.