Hey, I'm a second year engineering student, and have an increasing need to use solidworks on a regular basis as all our computer clusters are full! therefore I am looking for a new laptop, preferably portable, so low weight would be desirable, and screen size isnt a major issue as it will be plugged into a large TV when using it at home, i'm thinking maybe about a 15 inch? Some of the projects I have to work on contain large assemblies so I want it to be over and above the basic solidworks requirements. It will have labview installed as well as solidworks. these are the two main uses of the laptop as well as the obvious internet usage and playing solitaire. I'm not a gamer so wont need to cope with large games as well. Therefore was wondering if anyone could recommend any good laptops. I dont want the cheepest possible as i want it to last and run well, but being a student money isnt endless! Ive been looking at dell, notably this model.. http://configure.euro.dell.com/dell...l502x-proc-mod&oc=n00x5m05&s=dhs&fb=1&vw=icon But if anyone can recommend anything that would be useful! Thankyou! Hagar
hi hagar, It is very important if you're running solidworks and you want it to run reliably that you graphic card is certified by solidworks. Also, if you get problems then you get some support, ignore the recommended spec and you're on your own. http://www.solidworks.com/sw/videocardtesting.html These are likely to start higher than your budget and you may need to compromise your overall specification but you should get a better machine, notebooks aimed at industrial users 'tend' to be more robust; my HP has been round the world and despite having to glue the U key back on it runs very well. The alternative is look towards e-bay or you could consider a desktop rather than laptop and you can configure the system to suit or get a new one for close to your budget. For reference, my current laptop its an i5 4G ram with a Nvidia Quadro FX 880M and cost circa £1300 . This runs assemblies with 200 parts with no bother. Remember you can adjust how solid works responds to detail and by reducing the level you can balance performance against visual appearance during model movement, also you use lightweight assemblies to reduce the load. not the news you wanted I suspect but I hope it helps. tony.
