Surface Laptop 4 any good?

[Anonymous]

Hello community,

I am curious if a Surface Laptop 4 will be any good for autoCAD, Revit and sketchUP? I already did some research and found different reviews of people saying that this laptop is good enough to use for all those 3, but some other reviews I found said that they had lots of troubles. So I was wondering if there are any Surface Laptop 4 users in here who uses these programs and can give me their own opinion with performance etc.. would be much appreciated!

I also checked on the specs for each of this program. But was still curious if there are people who uses the Surface laptop 4. And will use external mice,keyboard and monitor to connect this to. So will probably purchase an USB hub. 

[Valentin_CAD]

@Anonymous ,

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@Anonymous wrote:

... I also checked on the specs for each of this program. 

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Autodesk provides only the system requirements:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/system-requirements?_ga=2.76911184.439615868.1629039416-14872...

The hardware you use is up to you. 

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> will be any good for autoCAD, Revit and sketchUP?

To do what with the software? How big are your projects, which type of projects are you expecting to create/work on?

As comparison, it's like asking if a Ford Mustang will be good to drive ... without letting us know if you want to drive on race circuits or mainly inside cities or maybe to transport some equipment into deep forest or ...

- alfred -

[pendean]

Surface 4s are consumer products and for execs to work on spreadsheets and powerpoints on airplanes between TED talks. And casual users of REVIT and AutoCAD and SketchUp. If that's you, go for the business line so at least you can connect to a more powerful desktop at the office to do the heavy lifting.

IMHO you want to get the PRO versions of the MSSurface offerings ("surface pro 7" and the "book3 Pro" if you'd like double-battery capacity): then you match the highest listed specs from Autodesk shown you'll be good enough to run as a normal user: if you are a super-power-user (I suspect not since you opted for the low-end of the series) you'll hate it. But that also depends on what you are coming from too, I have yet to see a lightweight trendy laptop replace a true workstation desktop for example.

And stay away from anything they label GO or X, you might as well buy an iPAD and hobble yourself with style instead.

HTH

[Anonymous]

Hi Alfred,

Thanks for the reply.
For more information I will be using an older version of REVIT & autoCAD. SketchUP is the only latest version which I use. The projects that I am working are not big projects, I will be mainly be using these for viewing & drawing so no renders etc.. Like for autoCAD, I will be using autoCAD 2013. So I thought that the Surface Laptop 4 would be good enough to do those things in there.  

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.
I know that desktops are a much better option for REVIT, autoCAD and SketchUP. But I have lots of meetings where I have to go to and a laptop would be a great solution for that and that's why I thought that the Surface laptop 4 would be a 'good' enough laptop for me when I am traveling a lot. Because of the size and weight.
Also I will be using an older version of REVIT & autoCAD because of the projects that we have in those. Like autoCAD 2013 where the specs requirements are lower than the current version. Only SketchUP will be used with the latest version. As far as what I am doing is just viewing and drawing projects in those programs so no renders etc..

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> I will be using autoCAD 2013

Be prepared, AutoCAD 2013 will not work with Windows 10 (only with big luck and then risk with every single Windows update).

If you run such old software and really small projects I would suggest to run this inside virtual systems which are then setup with Windows 7.

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

Hi,

We've got a workaround for that, we've been using it for more than a year and it works fine. But with the auoCAD 2013 requirements I think that's good enough to view and draw models in autoCAD.
I also this: 'read SketchUp's performance relies heavily on the graphics card driver and its ability to support OpenGL 3.1 or higher. To test your graphics card's compatibility, please download and run the SketchUp Checkup application. Historically, people have seen problems with Intel-based cards with SketchUp. We don't recommend using these graphics cards with SketchUp at this time.' I read that the Surface laptop 4 has an integrated graphics card from Intel which is not recommended by SketchUP. But will just viewing and drawing in SketchUP work fine with this?

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> we've been using it for more than a year and it works fine

As I wrote ... every single Windows update (or installation of a C++ Redist by another software) could block it.

I you are using this a hobby and it does not matter if AutoCAD does not start, well, OK. If you need it in a professional way I would never go that way.

>> I also this: 'read SketchUp's performance relies heavily on

>> the graphics card driver

This here is an AutoCAD forum, we can't (or at least i can not) make suggestion relating to SketchUp.

In general: Intel HD graphic card are not doing well with CAD, they are not built to run something like 3D geometry in the way CAD needs it. I'm not knowing details about Microsoft Surface devices, but don't there exist some with nVidia cards?

- alfred -