New Laptop Advice - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Mass_nerder · 08-21-2011, 06:02 PM

Hey guys,

I'm looking for a new laptop for school, but I'll also be using it for drafting jobs on the side (hopefully).
Obviosuly it'll need to do all the normal day to day stuff, but it'll also need to be able to run Autocad (ADT), Revit, Sketch-up and possibly Photoshop as well.
I've been looking at futureshop/bestbuy (I live in Halifax, so no Memory Express)
I've been considering:
http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ...spx?pid=finder
and
http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/produ...spx?pid=finder

Any opinions on those, or ideas on what else I should look at?

silentsim · 08-21-2011, 06:11 PM

Memory Express ships FYI

PeteLFan · 08-21-2011, 07:24 PM

My very first computer was a Acer, will never ever buy from that company again. I am sure the gains they have made are much better now, and the parts are not "acer" but the name still brings back horrible horrible memories.

Mass_nerder · 08-21-2011, 07:39 PM

I bought a top of the line Acer about 5 years ago, and was pretty happy with it.
The case felt a little cheap, but I'm not hard on the laptops physically.

IGGYRULES · 08-21-2011, 08:08 PM

Thinkpad is the best of the best. Look for coupon codes on Red flag deals. Ordered a W520 two weeks ago and saved 25%.

Hack&Lube · 08-21-2011, 09:01 PM

FWIW, Gateway is owned by Acer.

I would personally never buy a laptop from Bestbuy or Futureshop. Why the aversion to purchasing online?

Mass_nerder · 08-21-2011, 09:18 PM

No particular reason...
Mainly, I don't know where online to look.
I suppose I could do memory express, since it seems that it would be free shipping.
I still don't know what specs I should be paying attention to, vs specs that don't actually mean much. Like, I know I need lots of ram (revit is a ram hog), and I assume the faster the processor speed, the better, but I don't know what type of graphics card is good, or processor comparables etc...

Rathji · 08-22-2011, 08:21 AM

I would look at this list of laptops on newegg before I bought a gateway from futureshop for those prices.

I just plugged in the rough specs for those machines you listed, filtered for 6GB of RAM and dedicated video card. You can tweak or remove filters to see more options.

Also, check the XPS 15 Dell.ca. Play with the customize option to get the exact specs you want. They have a couple variants of the model that are discounted right now. I dont know if you can beat the newegg.ca prices though.

Burninator · 08-22-2011, 12:40 PM

Revit is certainly a RAM hog. I would shoot for 6-8GB of RAM and a dedicated video card. I don't know if you need to spend a lot on the processor. It will make renderings faster if you are going to need that. Cannot go wrong with an SSD, but cost could obviously be an issue.

Personally I like to draft/model with the biggest screen possible. More on screen and less scrolling and panning. A laptop with a 17" screen and a dedicated video card isn't great for portability (it's heavy) or battery life though.

My office just ordered a desktop i7 with 8GB of RAM and it will be a Revit/rendering machine. Haven't gotten it yet though, but I can report back and let you know how those specs are working out.

What program are you taking?

zamler · 08-22-2011, 01:01 PM

My question to you is what do you expect as far as battery life and portability? And if you are going to use your laptop for the higher end applications you are talking about, then you are going to need a 17" screen for sure, the resolution of a 15" screen is too low. At least for me, using a 1366x768 screen would be a frustrating experience for things like Photoshop and Autocad.

Mass_nerder · 08-22-2011, 01:41 PM

Battery life isn't too important.
At school, I'll be able to plug in at most times.
I won't be on site and using a computer or anything.
I was thinking of getting a 17" display, but I still want it to be reasonably portable, and 17" is starting to get a little cumbersome.
If it really gets to be an issue, I can just use my tv as a larger monitor.

Icon · 08-22-2011, 01:58 PM

I'm leaning towards an MSI laptop when I finally convince the Mrs. I should get one (read: buy it without her knowledge and convince her it was a good idea after the fact, preferrably at a weak moment).

This is what I've been thinking of (tho by the time I get it it'll be something different):

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...5%28ME%29.aspx

or

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Product...2%28ME%29.aspx

I'm undecided on screen size too.

Mass_nerder · 08-22-2011, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burninator

Revit is certainly a RAM hog. I would shoot for 6-8GB of RAM and a dedicated video card. I don't know if you need to spend a lot on the processor. It will make renderings faster if you are going to need that. Cannot go wrong with an SSD, but cost could obviously be an issue.

Personally I like to draft/model with the biggest screen possible. More on screen and less scrolling and panning. A laptop with a 17" screen and a dedicated video card isn't great for portability (it's heavy) or battery life though.

My office just ordered a desktop i7 with 8GB of RAM and it will be a Revit/rendering machine. Haven't gotten it yet though, but I can report back and let you know how those specs are working out.

What program are you taking?

Yeah, my office was running 8GB of ram for anyone who was using Revit heavily, and I had dual 22" monitors.
I was doing model keeping on 4 models over 225mb though, so I doubt I'll need to run something as powerful for smaller school projects and personal portfolio work.
It'll be a bit tough to get used to not being able to run ADT on one, and Revit on the other!
I'd love to be able to afford an i7, but I'm just a poor student now

I'm coming back to school for my Master of Architecture...I'm just a lowly Architectural Technologist right now.

Hack&Lube · 08-22-2011, 03:11 PM

Revit benefits more from 3D acceleration than CPU power IIRC so I would get a powerful videocard. Probably a GTX 460M or 560M w/1.2GB VRAM and 8GB of system RAM. What is your budget?

What are your expectations for screen size, battery life, and portability?

Mass_nerder · 08-22-2011, 04:02 PM

I'm looking around $700-850 range.
I'm okay with 15.6" screen, because I'd like something that's going to be reasonably portable.
I'll be biking to and from school (10 min), so I don't want a 8lb 17" beast.
Battery life isn't a huge issue for me, since I'll probably doing most of my heavy computing at home.

Hack&Lube · 08-22-2011, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

I'm looking around $700-850 range.
I'm okay with 15.6" screen, because I'd like something that's going to be reasonably portable.
I'll be biking to and from school (10 min), so I don't want a 8lb 17" beast.
Battery life isn't a huge issue for me, since I'll probably doing most of my heavy computing at home.

At that price range, if shopping on Newegg, this is probably your best bet:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16834152264

It has a decent Nvidia 540M and it is equipped with Optimus technology which means it can switch to the IGP in the i5 CPU to provide graphics when you are not using intensive 3D on the dedicated graphics card, therefore you will get up to double the battery life as compared to a similar laptop that can only run off the dedicated graphics.

Mass_nerder · 08-22-2011, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

At that price range, if shopping on Newegg, this is probably your best bet:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16834152264

It has a decent Nvidia 540M and it is equipped with Optimus technology which means it can switch to the IGP in the i5 CPU to provide graphics when you are not using intensive 3D on the dedicated graphics card, therefore you will get up to double the battery life as compared to a similar laptop that can only run off the dedicated graphics.

Awesome, thanks for the help.
I spent about 2 hours on newegg this morning, and that's actually the model I had in mind. Having someone who's a little more knowledgeable recommend it makes my decision a little easier.
The Nvidia 540M seems to get pretty good reviews from everything I've read.

Hack&Lube · 08-22-2011, 09:59 PM

The one thing I would get afterwards, is an SSD and replace the existing harddrive and reinstall Windows onto it. I know that for a work/school notebook, this is basically an essential step for me because of the time you actually save not waiting for the notebook to boot up, for programs to load, not fearing about shutting things down when you move around and the time it will take to close up and start again, etc. An SSD makes everything so snappy it changes how you use a computer.

Mass_nerder · 08-23-2011, 02:17 PM

SSD are pretty pricey though, right?
Might make that jump some time, but probably right not right away.

Rathji · 08-23-2011, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

SSD are pretty pricey though, right?
Might make that jump some time, but probably right not right away.

60GB drives seem to run about $100 right now. Since you would probably want more storage than that,you might have to look at transfering your old drive to an external USB enclosure, or maybe replacing your optical drive with it.

Honestly it is the best upgrade you can give to any (modern) PC.