Buying a laptop pour Autocad and Revit

[Yewt]

Hi I'm looking for a new laptop to work from school and cofee shop etc etc..

My main question is since autocad and revit both ask a videocard with aprox 256 mb, would an Intel Graphics Medeia Accelerator HD be enought since I don't have any spec on this card

Because it would save me around 100 bucks and also I would be able to get an i5 instead of an i3

I need a laptop around 500-750$ I would prefere Intel processor and I need 4gb RAM

Thanks for the help

I was mostly looking for an ASUS laptop since I've been using them for life

[namssurt]

In theory it would work. In practice though it would be a horrible choice. The Intel video uses the cpu to process graphics and uses the system memory instead of dedicated memory. The net result would be to slow down your I5 to I3 speed and any 3d functions would be limited to extremely sluggish.I use a decent speed quad core that came with Intel graphics but had too weak a power supply to add a videocard. The speed on 3d was so bad that I immediately upgraded the power supply and added a low end graphics card. (times are rough and adding a high end card would have been just too expensive.) The 3d performance was at least an order of magnitude better. I honestly think that your budget is just a little too low. The screen size is probably too small to be effective with cad and limiting your videocard would be so frustrating that you would be cursing your choice every time you had to use it. Get a 17" screen with just about any discrete graphics and an I3 if that is the best you can afford. Figure an extra $250.

[DarrenP]

i agree your budget is way to low to run these products especially with revit

this is what autodesk recommends for revit performance: 

• Microsoft® Windows® 7 64-bit Enterprise, Ultimate, Professional, or Home Premium
• Quad Core Intel® Xeon® Processor (2.50 GHz, 2X6M L2, 1333) or equivalent AMD processor
• 8 GB RAM (or more)
• 1,280 x 1,024 monitor with true color
• 1 GB (or more) DirectX® 9-capable graphics card with Shader Model 3. Find out more about recommended graphics hardware.

[namssurt]

He might get by with a lesser machine as a student since the work may be less complex as he is learning the concepts rather than trying to be productive. The Xeon recommendation is off the wall unless they believe that REVIT needs ECC memory or Revit's speed will eventually push the user to upgrade to 2 Xeons for a total of 8 cores (or more) But I have a 15.6" laptop and wouldn't attempt ACAD without my bigger monitor connected. It has a bottom of the line Nvidia mobile card and that was the key to me for considering it.

[OMCUSNR]

This is going to be your best bang for the buck:

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/laptop-model.jsp?family=Qosmio&model=X505&lid=CFAMQosmio_SeriesL...

I know its twice your budget, but it's what you need. and will allow some room for the future.

Don't look at any system with a smaller than 17" screen.  Not for ACAD.

Reid

[Yewt]

What do you guys think about this one ?

ASUS G Series G73JH-RBBX05

CPU Type           Intel Core i7 720QM(1.6GHz)

Screen               17.3"

Memory Size      6GB DDR3

Hard Disk           500GB

Optical Drive      DVD Super Multi

Graphics Card   ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870

Video Memory    1GB GDDR5

Only at 918$ Sounds like a deal to me but want the professional opinion first !

Thanks

[namssurt]

Sounds good to me. Where?

[DarrenP]

thats pretty good for $900