Laptop specification for Revit 2012 - What is important?

[Anonymous]

I need a laptop for uni which will be used for Revit 2012.

The uni has high end workstations on which I can render / analyse the models, so all I need is laptop that is capable of creating the models on.

The problem is the more I read about what's important the more confused I get!!!

A simple answer would be welcome.

I can get a good discount via a family member from Dell so it has to be a Dell laptop, I have been looking at the Inspiron 15R SE:

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15r-se-7520/fs

Would these be any good for Revit 2012/13 though?

My questions are:

CPU -i5 3210M 3Mb Cache 2.5 up to 3.1GHz vs i7 3612QM 6Mb Cache 2.1 up to 3.1GHz

I have read that:

Revit only needs Dual core and that Quad cores are not utilized until rendering?

That its the GHz that's important & they both have the same, i5 maybe has better?

Cache how much of difference does this make in the context of Revit?

RAM -More is better I know, but Autodesk  recommend 4Gb + @1333MHz so6Gb@1600MHz should be plenty, right?

Graphics Card -All configurations have 2Gb AMD Radeon 7730M Autodesk recommend 1Gb+ so again this should be ok?

I am trying to keep cost to a minimum so my preference would be the cheapest and also why have specs that wont effect performance i.e. Quad Core?

The choice (as I see it) is between Inspiron 15R SE:

CPU  i5-3210M 3Mb Cache 2.5 up to 3.1GHz

RAM  6Gb@1600MHz

2Gb AMD Radeon 7730M

Just under £600

or

CPU i7-3612QM 6Mb Cache 2.1 up to 3.1GHz

RAM  8Gb@1600MHz

2Gb AMD Radeon 7730M

£750

Any comments / advice would be great.

Cheers

[sam_m]

If you're looking at Dell then check out their outlet (tucked away at the bottom of their website, or just google it) - basically where they sell old-models/returned/refurbished goods (afaik it's usually old models and pcs that someone has ordered, so they've built it, but then the order is cancelled, leaving the pc built and spare).  Some amazing bargain laptops on there and they still come with a year's warranty if there's any problems.  e.g. I got an i7 15" XPS with 2gb gpu, blu ray and 1080p screen for about £440 - the only sign that it wasn't brand new was the lack of the protective film sheets on the screen.  Note - due to the nature of the pc's being cancelled orders/etc then the stock changes on a daily basis and good pickings go quickly, so keep checking it for a few days to see when new stock appears (think it's about mid morning and/or mid arvo) and the choice of options that pop up on there.

As for specs - I know Inventor, but not Revit, so might not be as true...

Make sure the screen resolution is 1080 and not 768 - with the smaller resolution there is very little "work" space after all the menus are all over the screen - from memory, I believe the some some Inventor options menus are too big to fit on 768!  No idea if Revit is the same, but if you're planning on using it for decent work/assigments then the bigger work-area will really help.  Just remember that the smaller and more portable the laptop is then usually the more frustrating the twee screen and fidly buttons are when you try to use them for prolong periods of time (not to forget the less well spec'd they usually are).  So overcome these issues with a cheap ~22" monitor for your home/flat and use that in the evenings along with a proper sized keyboard (with a num-pad) and a decent mouse. 

memory is quite cheap, so it's probably cheaper to get 4gb system from Dell and get an 8gb memory kit from somewhere like Scan and fit it yourself.  (what I did as the Dell Outlet only had my system in 4gb)

finally, Inventor is better with Nvidia gpu, no idea about Revit, but check whether there's any history of problems with ATI and it.