Help needed laptop graphics display/requirements.

[mathieugariepy.00]

Hi guys, first of all sorry if I'm posting in the wrong section. I'm having difficulty finding where to post this, might be a language barrier.

I tried running Fusion on my old laptop and had no luck. I'm thinking my graphics are not good enough for it. Now I would like to buy a new laptop that would be able to run Fusion 360 on it. I've tried to find a clear post about laptop graphics but I'm no computer geek so I don't fully understand the requirements.

Now the question is, I'm definitely not rich and would like to know if any of these laptop could run Fusion?

http://www.costco.ca/Acer-Aspire-ES1-512-C1PS-Bilingual-Notebook%2c-N2840.product.100248102.html

http://www.costco.ca/HP-15-ac103ca-Bilingual-Notebook%2c-Intel®-Pentium™-N3700-Processor.product.100...

http://www.costco.ca/Acer-Aspire-E5-511-C9T8--Bilingual-Notebook%2c-N2940.product.100247211.html


Thanks for your help
Matt

[jakefowler]

Hi Matt,

I'll speak with our hardware experts about what might be the best choice.

Incidentally, what happens when you try to run Fusion 360? Are you able to complete installation? If so, what happens after that?

Thanks!

Jake

[mathieugariepy.00]

Hi Jake,
That would be much appreciated!
My current laptop is probably just to old, i don't even remember when I bought it, I'd say it's at least 7-8 years old. It's got an integrated graphics card like most do too.
But the problem is that I can't see the part I'm building, the background is just gray and I got no grids. I've check the forum and seen a few solutions but none of the worked. Tried switching to low resolution in windows, tried running DirectX 9, tried updating my drivers, but nada.

I'm really due for a new laptop but just have the money to buy a gaming laptop and would really those normal laptop could do the trick. I'm not running production I just want to learn.

Thanks again
Matt

[jakefowler]

Hi Matt,

Sure thing; at that age it may well be a bit underpowered. Assume you may have tried these, but just in case:

• Go to "User Name" > Preferences > General > Graphics driver and change the driver from DirectX 11 to DirectX 9. Then re-launch Fusion.
• Open Graphic Diagnostic from the '?' menu, and enable the 'Limit all effects...' checkbox, and relaunch Fusion if needed.

Also, if you click the Copy to Clipboard button from the Graphic Diagnostic dialog, and copy/attach it here (or send it to jake.fowler (at) autodesk.com), we can probably confirm whether or not Fusion is likely to run.

Will get back to you soon on machine recommendations.

Jake

[mathieugariepy.00]

Yeah I did both those options already but nothing. I will send the report in a few hours since I'm at work right now and my laptop is at home.

Thanks again,
Matt

[mathieugariepy.00]

Here's the copy of the Graphics Diagnostic like asked:

[GPU Information]
GPU Device: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
GPU RAM: 64 MB (Integrated card)
GPU Driver API: DirectX 9.0
GPU Driver Version: 8.15.10.1892
GPU Driver Date: 09/02/2009

[Graphics Effects Settings]
Anti Aliasing: Off
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Object Shadow: Off
Ground Shadow: Off
Ground Reflection: Off
Selection Display Style: Simple
Transparency Effect: Better Performance

[Notes]
1. If you have another discrete GPU on your system it is recommended to run Fusion on it to get better performance.

2. The graphics card driver version is old and could be out of date; please check with your GPU vendors to download and install the latest one.

3. The effects could slow down the graphics rendering; try to limit them for optimum performance.

[Limit all effects to provide optimum performance]
On

[chengyun.yang]

Hi,

This is graphics card driver issue. It is too old and is more than 6 years ago. We have other customers reporting the same problem and they can fix it by installing the newer driver on their machines. 

Can you please try to install the new driver from this link:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/22165/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-Driver-Windows-7-Wi...

You probably need to uninstall the old driver first before installing the new dirver if you run into any problem when installing the new driver above.

Thanks

Chengyun

Fusion Development Team

[chengyun.yang]

It seems that the link above I provided is for 32 bit OS. You will need to install 64 bit driver. 

Please use this link instead:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/search?keyword=Series+Express+Chipset+Family

[mathieugariepy.00]

Hi just tried both 64bit drivers download on this page and both says that "these drivers are not validated for this computer and use the driver from the computer manufacturer". But when i tried using the Gateway website app or Intell app both say that my drivers are up to date. I don't know what to do at this point. I'm really in the need of new laptop that's why ask if any of the 3 i mention in the first message were any good.

[chengyun.yang]

Fusion should be able to run on any newly released graphics cards no matter it is dedicated card or it is integrated cards. In general using dedicated graphics cards can provide you better performance experience. So if your budget is enough, I would recommend you to buy the laptop with dedicated cards. But if the budget is limited, integrated cards should work for you as well.

Hopefully this helps to you.

[mathieugariepy.00]

Thanks that's really what i wanted to hear, i certainly don't have enough budget for a more expensive laptop. I also don't mind i f its a bit slower, i'm not a business, i just wanna use Fusion to learn and play with cad/cam technologies.

Thanks again

[jakefowler]

Hi Matt,

Besides graphics, I'd also recommend going for the machine with the fastest CPU clock speed you can (which I think is the HP from the examples you posted). This should give you the best performance in modeling & general Fusion 360 workflows.

Jake