Choosing the right laptop computer for ViewBuild

debilunq · Member

Choosing the right laptop computer for ViewBuild

sergei · Veteran Member

The problem at the moment (and this covers CAD as well) is Windows Vista. We are working on improving support for vista..however this could be several months away.

The Inspiron with GeForce 8600 is the best bet. However for best compatability for most software at the moment we would recommend that you have Windows XP installed. I believe Dell offer this as an option with inspiron computers. The only other suggestion is to get the best video card you can afford such as a geforce 7900 or 8800.

Byron · Veteran Member

I too bought a dell thinking that it was the best, well after getting rid of vista it sucks and would not run anything that i have cad and view build and talk about slow my 4 year old gateway was faster than my new dell anyway i have a Inspiron e1705 with the intel centrino duo and 2 gigs of ram and the ati mobility radeon 1400 and i am happy with it so far
Byron

debilunq · Member

Byron and Sergei, thanks for your reply. I am inserting a link to a great sight that has benchmark comparisons for mobile video cards and mobile processors.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

Andray found it for me and I have used it diligently. Byron, I got confused. Are you happy with your Inspiron or is it the one that won't run CAD? Is it a desktop or a notebook?

Sergei, I saw on the above sight that the GE force isn't rated as high as the Quadro FX 1500, but another review said that the FX 1500 was only for entry level CAD. Unfortunately, Dell doesn't offer any laptop computers with the GE Force cards you mentioned for under $3000. If I can get a laptop to be pretty good, I can upgrade my desktop with the better card later.

Thanks for your answers. I don't have to decide today, but its getting pretty desperate.-Debi

Byron · Veteran Member

it is a laptop and i do like it

debilunq · Member

Thanks you guys. I did decide on the Vostro 1500 by Dell. It has the T7500 dual core processor, the GE Force 8600m GT video card and 3 gigs of ram. The hard drive is slow but I can upgrade that on my own. I will let you-all know how I like it once I receive it and load all my programs on. The best news is that it is under $2000 fully loaded.

sergei · Veteran Member

Great looking forward to seeing the review... Don't forget to upgrade your drivers..

debilunq · Member

Allright. I can finally review this machine.

I LOVE IT. That said, this is an amazing laptop for the money. Dell is trying to promote them, so I think they are a better deal now than they will be later on.

Because this is a Vista based machine, it took some time to work out some weird little bugs. There were problems with a wireless mouse and some software conflicts internally. I had to disable what Vista calls the UAC (User Account Control). It is supposed to guard your privacy and all kinds of wonderful things but what it really does is intrude into every operation you try to perform on the computer. I couldn't install software or get my programs to run correctly. It froze the machine constantly. But once I slit its little throat everything smoothed out. Hope I'm not shooting myself in the foot.

In my previous email I had mentioned that the hard drive is slow. Well, it is slower than a 7200, but I don't know that I could tell the difference. This guy is so fast that I don't think I will upgrade the hard drive until I see a real need. I love the speed of things like how quickly it loads a program.

I played around in some ViewBuild projects that you guys had drawn. Even the largest ones seemed to work like a charm. I was able to move smoothly though every model. I have only started one project of my own so far. It is working beautifully except for a few hiccups caused by Vista. I will keep track next time I am working in VB and let you know.

Hooray to Andray for helping me get a better computer than the one Dell originally sold me. Hooray to Dell for giving me the opportunity to be a satisfied customer.