Product Design - Laptop

KeithM23

Basically I just finished the Leaving Certificate and am hoping to get Product Design in NUI Maynooth as my course, as a good laptop is recommended to be able to run solidworks at-home (I dont think it's absolutely essential but not too sure on that) I find myself needing a better laptop.

For those who don't know what solidworks is, it is a 3d modelling program, that requires much the same specs as a high end pc game. As I intend to use the laptop for gaming (finaly an excuse) I want it not only to handle the occassional college assignment but also day-to-day gaming.

Although I will probably be using it a good bit in college mobility is not an issue especially if the price is good.

Before things get out of hand I set myself the budget of 1,500 euro for the actual laptop, as for the warranty I will go with what seems right. Think it might be good to state that I am not afraid of getting a refurbished laptop, where money can be saved I am all-in.

So down to the specs I am looking for;

Graphics Card - 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX260M, or similar

Processor - Intel® Core™ i7 Processor 720QM, or similar

RAM - >3GB DDR3 SDRAM

Hard Drive - >120GB SATA can always upgrade or use external (Solid State is too expensive)

LCD >15"

Using these I myself got 2 choices an ASUS G73Jh or a refurbished Alienware M15X. The problem here is that I can't find a good deal on the ASUS as they don't seem (I can't find anywhere on their site) to sell directly and I dont want to be forced to buy a Dell.

The OS doesn't really matter as long as its Windows 7/Vista 64 Bit. I have used both.

So can anyone offer any suggestions?

ED E

Yeah, solid works is a b1tch.

In college they'll presumably provide machines with it. I know you're asking about laptops but I'd urge you to consider getting a decent desktop and then a lower end lappy(or you're current one) for any mobile stuff in between. If its a 4 year course SW will probably be bloated even further by the time you're finishing. With the same money you could whip up a killer tower. Do you really want to work on a 15" even when in your bedroom? Apps like SW appreciate the real estate that dual display desktops can give:)

KeithM23

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

Yeah, solid works is a b1tch.

In college they'll presumably provide machines with it. I know you're asking about laptops but I'd urge you to consider getting a decent desktop and then a lower end lappy(or you're current one) for any mobile stuff in between. If its a 4 year course SW will probably be bloated even further by the time you're finishing. With the same money you could whip up a killer tower. Do you really want to work on a 15" even when in your bedroom? Apps like SW appreciate the real estate that dual display desktops can give:)

Oh sorry if I didn't make it clear. They provide desktops in the college 100%. What I failed to get across was that during a presentation of the Product Design course in our school (by a lecturer from NUI Maynooth) he advised a laptop capable of running solidworks so that if need be (late night touch ups, any changes to project work) you are never stuck.

It works nicely for me as I have always wanted a gaming laptop and now I have a descent excuse.

I actually seriously considered purchasing a desktop and just trying to get buy with this laptop as it would be much cheaper option but I really love the portability of a laptop. Don't know how I would get by without one. - my current toshiba's warranty runs out in a year and it breaks down every 2 months or so....

As for the screen, the size of the screen on my current laptop is 15.3" Screen size is small (for solidworks) but not a great inconvenience. 17" would be for me enough, the ASUS offers that but the Alienware m17x is expensive, haven't found a good deal even on a refurbished model.

It is a 4-year course, that is why I actually put a lot of the specs like the processor and the graphics card at a high standard. I just figured that they should be enough to see me through the 4 years smoothly.

I might end up going with the Desktop option though if I cannot find a good value gaming laptop.

x in the city

why not get a desktop, what do you need a high end laptop just for solidworks.

you can take a usb stick for any presentations or work and run your stuff from college pc's.

a m15x is no good at 15" for cad work, anything bigger is going to cost

i got a xps m1730 with 1gig ddr3 ram (9800gt in sli) with 6 gigs of dram which would breeze through solid works but you wont get it cheap, and it also weights about 5 tonnes, which is not ideally suited for college work unless you want to be seen as an uber geek...!!!!

KeithM23

x in the city wrote: »

why not get a desktop, what do you need a high end laptop just for solidworks.

you can take a usb stick for any presentations or work and run your stuff from college pc's.

a m15x is no good at 15" for cad work, anything bigger is going to cost

i got a xps m1730 with 1gig ddr3 ram (9800gt in sli) with 6 gigs of dram which would breeze through solid works but you wont get it cheap, and it also weights about 5 tonnes, which is not ideally suited for college work unless you want to be seen as an uber geek...!!!!

No I don't want it just for solidworks as I also want to use it for gaming (cabal online and crysis mainly).

Size of the screen does not bother me when it comes to solidworks, you can just configure the interface to be more appropriate on a smaller screen. Not as if 15" is the smallest screen size ever. m15x is 15.6" so should be just fine.

High end because as solidworks gets upgraded I dont want to have to upgrade my system and also I would like to use it for gaming (previously mentioned I think)

Few reasons why I put laptop above desktop is because as I don't intend to be making full projects at home I would like to have the comfotability and portability that a laptop offers while still having the performance.

But again if I cannot attain this I will opt for the desktop option hence I am asking if anyone knows of any high end good value laptops.

x in the city

KeithM23 wrote: »

No I don't want it just for solidworks as I also want to use it for gaming (cabal online and crysis mainly).

Size of the screen does not bother me when it comes to solidworks, you can just configure the interface to be more appropriate on a smaller screen. Not as if 15" is the smallest screen size ever. m15x is 15.6" so should be just fine.

High end because as solidworks gets upgraded I dont want to have to upgrade my system and also I would like to use it for gaming (previously mentioned I think)

Few reasons why I put laptop above desktop is because as I don't intend to be making full projects at home I would like to have the comfotability and portability that a laptop offers while still having the performance.

But again if I cannot attain this I will opt for the desktop option hence I am asking if anyone knows of any high end good value laptops.

a second hand laptop would be your only hope

your looking at over 1 grand easily, you would be wanting 4 gigs of ram also or more.

id buy a desktop, you could get an i7 with 6 gigs of ram, a 500gig hdd, and a 23" full hd wide monitor for what youd get in a lapop

theres some german company who have a high end laptop going for about a grand, not the best build quality but it has a very good spec and would easily do your needs.

KeithM23

x in the city wrote: »

a second hand laptop would be your only hope

your looking at over 1 grand easily, you would be wanting 4 gigs of ram also or more.

id buy a desktop, you could get an i7 with 6 gigs of ram, a 500gig hdd, and a 23" full hd wide monitor for what youd get in a lapop

theres some german company who have a high end laptop going for about a grand, not the best build quality but it has a very good spec and would easily do your needs.

I am prepared to spend 1500 but on the desktop side what desktop brands would you recommend?

ED E

KeithM23 wrote: »

I am prepared to spend 1500 but on the desktop side what desktop brands would you recommend?

The KeithM23 Brand, Model: PutTogetherByMyOwnHands2000

Seriously, self build and you will have a monster of a machine with that budget.

x in the city

KeithM23 wrote: »

I am prepared to spend 1500 but on the desktop side what desktop brands would you recommend?

a dell xps obviously...!

or make your own, you obviously know some stuffs about hardware already so why pay someone else to make a machine for you and make one yourself.

1500e would do a good laptop, as i said the german one would do your needs someone else will probably know about it. you can get it shipped.

or else cobalt do very bad ass laptops which may or may not be in your price range.

if it was me, id buy parts and make a desktop

you just need a processor, case, cooling, memory, hard drive, monitor, motherboard, blu ray drive/dvd drive

even a 15.6" laptop is small, mine is 17" and its the minimum id use for work, i use labview, and EDA tools like altium designer, also a resource hog, and using them with a sub 17" screen seems impossible.

a 23" wide full hd monitor would be heaven

KeithM23

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

The KeithM23 Brand, Model: PutTogetherByMyOwnHands2000

Seriously, self build and you will have a monster of a machine with that budget.

If I was going for a desktop I would lower the budget but yes I think you are right.

Thanks for the help. I'll see what I will do after the CAO is wrapped up.

KeithM23

x in the city wrote: »

a dell xps obviously...!

or make your own, you obviously know some stuffs about hardware already so why pay someone else to make a machine for you and make one yourself.

1500e would do a good laptop, as i said the german one would do your needs someone else will probably know about it. you can get it shipped.

or else cobalt do very bad ass laptops which may or may not be in your price range.

if it was me, id buy parts and make a desktop

you just need a processor, case, cooling, memory, hard drive, monitor, motherboard, blu ray drive/dvd drive

even a 15.6" laptop is small, mine is 17" and its the minimum id use for work, i use labview, and EDA tools like altium designer, also a resource hog, and using them with a sub 17" screen seems impossible.

a 23" wide full hd monitor would be heaven

Thank for the advice, will see what I can string together.

x in the city

KeithM23 wrote: »

Thank for the advice, will see what I can string together.

welcome

ED E

KeithM23 wrote: »

If I was going for a desktop I would lower the budget but yes I think you are right.

Thanks for the help. I'll see what I will do after the CAO is wrapped up.

If the 18th goes well for me I'll hopefully be putting in some orders myself:)

KeithM23

I strung together hopefully a compatible list of parts and am hoping that someone can look over for me just to verify if everything is ok and if I am missing something.

Parts

Red - International seller

Case; Cooler Master HAF 932 - Full tower € 130 Komplett.ie

PSU; CORSAIR TX850W € 130 Komplett.ie

Processor; Intel Core i7 920 € 250 Komplett.ie

CPU Cooler; Noctua NH-U12DX 1366 € 65 Newegg

MotherBoard; ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 € 240 Komplett.ie

Graphics Card; MSI N465GTX-M2D1G €285 Komplett.ie

Memory; Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) € 77 Newegg / (€ 250 Komplett.ie)

Monitor; Iiyama Pro Lite 24" € 230 Komplett.ie

Hard Drive; WD Caviar Black WD100 1TB € 74 Newegg

Sound Card; Creative Creative 70SB073A00000 € 78 Newegg

Speakers; Creative GigaWorks T40 Series 2 € 110 Komplett.ie

Optical Drive; LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM € 16 Newegg

Keyboard & Mouse; Microsoft 4000 € 32 Norwegg


Newegg have the lowest prices supposedly but, the problem is that they dont do international deliveries so I will be hoping to compare them to some international PC Hardware shops.

I have only ever used Komplett.ie - which is ok but sometimes overpriced, so can anyone recommend any other sites (that deliver internationally)