Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

I am the mentor for team 1466. We have underutilized the Autodesk and PTC software in the past. I want to rectify this and I am requesting guidance on what computer(s) I should purchase. In this case it is unfortunate that I am a Mac user. I need help getting through the thicket of getting a reasonably priced Wintel box. I am particularly daunted by all of this video stuff.

So, can you suggest a machine that cost maybe $800 or less without monitor and will run the PTC software and the Autodesk software with decent efficiency?

I appreciate all of you in the community!

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Do you have any special requirements for purchasing? For example, does your school district have preferred suppliers, or require a warranty? Also, how eager would your students be to build (and support) computers for the team?

For CAD, you should be looking for a processor with the fastest single-threaded performance you can afford (so probably an Intel Core i5 or low-end i7). For 3-D rendering, speed is still useful, but you can also take advantage of multiple cores. A mid-range consumer video card will generally be fine, unless you're aiming for high-end work—in which case the optimized drivers of a low-end professional-grade card (i.e. with the same specs as a mid-range consumer card) will help significantly.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

I would recomend the Dell insprion 580s or studio XPS 8100

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/deskt...-580s-anav21~~

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/deskt...s-8100-anav1~~

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

I am currently running Inventor 2010 on the following, and it runs relatively well:

Athlon 64 2.0Ghz Dual Core (not threaded)
ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics (1408MB)
3 GB DDR2 RAM

It should be pretty easy to beat these stats, but make sure you have plenty of RAM. Based on the likely size of your assemblies, things can get a little bit slow fully assembled, so a better processor should be a top priority.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Take a look around the Lenovo outlet. It will be hard to beat those deals.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Do you or any of the parents/students/mentors/anyone have experience building your own machines?

You may be able to build a machine with better specs if you do it yourself. I know I put together my CAD machine for ~$1400 but $500 of that was dropped on my hard drives (it doubles as a media server). The only thing that does not include was a copy of Windows (provided through MSDNAA for me). It is a lot of extra work but it does save money.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

This. In addition, the specs are not that bad, for Windows anyway...

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

This is the most important question in the thread. I just made a Newegg shopping cart for a friend that is $800 but a ridiculously high powered rig, so if you are not adverse to assembling it yourself (or if you have team members who could, it's about as easy as Legos, really), I recommend putting it together yourself.

If you would like, I'll post the Newegg shopping cart here.

1.5tb hard drive
4gb DDR3 ram
HD 5830 graphics card
Antec 900 case
650w Antec TP power supply
Asus motherboard, with USB3
AMD Quad core (Athlon II X4) 2.9ghz processor

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

This.

Nowadays, it is almost ALWAYS easier and less expensive to build your own machine, than it is to find one at a store with all the specs you need. These days, unless you're in the market for a laptop, building your own is the best way to go. Whoever said it's like Legos, you're almost dead on with that description: not all Legos need an operating system...LOL!

(P.S.: I work at a computer repair/sales shop here in Monroe. Shoot me a PM if you're interested in getting one built for you.)

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Our team built 10 workstations this year for $750 a pop, including 20" monitors, they are monsters! Definately recommend building your own...

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

if you've got someone who knows what they're doing, definitely build one yourselves. otherwise, I'd say check the Dell outlet as well. I'm a bit partial to Dell systems, at least as far as purchasing a full system goes, and you can pick them up open box and refurb through the outlet for less than retail, and they work just as well as a brand new machine. you might need to pick up a RAM upgrade and a video card, and maybe a monitor, but you're still looking at a pretty good system for around $600-700

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Be careful with the graphics card for Pro/E - consult the PTC web site for approved cards. On many laptops it's a bit flaky if you don't have a compatible card. I have a Dell laptop from Walmart that we used this year and it was a bit of a challenge at times (are you listenting PTC?) Turning off preselection highlighting helps some. (By the way, our Pro/E robot model turned out well - PTC used it to demo their software in Atlanta - that was pretty cool.)

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Be sure to check with your school/sponsor to see if they get discounts from Dell. I know that buying my netbook through their EPP program saved me ~$50.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Depending on how old the Macs you have are, they may have boot camp installed. You can use boot camp to run windows on your mac and then run your PTC and Autodesk software. all you would need to do is buy a windows OS and install it.

If your macs don't have boot camp you could buy other software like VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop to run windows on your Mac.

Be sure the Macs have enough power. Autodesk Inventor Pro 2010 requires 2gbs of ram but more is always better.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Anyone have any suggestions for laptops?

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

This combo doesn't seem too bad.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...t=Combo.361299

Just need to add a GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-864-_-Product

and DVD drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118030

Costs approximately $800, not including taxes and shipping :]

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

And Windows...

If you go prebuilt, I have no trouble recommending a Gateway DX System:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883113127
or for $50 more, you can go from 512 mb ded video to 1 gig:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883113119

Be careful though, they only boast a 300Watt PSU, so I would get that out of there asap for max computer performance. Would also like to not that there are no available standard PCI slots, only PCI-Express. I know it is a little over budget, but as I tell people, spend more now, spend less later...

As for the person who asked about laptops, ASUS makes great "buget" gaming laptops (which can be used for autodesk software). I tend to push people twords their laptops...er... notebooks. I would suggest something along the lines of:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...e=&srchInDesc=

I would not lean gateway for their laptops due to slightly dated cpus. I have problems with comfort on HP's, and ACER has caused me some problems in the past (I know, companies change, which is why I have people who shiver when I recommend Gateway, but I promise, they have changed) I cannot boast for Lenovo on anything due to my inexperience with them. Sorry.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/noteb...s&cs=19&~ck=mn

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/noteb...s&cs=19&~ck=mn

http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-n61jqa1-p-2734.html

depending on how much you want to spend... if you want to go pricey, get the XPS or the Alienware... if you need a cheaper one, look for a Asus or Dell Studio...

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Dell Financial Services -- off lease Dell computers - specifically the off lease workstations - are what we purchased this past year. They were on the hardware lists for SolidWorks in 2007 so we added RAM and check the video cards. The video cards left some to be desired, but that's not an expensive upgrade anymore. They came with a Windows license, which is a savings over building your own and having to add a Windows license.

dfsdirectsales.com

I'm always on a tight budget, so looking for online coupons and waiting until a free shipping offer came up to combine with the coupon was the trick that worked for me. Holiday season seems to bring out some good deals.

Best of luck. -- Oh, and using the Mac running windows...there is no support for that with Solid Works (or AutoDesk I believe). If you hit issues with that you are on your own for support.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

How do you think this computer would do? I know the screen is small, but how would graphics and processor do? You could always hook it up to a monitor if you needed to.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

I haven't had any issues running Inventor and SW both in virtual machines and in dual boot.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Wow. I forgot to post the link in my last post, but here it is. http://www.dell.com/content/products...n&s=dhs&~ck=mn
As I was saying, how do you think this computer would handle the various cad softwares?

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

Last year, my team built two quad-core desktops for $600 each including monitor. They're powerful enough to run SolidWorks and Inventor smoothly. We had a "computer building party" that was fun for everyone involved. I would definitely recommend going the DIY route if you have dedicated students.

As for laptops, I personally like the Toshiba Satellite (or Satellite Pro for more power) series. I'm not sure most would agree with me; however, my experience with them has been excellent. I've used a Satellite as my personal computer for years. It has fallen from desk height onto a concrete floor three times - once when on - without damage to the hard drive or anything, really.

Re: Please help: computer purchase for FIRST sw
 

I would still recommend a Dell Latitude over the Alienware. The Latitude is Alienware performance without the Alienware flash, so it's still just as powerful and probably less expensive (and less likely to be stolen, it being rather bland looking...) They also hold their value for longer, and the Latitudes are business laptops, so parts support should be pretty good. I have an old Latitude D600 from about 5 or 6 years ago, and I can field strip this thing in less than half an hour. Processor swapping takes 3 minutes.

For something like CAD programs, you're probably looking at a Dell Latitude D820 or D830: the screen's bigger than on the D6-series. Check Ebay for a decent one. Don't be afraid to get one with low memory and hard drive space: you can probably get a better deal going lower and upgrading on these.