Mobile workstation options

[s.borello]

Hi all, I wanted to get your advice on a good mobile workstation that can handle a very robust project in Revit.  I will have an arch link that is 5GB, a mech link that is 2GB, a plumbing link that is 1.5GB, and an electrical link that is 500MB.  I am curious about https://www.bimboxusa.com/mobile - if any of you have used their machines i would love to get your thoughts.  Any other recommendations are gladly welcomed.  Thanks for your time all!

-Steve

[fabiosato]

Hello,

You will use all those files as links, or you will need to open each of them?

5Gb x 20 = 100Gb, you will need lots of RAM.

A higher CPU clock and SSD NVMe 4.0 will help a lot.

[HVAC-Novice]

what about future projects? 

about those bim-boxes: you can literally buy a PC or laptop with the same or similar hardware for less and get the very same performance. There is nothing proprietary about them and they buy and use the same parts as any other PC manufacturer or even let the boxes manufacture by one of the larger companies. I'm not saying they are bad, just overpriced for the "BIM" sticker. 

[s.borello]

Thanks for the response... they will all be the links to this project.  Do you have a suggestion with regard to a specific company or computer model?  

[s.borello]

Thanks for the response... are you able to suggest a specific company or computer model that could handle this? 

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

For that type of project sizes you will need a lot of RAM (I think 128 GB).  I have never seen a laptop with that much of RAM myself.  

You can try a customized laptop from Sager.  I have not bought anything from them but I have heard good reviews from 3D modelling / rendering folks.  Here is an quote I pulled as example.  

[HVAC-Novice · Accepted solution]

Laptops, no matter their specs, are not powerful in the real World. first, mobile hardware ALWAYS is weaker per the specifications. Second, they have terrible cooling. the CPU and GPU will thermal-throttle when you load them for any longer time. 

the listed clock speeds of processors depends on power delivery, and temperature. If one is not sufficient, the clock-speed will be reduced to use less power and produce less heat. So your 4GHz CPU you paid a lot of money for, only runs at 2.5 GHz. At that point you could have saved the money and bought a 2.5 GHz CPU for example. Imagine you you have a Ferrari motor and a Corolla cooling system. You can use the Ferrari fast for 2 seconds, then you have to slow down. that is what happens with the CPU/GPU. If you only need power for a few seconds, that is fine. If you need sustained power, it will be a problem. 

There also is RAM speed, not just the amount. and how it matches the CPU RAM speed options. Slow RAM can limit you with a powerful CPU since the CPU will starve of data, or will not be able to move data back to RAM. There is a reason those box-Pcs don't tell you what RAM they use. 

A PC is larger and has inherently better cooling. But many of the pre-built PCs still are not great in that regard. cheap cases, too few and cheap fans etc. 

another problem with pre-built are cheap power supplies and motherboards. there is a reason they list which CPU, but not which board they use. Besides longevity, the board has the CPU power delivery and that can be insufficient and over-heat. 

You may look into a computer forum for specific advice. You can steal the BIM-box specs regarding GPU and CPU and use that as a starting point. 

[pendean · Accepted solution]

BIMBOX is fine IMHO, system cooling should not be an issue: but your 32GB RAM is going to choke your workflows (as others have noted you need to be in the 64GB/128GB range if you want desktop-ish capabilities), as is any HD smaller than 1TB.

So you need to decide: buy a laptop and suffer slow performance, or get a desktop souped up for the tasks you need then just remote into it with a cheaper 17" laptop that does nothing but act as a dumb terminal.

Good luck.

[HVAC-Novice]

You probably also want to re-think your entire work setup and if a mobile device with the small monitor really works to begin with. No matter the laptop power, on a 17" single screen you will feel like 1980. 

I use two 43" 4K monitors and wouldn't want less. One screen has Revit, the other has PDF, and all kind of other programs that I need to figure out the things I do in Revit. I could not imagine any serious work beyond some minor editing on a laptop. 

BTW, I remote in from my lower grade home PC (older quadcore with 16GB and onboard GPU) into my higher-level Work PC in the office. The remote-machine doesn't need to be extra powerful. 

[s.borello]

Thanks for your insight... very helpful. 

[s.borello]

Thanks for all your insights... very helpful. 

[s.borello]

Many thanks for your insights... very helpful.