Laptop for solid works

Alanstrainor

Hey guys,

Need a bit of help finding a laptop to run solid works. It's for my brother who's studying industrial design in NCAD. He's looking at getting a laptop to use for solid works in college. Now this is a resource intensive app to say the least, but I'm just looking for some advice on what options would be.

Requirements:
OS: Windows 7/8
Screen Size: 15->17"
Usage: Solid works
Hard disk: As large as possible. Will probably fit an SSD in the cd drive if possible.

Now, as for budget, as little as possible:p. I know, everyone hates that as an answer, but maybe if I say less than 1000, and if we could find a machine in the 700~ range that would have the required spec to run solid works.

Also, my bro has a top of the range Desktop, we're talking Core i7, 16GB Ram, top of the range Nvidia graphics (well it was 6 months ago) etc. I think it's a bit silly buying another top of the range laptop to go with that...but how and ever.

Torqay

I don't know if consumer graphic cards accelerate Solid Works, they only list enterprise grade GPUs as "certified" (Quadro, FireGL, Intel HD P3/4000, integrated GMA in Sandy/Ivy Xeon CPUs). Anyway, here goes:

Dell Inspiron 17R Special Edition? 17.3" full HD, Ivy Bridge Core i5, 1 TB drive, GT 650M, costs €731 + VAT. Which is a pretty good price for a laptop with a GT 650M.

There are also plenty Ivy Core i7 quads with a dedicated GPU that should fit the requirements as well as your budget but if you want a "certified" enterprise grade GPU, it's going to be tough to find something for under a grand.

T-K-O

In my last job the guys would use dell precisions.. Also on the solid works website you can enter make model and graphics card and it will tell you how it performs.

Alanstrainor

Torqay wrote: »

I don't know if consumer graphic cards accelerate Solid Works, they only list enterprise grade GPUs as "certified" (Quadro, FireGL, Intel HD P3/4000, integrated GMA in Sandy/Ivy Xeon CPUs). Anyway, here goes:

Dell Inspiron 17R Special Edition? 17.3" full HD, Ivy Bridge Core i5, 1 TB drive, GT 650M, costs €731 + VAT. Which is a pretty good price for a laptop with a GT 650M.

There are also plenty Ivy Core i7 quads with a dedicated GPU that should fit the requirements as well as your budget but if you want a "certified" enterprise grade GPU, it's going to be tough to find something for under a grand.

T-K-O wrote: »

In my last job the guys would use dell precisions.. Also on the solid works website you can enter make model and graphics card and it will tell you how it performs.

Cheers for all that lads, much appreciated.

I'll pop onto the solid works site and see if I can get an idea of what he'll be needing.

T-K-O

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Cheers for all that lads, much appreciated.

I'll pop onto the solid works site and see if I can get an idea of what he'll be needing.

Hey just noticed your budget... I would research new machines for the guys and I never came across anything around the 700 range... Just a thought

Alanstrainor

T-K-O wrote: »

Hey just noticed your budget... I would research new machines for the guys and I never came across anything around the 700 range... Just a thought

Ah I now I was pushing things with that kind of a budget being honest! Worth a shot:D