Computer, Printer suggestions for light 3D use, please.

[Anonymous]

I am doing some work for a lighting company. Most of the files are small, but some have a few hundred 3D objects (faceted crystals), which can drag down the speed of AutoCAD 2002 (wish it were 2005).
Currently the box is a P4 2.2 with 480 (!!!) ram. I want to give that to another department, and get something better but NOT too expensive, as I would rather they spent their money on my fees.
The HP 5000 laser printer, via network, likes to take 5 minutes to ponder before printing these files. I need the 11x17s to pop right out, when doing test prints and customer copies. The HP500 plotter, used much less, is at least as fast. Maybe a new laser with more memory will do better.
Some help, folks! I am good on AutoCAD and ADT, pretty good at processors. not good at networks. Thanks!
Bob
(excuse the "light 3D" pun - I could not resist!)

[Anonymous]

It is definitly not normal that the Laserptinter is slower than the DesignJet !
Checl the drivers for the Laserprinter. Perhaps you need to install PCL5e drivers for in (under Windows) instead of PostScript.
No Too expensive:
Dell Prescision 360 workstation.
configure it yourself, with a P4 with 1MB cache
1 GB or RAM (2x 512MB DDR400 ECC)
120 GB SATA hard disk (or 72GB SCSI320 if you have the money)
Quadro FX 500 graphis.

And ask the network guys if you can have 1000mbps connection to your server...

[Anonymous]

Bob, We use a HP 5000 laser printer and I can attest that the 5 minutes of proccessing seems very excessive even for "light 3-d" work. Are you using the PCL-5e driver? If not load that driver to use from AutoCAD even if you keep the PS and PCL-6 driver for other applications. Also make sure the print driver is set to spool and not send directly to the printer for proccessing, your computer will be able to process and transmit much faster than the HP 5000 can proccess the print. Finally, make sure the amount of memory installed in the printer is selected/listed in the print driver. Good luck -- Brent Erickson, P.E. EGR & Associates, Inc 2535 Prairie Road Eugene, OR 97404 541-688-8322 "BobKellerman" wrote in message news:21753647.1079902620273.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > The HP 5000 laser printer, via network, likes to take 5 minutes to ponder >before printing these files. I need the 11x17s to pop right out, when doing test >prints and customer copies. The HP500

[Anonymous]

Thanks, guys! I am going to try the drivers tomorrow. Was delayed by a little drama: on Friday Night late, someone broke in and stole half the comps in the place. Fortunately, when they unhooked the one connected to the time clock, a loud tone went off, so they fled without taking the one I use -- the one with years of CAD files which had no safe backup, despite my comment. I don't own the place.
Bob