Notebook for Revit / System Requirements - Help!

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I am looking for a notebook so that I can work with Revit, Navisworks, Solibri and Dynamo - Revit being by far the most important software. I basically never render anything and sometimes the files I work with can be a bit heavy.

The system requirements that I find on the Autodesk website are of course very helpful, only sometimes a bit complicated. For instance, Autodesk recommends a DirectX 11 capable graphics card with Shader Model 5. I tried to google it and was even more confused after reading that Revit works perfectly fine with a more simple and cheaper graphic card than the recommended one, which sounds a bit strange.

Anyway, I will use this laptop to work from home for a couple months and learn Solibri and Navisworks. After that, I will go back to work and will (probably) only use it on my spare time to keep learning / working with Dynamo graphs and lighter Revit files. Therefore, I don't want to spend way too much. On the other hand, I don't want to get angry every 5 minutes because I got a cheap notebook. What Autodesk calls "balanced price and performance" sounds good to me.

I just found a product with 40% discount and would be very happy to hear from the experts if it would be a good idea to get it. Appreciate any help! Cheers!

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 2-in-1 Laptop - Price 1799 AUD (1173 US-Dollar)

• 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-10510U Processor (8MB Cache, up to 4.9 GHz)

• Windows 10 Home, 64-bit, English

• NVIDIA® GeForce® MX250 with 2GB GDDR5 graphics memory

• 16GB 2x8GB DDR4 2666MHz

• 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive

[ennujozlagam]

check it HERE and see if helps .thanks

[RDAOU]

@Anonymous 

Data entry laptop...you will suffer with sooner or later

[Anonymous]

I am sorry, what would be a data entry laptop?

[pendean]

Most of the laptops listed in the link in the first reply are underpowered in the configurations listed: aka "data entry" laptops. Your Dell Inspiron fits the bill.

Since you seem to be leaning towards Dell, you can reach out to one of their sales team by phone and have them spec out a true "mobile workstation" for you, at Dell that's the Precision series. If you want a lightweight laptop for light duties at home a few times a month (not full blown production work) your Dell Inspiron fits the bill just fine.

HTH

[Anonymous]

Thanks, that helps a lot! I tried to talk to dell and they insist this model i was intending to buy is - in their words - a waste of money because the graphic card doesn't meet Autodesk requirements (NVIDIA Quadro?) I know one can't have everything, but the only laptop they recommend, which is a Dell Mobile Precision 3541 XCTO BASE, costs more than double the price (nearly 4000 AUD). What kind of problems would I get with an "inappropriate" graphic card?

I just found another laptop, the Precision 3540 Mobile Workstation, for a reasonable price - just a bit more expensive than the Inspiron, would that be better?

• Intel® Core™ i7-8665U Processor (4 Core, 8MB Cache, 1.8GHz, 4.8GHz Turbo, 15W, vPro)

• Windows 10 Pro (64bit) English

• AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100 w/ 2GB GDDR5

• 16GB, 1x16GB, DDR4 2400MHz Non-ECC Memory

• M.2 512GB PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive

Cheers!

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

Try some middle ground: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/dell-g7-15-gaming-laptop/spd/g-series-15-7590-laptop

[pendean]

You could experience time lag, incomplete graphics, graphics issues, slow performance, that sort of thing. hard to tell precisely though, most of us responding here tend to be focused on production and not lightweight usage.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! This models seem to have NVIDIA GeForce Graphic Cards - I am just a bit scared because of Dell's statement that it would be a waste of money to get anything less than the NVIDIA Quadro... What is the graphic card used for and whats the consequence of not following autodesk's recommendation? Thanks a lot!

[ToanDN]

GTX and RTX are better than any of the cards you listed. They are in fact better than entry/mid level Quadro cards. If you have money to spend then go for high-end Quadro, if not then stay away from entry/mod level Quadro as they are a waste of money.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! That's my case too, I am used to work with very big projects, just moved from Germany to Australia and would like to use the time I can't have a job (still applying for a visa) to learn new Softwares and do some freelance work from home. I could indeed end up having to open a quite big project though, that's why I don't want to go for a way too basic laptop... What do you guys think about the last one I found? 

[ToanDN]

That last one? The 2GB ATI video card probably ties with the first one you listed, at best.  Don't buy it.

[Anonymous]

That's good information, thanks! What do you think about this three here?

https://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/compare?ocs=gn5d596au,gn3d593au,gn75d592au

[ToanDN]

They are better. But for the long run, see if there are options to upgrade RAM to 32 GB.

[Anonymous]

Lovely, thanks a lot!

Is the difference between 

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1660 Ti 6GB GDDR6 with Max-Q Design (cheapest?)

NVIDIA® GeForce GTX® 1660Ti 6GB GDDR6

NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2060 6GB GDDR6 (most expensive?)

big enough to justify spending more for one than the other?

Would the hard drive be a factor to consider as well?

256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive (Boot) + 1TB 5400 rpm 2.5" SATA Hard Drive (Storage)

512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive

I will go for 16 now but will definitely consider 32 for the future! Cheers!

[ToanDN]

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-2060-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1660-Ti-Mobile-Max-Q/4034vsm7895...

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-2060-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1660-Ti/4034vs4037

I would go with at least 512 SSD to the base setup,, you can add more (internal or external drives later on).  Stay away from spinned HDDs if you can as they will fail sooner or later (but I've been using 1GB SSD in my laptop for the last 4 years so I am bias against HDDs).

[bill_gilliss]

For the applications you list, a 256 GB boot drive will get to be tight. With mostly just Autodesk products (including Navis, two versions of Revit, Max, AutoCAD, etc.), a couple of others like SketchUp and ArchiCAD, the Adobe CC suite, office apps, a couple of browsers, and various utilities, I was in the 230 GB range on my desktop and recently upgraded to get some breathing room. 512 GB for code and 512 GB for data should do you fine if that is a possible configuration -- in this case, more is always better if you can afford it. HDD's use more battery and space.

On my desktop, a new a-bit-above-entry-level GPU card, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, runs Enscape very nicely. There are mobile versions of similar GPU cards - check for compatibility on the Enscape website.