Which MacBook Pro Laptop for AutoCad LT?

[pgold]

I am about to upgrade to a 15" MacBook Pro Laptop running AutoCad LT 2011 via Parallels 6.  Is the 2.4 Hz Intel Core i5 processor sufficient?  Is 4GB RAM sufficient?  Should I consider upgrading the processor or RAM?

[OMCUSNR]

OK, 2 things -

1.  Why a Mac at all?  Autodesk products run in Windows, and now like the 64 bit kind best.  If you ditch the Mac, you'll get quite a bit more bang for your buck with ANY Win based OS system.  Look for an I5 with Win7 64 8gig ram, and a 300 gig hard drive spinning at 5400+.

2.  Screen real estate.  With Acad's new ribbon based menu structure, 17" is a bare MINIMUM!  Anything under that there is not enough drawing space to do anything but pan & zoom.  You may as well use an iphone or ipad.

Should be able to put 1 & 2 together for about $1000 - $1200, and not have to go through the hassle of emulation to get the program to run.

Reid

[pendean]

15" screen is way too small for daily/active use: it's fine for casual use.

Or are you planning to purchase and use an external larger monitor?

[pgold]

I appreciate the replies.  My primary goal is mobility, so that is the reason for the laptop.

I downloaded some Autocad LT screenshots to try on 15" and 17" laptop screens - 17" is better.

I was not able to find a 17" laptop in the suggested $1,000 to $1,200 range with Autodesk-certified graphics hardware, but maybe Autocad LT will work with hardware that is not listed.  Does anyone know how to evaluate graphics hardware not listed on the Autodesk site relative to Autocad LT?

The 17" Macbook Pro has Nvidia GeForce GT 330M graphics hardware.  Autodesk indicates the Nvidia GeForce 330M is certified for Autocad 2011, OS X 10.5 and 10.6, but does not mention Windows 7 compatibility.  Does anyone know if the Nvidia GeForce GT 330M is compatible with Autocad 2011 LT and Windows 7 in the Bootcamp or Parallels configuration on a Mac?

[OMCUSNR]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/700179-REG/Toshiba_PQX33U_03G01R_Qosmio_X505_Q885_18_4_Noteboo...

This is what I have to run Civil3d.  It's at the lower end for C3d, and could use a bit more ram, but it'll do ACAD LT very well.  If you have older programs, you may want to upgrade to Win 7 64 pro.  It'll allow you to run older 32 bit programs in XP emulation.  It's heavy, but it's about the biggest screen you and get (with a good graphics card) under $2k.  It's luggable, and works well at hotels & on site on a trunk or hood.

Reid

[namssurt]

Running under parallels, the video card is superseded by the parallels emulator and is irrelevant. The Autocad certified hardware is not particularly significant any more even though autodesk pretends it is because of their working relationship with gpu manufacturers. If you look at the list, most of thefailures on non-certified cards are rendering and 3d related, and those items aren't LT relevant. Frankly, any laptop graphics configuration available todaywill work, albeit some more slowly than others. Basically avoid Intel setups with shared memory and you'll be good to go on a Windows 7-64 based machine.

[namssurt]

Funny you looked at B&H. My son-in-law has a relative that works there but he buys elsewhere because I think he doesn't get along with that relative.