Surface Book & Civil3D

[Buzz12345]

We're currently looking for a new computer, and I was aware that while touch screens have been around for a while, they're only recently becoming available for CAD laptops.  At the moment we run HP workstations incl zbook 15 and 17s.  They perform pretty well, but the 17" zbooks are quite heavy.

So, when the local reseller offered me a new MS Surface Book on a trial, I lept at the chance.  Some of the Surface Books have a graphics card in the keyboard, so in laptop mode maybe cad will work. The trial machine wasn't the hisghest spec of the 4 models available - here's the details: 

I7-6600u (2.6-3.4GHz) 8GB RAM 256 GB HDD, and what's called a Nvidia Geforce GPU with 1GB of vRAM.  

I think the processor is a bit cut down because it only has 4 virtual processors, not 8.  But C3D only uses one core, so no severe impediments there. 

The screen is high res 3000x2000 pixel in a 13.5 inch screen which is very sharp.

It came with a dock and lightening adaptors, so we were able to connect it to our normal dual monitor configuration (ending up with a total of 3 screens).

We ran all the updates into the box and configured the graphics card to be used for C3D.

The experience with C3D to the dual screens seemed pretty good.  It seemed to be similar to what I see with the zbook. I haven't done some of the emprical tests yet. There was the odd time when window edge relics would appear as a dialog boxes was being moved.  

However, running C3D onto the Surface book screen at home produced some interesting results.  Seemed to be some problems with producing text on the cad properties and sheet set manager boxes (see the attachment).  I think this makes C3D unusable without external screens.

In general use we found the trackpad a bit erratic, and the unit seemed to have trouble waking from sleep.  The camera sometmes wouldn't wake up to do the new login, and it sometimes wouldn't remember the dual screen configuration.

Apart from that, I'm quite impressed.  It warns you if you try to run it in tablet mode and you've got a program running that uses the graphics card.  It's a bit pricey, But it's oh so so light (1.5kg).

Next one to look at is the Zbook 15u G3 which has the same processor, but twice the RAM and Video RAM.

[georg.piser]

Hello Michael,

as in the specificaion for the Surface Book to find this is using Windows 10, 64 Bit as Operating system

which is upto  AutoCAD Civil 3D Version 2016 not supported. Please look here

System requirements for AutoCAD Civil 3D

The issue shown on the attached Screenshot is related to the High Resolution Monitor used by the Surface Book

you can try the following to get this solved

Odd text display within user interface elements in AutoCAD

alos you will need to lower the resolution down to around 1920x1080 and then make sure that the text size is set to 100 %.

Setting it higher will result in text overlapping and not fitting in dialogs

the Zbook 15u G3 which has the same processor, but twice the RAM and Video RAM

please look here also in the System requierements and into the Certified Hardware for AutoCAD Products

Please let me know if you need further Help

Kind regards

Georg Piser

Autodesk Support

[Buzz12345]

Thanks for your response.

I thought that I might be headed into unsupported territory, but this page (https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Window... says "The 2016 version of most AutoCAD-based verticals should be installable and perform as expected on Windows 10."  

Looking at a few settings tonight, and I found the application shortcut was already set (on the comptibility tab) to "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings". Turning it off fixed the problems that I was seeing.

The certified hardware page only covers up to 2014 suite versions, and doesn't mention Infraworks 360 at all.  We're using the Infrastructre design suite, so how should I use the hardware page?  

Thanks

[georg.piser]

Hi Michael,

thanks for your reply. I'm happy that you where able to solve the issue.

It might be that all AutoCAD and Verticals will be installable and perform

as expected on Windows 10, but I have to advice you there is no Support

up till now through Autodesk. At the Moment the only Supported Versions

are AutoCAD 2016 and AutoCAD LT 2016 with installed Service Pack 1

Here are the System requierements for the other versions

System requirements for Autodesk InfraWorks Family

System requirements for Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite

For the Certified Hardware you can use AutoCAD 2016 as Version to see the Graphic cards

Please let me know if you need further help

Kind Regards

Georg Piser

Autodesk Support

[ralstogj]

Michael

I am just looking to getting a light laptop tablet to run Civil3d have all your trails how did you get on and would you recommend anything?

Regards

Justin

[ralstogj]

Michael

I am just looking at getting a light laptop tablet to run Civil3d at home, seeing you did this a few years ago how did you get on and would you recommend anything?

Regards

Justin

[Buzz12345]

Justin

At the moment I've got a 15" zBook G4 with an i7-7820HQ (2.9-3.9Ghz), 32GB RAM and a Nvidia Quadro M2200 (4GB).  It works really well, and is reasonably light for a full grown laptop.  

Some of the new form factor ones are quite interesting. We have some MS Surface Books in the office, which are beautiful pieces of hardware, but are quite pricey and tend to be a little less grunty.  I ran a trial on C3D a wee while ago and had issues with font sizes, becasue of the screen resolution. I think that's sorted in C3D 2018, but we're still on 2017.  Typically the specs are a bit lower (slower chips, smaller RAM & graphics cards).

There's a new Surface Book 2 on the way, with a 15" screen and better specs (and higher prices!).  It'll be interesting to see how it performs

The other one that looks interesting is the HP zBook x2 - a 14" tablet with keyboard, with better specs than the Surface Book 2.  All the marketing is around graphic design, but could be interesting for CAD.

Hope that helps.  Good luck with choosing

[ralstogj]

Michael

Thanks I was looking at the Surface Books 2 as an option but they are really expensive as you mentioned and the only advantage would be the weight at 1.9kg versus the 2.6kg for the zbook.

I am going to see what sort of deals are going on the zbooks. I assume you can get docking stations for them as well as I would be getting  the laptop to use at home at night for the next 6 months while I hire new staff and train them up on CAD and Civil3d to keep on top of the workload. Had three of my guys finish up at the end of the year for various reasons which will put the pressure on for a bit.

Regards

Justin

[Buzz12345]

Justin

You get what's called a thunderbolt dock, which plugs into the USB port.  However, don't be fooled like me - I was expecting a single usb cable.  Instead it's a reasonably short cable which plugs into the power socket as well as the adjacent usb 3.  We had it on a zbook g3, and it was very flakey. One of the external screens used to flicker.  On the G4 it's more stable, but still has some issues connecting from time to time.

Cheers