Hardware

[#1]

I'm considering this laptop for AutoCAD (especially modeling and rendering {until I move on to another high-end modeling/rendering program . . .  but sometime in future}) AND Revit. I'm a student and this seems the best I can do within my budget (about $1,000). My main concern is will these programs work without strange reactions to this configuration? Or, is there something I should ask for instead . . . ? Feedback is appreciated - thanks!

Dell XPS 17
Item 225-0587
 
   2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM processor 2.00 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 2.90 GHz

   8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory

   Standard Keyboard - English

   17.3" FHD (1080p) with 2.0MP HD Webcam

   NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 550M 1GB graphics with Optimus

   750GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

   Elemental Silver Aluminum

   Genuine Windows® Home Premium, 64-Bit, English

   Integrated 10/100/1000 Network Card

   Adobe® Acrobat® Reader

   Tray Load Blu-ray Disc BD-Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD)

   JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3

   Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000

   Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook

   McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months

   56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

   1 Year In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis

   DataSafe 2.0 Online Backup 2GB for 1 year

   No Mobile Broad Band Selected

[#2]

Looks like a good laptop for what you want.

What's the cost on this one?  If you could lower the cost, you don't need that big a hard drive (400 to 500 is enough), & you don't need a bluray device (how many movies you plan on watching going to school?).   Dump the Office stuff, and the McAfee.  Get a student edition of  Student edition office.  Use Kaspersky.

What OS comes with it?  You'll need the 64 bit version of Win 7, and I'd recommend the Pro (or higher version, no home versions).

Reid

[#3]

I've got a Dell 15" XPS, ace laptop, especially with the 1080p screen.

Thought I should mention that the Nvidia Optimus graphics system is frustrating until you have it setup...  Basically it's 2 graphics cards running side by side, a low power 2d card and the high power GeForce which should kick in with any 3d load.  The drivers out of the box are old and bad, and it sometimes doesn't swap over to the decent graphics card - v frustrating (sadly no bios or other option to tell it to run the GeForce all the time).  Use the latest Nvidia drivers (think I'm on beta 280.something) and you can now tell it which exe to use which graphics card with and solves any problems.

[#4]

Thanks all for the info. everyone. I'm taking into consideration your suggestions - thanks again!