New laptop for Google SketchUp

HydeRoad

I am looking at a new laptop for graphics work.

I do a lot of work with Google SketchUp, and very large 3D drawings. I find that once drawings get beyond a certain size on my current laptop, everything begins to slow down, until each click of a line takes a minute or two. Obviously, it becomes impossible to construct large drawings at that slow rate of progress, besides the errors that occur through slow response rates to clicks and commands.

My current laptop is an Acer Aspire 5920G, about five years old. Screen blinks rapidly due to a faulty connection somewhere, and battery is completely dead, mains power only. Battery surely not worth replacing.
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T5750 (2.0 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache)
Up to 1536MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 HyperMemory
15.4" LCD screen
4GB DDR2
250 GB HDD
Windows Vista

I should say I have no idea what any of those figures mean, other than the RAM and hard disk capacity.

I was recommended by a big chain store to look at the following laptop:
Toshiba C870D-11X with 17.3" widescreen
AMD E2-1800 processor
6GB Memory
500GB hard drive
AMD Radeon HD 7340 graphics
Windows 8
€ 519.99

I see bigger RAM and hard disk, but I have no understanding of graphics cards or how they work. Presumably this is a bigger, faster machine than my present Acer. But am I looking at the right machine for big 3D drawing work?

Many thanks for any advice or opinions.

swiftblade

With such a low budget, you're a bit restricted in the graphics department. I have never used Google SketchUp, but I have recently purchased a Laptop for Flash Professional. Set me back a good bit, the guts of €1000.

If you are looking at a laptop that has decent graphics, you should be prepared to pay for it. Then again, as I said, SketchUp might not be that resource heavy. Someone else is bound to know.

What is your budget? Around that of the laptop you posted?

mordeith

From the Google website (recommended specs)

◦2+ GHz processor.
◦2+ GB RAM.
◦500 MB of available hard-disk space.
◦3D class Video Card with 512+ MB of memory or higher.
Please ensure that the video card driver supports OpenGL version 1.5 or higher and up to date.
SketchUp's performance relies heavily the graphics card driver and it's ability to support OpenGL 1.5 or higher. Historically, people have seen problems with Intel based cards with SketchUp. We don't recommend using these graphics cards with SketchUp at this time.

swiftblade

Taking a quick look on PC Specialist, at their custom laptop range, £776.00 seems to be around the price you would be looking at. This is with a Nvidia GTX 660M.

Then, if you want things like an i7 or a SSD, the price will increase again.

Unless you find a good deal, I would stay away from any of the major stores. They tend to have a "Look, look! It has Nvidia/ATI graphics!" policy, when in reality, the card is probably worse than Intel's 4000

Joshua J

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Acer_Aspire_V3-571G_Windows_8_Core_i5_Laptop_-_Black_NX.RZJEK.010/version.asp

HydeRoad

Joshua J wrote: »

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Acer_Aspire_V3-571G_Windows_8_Core_i5_Laptop_-_Black_NX.RZJEK.010/version.asp

Oh that last one looks like the business! Many thanks indeed, that seems to be a fine machine. It also has a seperate numpad, which I really miss on the current machine.

Balmed Out

http://www.laptopsdirect.ie/Lenovo_Z580_White_-_Core_i5-3210M_8GB_1TB_15.6_Win8_DVDRW_NVidia_1GB__M81GBUK/version.asp

theres a deal on some lenovos too eg
http://www.saveonlaptops.co.uk/Lenovo_Z580_1336880.html works out at 551 euro with an improved sound card but there will be postage. add the code slip for a free cover thingy too.