ordering a new laptop, request assistance please

[AutoMarcus]

Hi all

With a little assistance from collegues i am pretty sure i am going to order this laptop for AutoCAD 2017.

I mainly do 2d work, however i will be doing structural drawings (designing tower crane setups) in the future.

this is what i have gone for

Metabox Prime P670RE
17.3" IPS (1920 x 1080) FHD WVA Matte LED Display
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M with 3GB GDDR5 VRAM
Core i7-6700HQ Processor (6M Cache up to 3.50 GHz)
32GB DDR4 2133MHZ (2 x 16GB)
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB M.2 SSD
No Secondary M.2 SSD Drive - Optional Upgrade
1TB 7200RPM HDD
No Secondary Hard Drive - Optional Upgrade
Intel 8260 AC Dual Band WIFI/BT
No Optical Disc Drive - Optional Upgrade
Win7 Professional 64 OEM
2 Year Metabox Platinum Care Onsite Pickup Protection

with an external disc drive

i am concerned about the choise of windows operating system.

If you had to chose between windows 7, and windows 10, which would you go for?

i not that some (perhaps a little old) forums have stated that windows 10 is not supported yet, however this link says windows 10 in the min requirements.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System...

[nrz13 · Accepted solution]

Your specifications look very good.  The only thing I would suggest is that you weigh the pros and cons of a supported graphics card vs. the consumer card you have selected.  In my experience, consumer cards usually work just as well and are much cheaper, but for peace of mind and for better support, the certified card may be the way to go.  You'll just have to decide what's best for you.

Versions of AutoCAD older than 2016 are not yet supported on Windows 10, although I think they'll probably still run fine in compatibility mode in most cases.  However, 2016 SP1 and 2017 fully support Windows 10.

If you look at the link you referenced, AutoCAD 2017 will also run fine on Windows 7 SP1 and 8.1 (with update).

At this point, I'd go for Windows 10 for future support and to save yourself the upgrade later.  It's been out almost a year now, so I think major issues have probably been resolved by now.  I would research your printer drivers, though, and make sure they are compatible with Windows 10 first.  Both 7 and 10 are solid operating systems, even if 7 is a bit dated now.

[pendean · Accepted solution]

Win7 is a solid established choice: Win10 is a pretty decent choice but it will likely kill an old HP plotters and printers you may have from working with AutoCAD.

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

Hi Automarcus,

I agree with the great advice in this thread.  

Consider a Certified Graphics card.

Perhaps also, add a second SSD. I like to keep OS installed on 1st one and then run everything else on other.

Lastly, is you want us to look at which printers you are using that would likely be my biggest concern as some legacy wide format devices such as Xerox and HP might give you some problems.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.

[AutoMarcus]

thanks guys

i value all your opinions.

btw how can i accept all of your posts as the solution?

[AutoMarcus]

Hey guys, is there much of a difference between the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M with 3GB GDDR5 VRAM and

the Quadro K3100M, M1000M, M3000M and M5000M which are certified by AutoCAD?

as the upgrade to the next pc with Quatro will add up to a grand on a a nex level box.

and i got these comparisons

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-Quadro-1000M-vs-Nvidia-GTX-970M/m7836vsm17319

Im no PC component expert.

also as suggested i have asked the IT guy to check compatability of windows 10 with our printer drivers

[AutoMarcus]

hi John

Thanks for your help

The main printer i use is a docucentre V C3373

i am also going to be buying a relatively cheap home A3 printer for working at home, not sure which brand yet

[AutoMarcus]

guys

as an update, check out this

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-2013-2014-2015-2016-2017/whats-the-deal-with-autocad-support-...

4 weeks in a year without autocad

[AutoMarcus]

Hey Pendean

check this out

4 weeks in a year ive been without CAD

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-2013-2014-2015-2016-2017/whats-the-deal-with-autocad-support-...