that laptop question again !!

[tdarcy]

Hi guys,

Same old question what laptop to buy.

want something fast -weight and price not really a concern.

Probably will want xp pro 32 to match the rest of the office environment.

If it was xp64 would that be compatible with the rest of the network on xp32 and can DR be mixed 32 and 64 bit .....would be nice to have more ram.

Not thinking macbook ....mainly because no experience with them...but open to being convinced.

Oh i assume still stay clear of vista for using autocad...max....v-ray.....etc.

 

All comments welcome

 

Cheers

Tdarcy

[intero_ua]

Not a direct suggestion, just wanted to share my opinion:

 

My choice (in fact already is) would have been ASUS notebook, one of those newer gamer series 17" ones. Back in 2007 I chose G1, good performance, good design, stable, quiet, dedicated video memory.

 

Dell XPX M2010, very big and heavy, but look at it, still portable -ish and yet desktop power.

 

Alienware Area-51 m9750 is quite powerful, but probably has it's own pros and cons.

 

Not sure, but probably need to purchase XP separately since they all come with Vista by default.

[kris McIsaac]

I am still getting HP laptops with XP. These are the only 17" laptops we could get with XP though. Not sure on the exact specs but I think it is core 2 duo 2.33, 2GB, 3000Gb HDD, 256Mb Geforce something. They were not ment for rendering but I have used them a couple of times and they do OK. The have a good fan which is a must for rendering. Most 17"'s have a fan but something to look out for.

[tdarcy]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

What do you think of this spec guys

 

novatech laptop

Microsoft Windows XP Professional £1989.01 inc vat

 

 

Screen 17" WUXGA 1920 x 1200 TFT Screen

Processor Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme Mobile X9000 6MB Cache Dual Core Processor

Processor Speed 2 x 2.8GHz

Memory 4GB DDR2 667MHz Memory

Hard Drive 200GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

Drive Blu Ray Reader DVD/RW Multi Burner

Modem 56K Internal Modem

Graphics Nvidia 8800M GTX 512mb PCI Express Graphics

Sound Azalia High Definition Audio With SRS WOW Surround Sound

Speakers 2 x 1.5 Watt & 1 x 2 Watt Sub Woofer

Memory Slots 2 x DDR2 SO-DIMM

Memory Capacity 4GB

Audio In Port 1 x Mic-in

Audio Out Port 1 x H'phone/Speakers & S/PDIF Output

Networking Port 1 x Gigabit LAN & 802.11n Draft Wireless LAN

serial Port Yes

Ext Monitor Port 1 x DVI-D Port

Power Socket AC Power Adapter

USB Ports 4 x USB 2.0

PCMCIA Port 1 x Express Card Slot (34/54)

Firewire Port 1 x Mini IEEE 1394a Firewire

Bluetooth Yes

Webcam 1.3 Mega Pixel

Carry Case Yes

AC Adaptor AC Adapter Supplied

Internal Battery 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Touchpad Glidepad with 2 buttons & scroll button

Scroll Button 1 x scroll button

Dimensions (mm) 44h x 397w x 284d

Warranty 12 Mths RTB

Weight 3.95Kg with battery

OS Compliance Windows XP/Vista

Notes 7 In 1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/SD/MMC/RS MMC/MS Duo/Mini-SD), Bluetooth & 1.3MP WebCam

[Elliot]

I am having the same issue.... the laptop people are suggesting the Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX Graphics card is probably superior to the Quadro FX 1600. On an AutoCAD board I read that AutoCAD prefers Direct3D and it works good with the GeForce.

 

SolidWORKS apparently refuses to use anything besides Quadro - Open GL.

 

What did you decided to do...?

 

Thanks

Elliot

[Matt Zanetti]

yeah definately avoid vista i recently got a new hp pavillion dv9000 which works pretty well and is quite fast, saying tht i did add an extra 2gb of ram as soon as i got it, anyway vista is a nightmare especially if you don't plan on updating your cad package, my university provides us with microstation but with vista the text tool on 2d doesn't work and the modify solids tools doesn't work in 3d very frustrating.

[tdarcy]

Thanks for the input guys ,

decided on the novatech laptop listed above.

Lets hope it rocks

TD