Laptop for ACAD C3D 2012

[charibr]

I am new to C3D and am looking for a laptop to run it. I will be doing some 3D modeling mostly for construction purposes. Can anyone recommend a laptop that will work well with 2012 C3D. I've been reading about some processors that do not work well with the software like NVIDIA. Can anyone recommend a great laptop since I may be using this for my personal business as well. Thanks

[OMCUSNR]

Anything with under a 17" screen is not a good idea for cad drafting with ADSK products.  The menus take up too much room, and you can't see enough model space to do much other than details.

Try one of these:

http://us.toshiba.com/computers/laptops/qosmio/X500/available-models

They're big & heavy, but they do pack a good bit for the price.  The components are very good for C3d.

Reid

[WalterL]

I use a Dell Precision M6500, I got it from the Dell Outlet with a discount code for an even lower price. It came out to almost half the new price when I was done. It runs Civil 3D 2012 great. Have the Nvidia Quadro FX 3800M, they have newer cards now, my laptop is about a year old now.

[G028002]

I am also new to AutoCAD c3D. I am a first year college student and I have to buy a new laptop that's compatible with it. I have my eye on a laptop that's on sale in a shop near where I live. It's a Sony vaio, i5 processor 3 GHz, 4 GB ram, windows 7 home premium, intel HD3000 graphics. Will this be compatible?

[AllenJessup]

I have the same Dell M6500 purchased in the same way. I find it powerful and stable running 2012.

Allen

[Jason.Hickey]

I'd disagree with that statement, Reid. My laptop has a 15" screen running at 1920x1080 and actually gives me more room inside Civil 3D than my 23" widescreens on my desktop running at 1680x1050. It's all about resolution, not screen size...but I'll say if you're going to leave it on the desk and not move it around a lot, you can't beat the extra screen real estate. I'd personally not want a 17" laptop due to transportation issues. 

[Jason.Hickey]

Things you need to look for to maximize Civil 3D performance that are independent of any given computer manufacturer:

• Intel i7 processor. i5 isn't bad, either, but I prefer the i7. Of course this suggestion will change a bit around the April timeframe when Intel releases the new Ivy Bridge processor architecture.
• At least 8GB of RAM. This is based on assuming that you know to get Windows 7 x64 as your operating system.
• A fast hard drive. I saw a hybrid 500GB SSD on Dell's website yesterday that indicated to me that prices are coming down just a bit. Go SSD if you can afford it, but if you can't, remember - higher RPM is better.
• Graphics card - the only important thing to remember here is that some laptop manufacturers only have integrated graphics card. This is not supported - you need a discrete graphics card, and either ATI or nVidia will work fine. Make sure the card your laptop comes with is found here and you should be good to go.

[AllenJessup]

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@jason.hickey wrote:

 I'd personally not want a 17" laptop due to transportation issues. 

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Then you probably would not have liked my Sager with a 20" screen. But they included a backpack, so it wasn't too bad. I guess my years Surveying in the field got me used to being a pack-mule.

Allen

[GTVic]

Hi Jason,

Our corporate workstation config for 2012 will come with 12GB of RAM. If the RAM slots are full and we have to live with the machine for 3 years should we be pushing for either free RAM slots or a larger amount of RAM?

Thanks

[Jason.Hickey]

I'd have been OK with a 20" laptop as long as I never had to lug it around. I guess my time spent in the field surveying turned me OFF of being a pack mule 😉

[Jason.Hickey]

I can't speak about any future requirements for the software, but your 12GB machines will run the existing program with no problems.

[AllenJessup]

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@jason.hickey wrote:

I guess my time spent in the field surveying turned me OFF of being a pack mule 😉

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I do see your point!

[Sinc]

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@jason.hickey wrote:

I'd disagree with that statement, Reid. My laptop has a 15" screen running at 1920x1080 and actually gives me more room inside Civil 3D than my 23" widescreens on my desktop running at 1680x1050. It's all about resolution, not screen size.

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I agree with that, as long as your eyesight can see it...  🙂

I've seen some amazingly-crisp 15" displays running at 1920x1080 resolution.

My big qualm right now is I got a high-end (i7-2860 QM, 17.3" screen, 16GB RAM, Intel SSD) Sager Notebook that died less than two months after I got it...  I just sent it in for warranty repair, but it's always annoying having to send a high-end laptop like that back in for repair, and be without a laptop for however-long-it-takes...  I hope it was an anomaly, and not a reflection on Sager.  The machine WAS really nice, up until it died.

[james.leahy]

The suspense is killing me...what type of laptaop is it, and what graphics card are you running.  I have a Dell XPS 18" screen with the high resolution but it jams up I am assuming due to the NVIDA graphics card.  screen goes black and leaves me no choice but to shut it off to recover it.

James

[AllenJessup]

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@Sinc wrote:

 Sager Notebook that died less than two months after I got it... 

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I've know a few people who have bought Sagers, including myself. This is the first  I've heard of that happening. Sorry it was you it happened to.

Allen

[Jeff_M]

I have a Sager, purchased in late Dec. 2010. It arrived quickly, but had a screen flicker whenever the lid was moved while running. I had to return it within days , turns out it had a defective video cable. It was repaired and returned to me within a week. I have not had one problem with it since. Rock solid, and I saved money by not needing to buy new dumb bells (the unit is 13 lbs, and the power brick is another 😎 

[Sinc]

Thanks for the commisseration...

The most annoying thing was that I had my QuickBooks on it, so I could respond to Quux Software invoicing from my laptoop, and not be tied to my home.  And I did the most-basic error....  I created a backup of my accounting stuff just a week before the laptop died, but I left my backup on my laptop, which is now dead.  D'oh!

Luckily, I was able to take the laptop into a local repair shop and have them copy the needed files off of the SSD (which is evidently still fine) and get me restored to functionality.  So I think it's the MOBO that's bad.  If it had been the SSD, I would have had to rebuild all my accounting files since last October, which was the last backup I had on another machine.  A rookie mistake, I know...  But I guess all of us can make them. 

The laptop is now back in at Sager for warranty repair...  It died the day I went on holiday, so I didn't send it in until I got back home (and got the accounting file off the SSD, which took a few days for the repair shop to get to).  I'm now waiting to hear word on the exact details of the malfunction.

[arturopolanco]

There are some results benchmarck in CV3D 2012