This is me. The only CAD user for our small team, and this is just for changing one bracket on our full CAD robot… UGHHHHHHHHH
(for none CAD users look at how many CAD files I’m editing 
At work I have a second monitor exclusively for my task bar.
Just curious but… where do you work? 
and how is a CAD job?:] I understand I’m just a senior in high school but I really enjoy CAD ALOT
And do you use a 3D mouse in your left hand or whatever? I was looking at them for a future investment 
You have a lot of programs open. What processor do you have in there?
It’s only an I3 I am getting another I7 though probably in a month or two. It’s an Acer Aspire. Even with 33 windows open (I counted) it runs VERY smooth and just as fast as it does with 1 window. And there’s 15 google chrome windows up I didn’t include lol
Two quick tips.
-
Using Control-Tab you can very quickly change which part/assembly you are looking at.
-
By changing your windows settings to “Classic” your cadding experience will greatly improve. The fancy windows 7 features can rob a LOT of ram.
What does classic do?
Using “Classic” or turning all of the display options off will lower the strain on the computers CPU, allowing solidworks to work to its full potential(with x amount of ram).
I noticed when i got my computer that solidworks lagged hella. After I turned all the display options off it ran way faster than anything I had ever used.
Classic turns off extra Windows features like Aero.
But I don’t have any lag. At all. And I’m fine with the settings now lol since I organized it
I work for a heavy equipment manufacturer that deals with large wheeled vehicles.
Generally there are two career streams that deal with CAD. You can be a CAD technician/draftsperson, or an engineer. The difference is essentially how much responsibility you have in the design process.
As a draftsperson you are usually in a supporting role to the design team- CAD is your job. You are responsible for creating drawings from models, managine ECOs (engineering change orders) and maintaining a database of electronic information.
As an engineer, you are responsible for the design of a component or assembly directly. CAD is only a tool that you use to visualize, communicate and validate your ideas. It is only a small part of the job as you must also ensure that the design can perform as expected which includes doing a lot of research, hand calculations, stress analysis and communication with the customer.
It comes down to what you enjoy. If you like simply working with the program then a draftsperson job is for you. If however, you enjoy the creative process and developing a solution to a problem, then I would recommend an engineering career path.
As for the mouse, the workstations we use have a standard mouse or trackball depending on personal preference (I use a mouse) as well as a dial based track pad which controls your views and has a number of programmable buttons for shortcuts.
Solidworks is a very stable program and handles multiple files quite well however, with a quick machine you are better off saving, closing and reopening your files. As well as an increase in performance (whether you notice it or not) it will be easier on your hardware. Computers, laptops especially, are rarely designed to run at 100% performance for extended periods of time. The cooling capacity just isn’t there. Having a watercooled CPU doesn’t mean anything because you also have to cool the RAM, HD, Video Card etc etc. For my personal use I always buy laptops because I need the portability. The last three that I have had have all died from heat induced hardware failure. (last week I picked up an ASUS G74 so we’ll see if it does any better than the others) Aside from the high end gaming machines, few computers are made to handle these stresses. When you are looking for a new machine to run files like that, the key is big case and plenty of air flow.
I’ll definitely keep that in mind! I always backup my projects anyways to a USB and have ALOT of laptops at my disposal