Recommended CAD laptops?

[Tyson]

a few things to consider about speccing a CAD computer:

-memory and processor speed matter most. not necessarily number of cores, particularly when opening a large assembly, each part must be loaded in sequence or in serial and unless something has changed with processors lately, this process cant switch between cores. keep that in mind when opening large step files too for the same reason. let it run, dont switch to another window while the assembly loads in the background, surprisingly you might get a different or failed to open result.

-gaming graphic cards dont do anything for the type of graphics needed for 3D CAD. the type of graphics of updating small colored fragments at high framerates has little to do with rendering wireframe lines and manipulating (rotating) parts on the fly. look up solidworks approved list of graphics cards to find the type of graphics card youll want. honestly a good intel i7 integrated HD graphics is more than enough.

-SSDs are amazing. but if its not in your budget, it wouldnt be the most important thing. it mainly helps for large assembly load time and startup.

-again about memory, run at least 4gigs and windows 64. after solidworks 2014 you cant run it on a 32bit OS anyway. BUT, doesnt mean you cant just use an older version and run 32bit. youll just run into back compatibility limitations when importing files saved with newer versions.

Regardless of your hardware, from some super workstation to a 10" netbook, you should still follow some good practices to maximize the performance when running solidworks, particularly when opening large assemblies.

-disable shadows, or any realview graphics from the view settings far right drop down on the heads up GUI. perspective should be orthogonal. use a simple 3 pt shaded background or plain white.

-create dummy parts to represent subassemblies in a larger assembly (think drivebase gearbox). recreate the same interfaces (holes, mating surfaces) and general volume. this will help reduce assembly load times and reduce the number of wireframe edges (more on that next). if your computer can handle the graphics, but want to reduce the load time anyway, you can save a complete assembly as a part and place that part instead of the assembly.

-create dummy parts to represent complex parts. when i say complex, parts with lots of wireframe ridges like gears and electronic parts that were imported from step. its all the extra wireframes that slows the computations down when revolving or zooming the full assembly. make a gear a simple disc, or replace the PDB or victor with a box of the appropriate size and interfaces.

-suppress or hide parts/subassemblies when not needed. particularly hardware screws (if you bothered to add them, you should at some point). organize parts using folders and you can suppress and unsuppress groups quickly. and keeps the assembly tree simpler.

-any part that turns into a large blob when youre running sluggish and rotating is a good clue that is whats slowing the graphics down and should be either hidden or dummified.

-maximize your memory by not leaving other windows programs running, browser, etc.



that all being said, i still have my HP core2 duo that can open a complete robot from 2011. same laptop is selling for $135 on ebay...

[asid61]

I use Intel HD graphics on my laptop and I dislike it, however, it will open large assemblies (slowly). i7 core, 8gb ram, but the lack of a dedicated graphics card just kills it. I would say an i7 + 8gb ram + Nvida card would be good enough for just about anything you care to do.

[cglrcng]

One addition, no matter what, if the OS is MS Windows based, make sure it is a 64 bit OS, so you can actually install and make use of the 8~16 GB of memory you may install. The 32 bit OS severely limits the RAM allowed, no matter if the hardware allows it to be installed.

And remember (Win 7 or higher), you will qualify for a FREE Win 10 upgrade when released to the public. So time those purchases well and snatch up a ton of Win 7 & 8.1 units right around release time on e-bay or elsewhere. I'm buying Win 7 Premium (64 bit), multi-core i7 laptops now, restoring & refurbishing, upgrading them, and selling them often right now. The drives are large, cores are fast, they take 8~16 GB RAM (and that promised FREE OS Upgrade is a great selling point). But, I add my special touches and tools.

Sadly nobody is building a decent add in MMX graphics card anymore...An old HP ZD8000 (17" LCD 1 HD Bay), or DV7 (DV7 has a large 21" LCD and 2 HD bays), was the perfect unit w/ the add in cards (used a ton for Karoke units because of the extreme graphics reached, needed, and used, and each takes 8 GB RAM), but they run really hot until tricked out w/ copper shims on the graphics chips internally, and a copper bridge added to the 3 fan cooled triple vented copper heatsink from them to actually connect to that heatsink. (Then they run nice and cool w/ super ATI graphics). Those laptops weigh a ton though due to the 3 fans internally. Case is very heavy. (NOTE: Stay w/ the ATI graphics and less fear of the dreaded black screen & necessary non-leaded solder needing a reball of the vid chip problems & issues).

Anyone have a super water cooled Desktop or Server unit running CAD? How about liquid nitrogen cooled yet?

I build em' & sell em', but I can't donate them. SRY. (But I am reasonable).