Laptop for Uni and CAD

[BenW]

Very useful, thanks

I don't know what software i'll be running but i think i remembered a lecturer mentioning it on a tour i had.

You're obviously using a reasonable desktop PC aswell as a laptop, i'll only be taking a laptop to uni. Would you have gone for a better laptop if you weren't taking the desktop?

[0iD]

As a chartered engineer i use a varying array of CAD packages.

3D stuff, CATiA, ProEngineer, Inventor & to a lesser extent Solidworks are massivly memory hungry. Inventor 11 probably being the worst.

2D-wise, I've found Autocad Mechanical 2007 to use up large swathes of memory, but runs well on my HP/Compaq nc6320, has T7200 & 2G of mem & Autocad can suck up 3/4 of that easily, but runs without issue.

[uchiha_itachi]

Very useful, thanks

Your welcome

Would you have gone for a better laptop if you weren't taking the desktop?

Hmm, thats a tough one. I generally don't like laptops, just find them too restrictive so maybe my answer might be slightly biased. I know that there is someone on my course who has a Dell inspiron which he bought at the beginning of the course last year. It's not overly powerful, just has an Intel Centrino CPU, and he just made sure he got 1gb ram and not a shared/oboard gpu. He is still using it regularly and the work we are doing is starting to get power-hungry. He is still coping ok and does the majority of work on his laptop. I was actually impressed with some of his rendered images he submitted for a recent assignment. So again I think you can get away with a laptop of the same spec.

The way I see it, if we as CAD students who are using powerhungry CAD packages on a daily basis find no problems in completing our work, then surely you won't need to splurge on a high specced laptop for simple AutoCAD work. Don't get me wrong though, I would love a PC/laptop with all the bells and whistles which would enable me to complete my work faster, and multi-task to no end but its all down to, do you really need it? or is it a case of do you want it?

[BenW]

Thanks for the replies

Obviously its better to get a good laptop rather than getting a cheaper one and wishing i had a better one. What do you think about this?

http://vaio.sony-europe.com/view/Vie...hnicalFeatures

Price: £1145

[CADjim]

Hi Ben,

Looks like you are keen to get a high spec laptop, but thought I would offer my advice as I was in exactly the same situation as yourself 2 yrs ago when I started uni.

I am a CAD student at Sheffield Hallam, my course focuses on advanced CAD, FE analysis, CFD analysis etc which all require powerful machines to run.

Firstly I would be very surprised if you use AutoCAD, many companies in industry use solid based CAD modelling packages like Pro Engineer, Solid Edge, Autodesk Inventor, Solid Works etc. As a 3d solid model is usually modelled and the drawings taken from the model, where as AutoCAD is just a drafting package (used for architecture/house plans etc). These solid based modelling programs are very memory intensive, I would advise looking on the software providers site for pc recommendations but bear in mind these specs are for industry, where large component assembly work and rendering is carried out.

At uni I did very small component assembly work and not much advanced surfacing, rendering etc. So the laptop I bought did the job fine, a £1k toshiba p4, with 512mb of RAM, widescreen etc. It was a very good desktop power laptop at the time for the ease of taking home for working at xmas etc, and (via a course mates copy :s) ran Pro Engineer surprisingly well.

It was handy for bringing home, but I found that the majority of the it just sat on my desk as if I had CAD work to do in uni it was done on their machines. I found the only advantage of it was using it at home (xmas/easter) for CAD work, as word-processing could just be done on my home PC.

I have not needed that laptop on placement, and am living at home so have use of a home PC. I sold the laptop after my second year and am hoping to build a high power PC for CAD work when I go back for my final year. If I was to look back at what I bought I would probably advise to spend that £1k budget and get/build a far more powerful PC than you would get for a laptop. As you will find that you will have use of uni machines and that most of the CAD programs require expensive licenses anyway.

I am currently on a placement year, one of my mates who I work with is doing a Mechanical engineering degree. He hasn’t done as much CAD work as I did, but used Solid Edge for a small amount of CAD modelling and FE analysis work. Both of which he did in Uni on their machines and he bought a cheap laptop to use in his halls for word processing/net surfing etc, so therefore wont lose much when selling.

If I was you I would either save my money and buy a cheap word processing/net surfing laptop and use the Uni machines OR spend the budget on a high spec desktop PC (bought/built).

JIM

[BenW]

Thanks very much for registering and giving me some advice

It seems most engineering students who have posted say i won't do much CAD so i feel you're suggestion of getting a cheaper laptop to use as an every day processer/browser may be best.

I'll do some research into smaller laptops with decent battery life

Thanks

[CADjim]

thats ok, no problem at all.

Yeh my mate has done a little on Solid Edge, using the Uni machines. He had a cheap laptop for out of lesson write ups.

It depends whether they are easily accessible or not, I was lucky but I know of people who go to use CAD suites and can never get a seat out of lesson! If your lucky to get good use of them then you should be able to do CAD work in uni and just have a machine capable of doing the write up at home. I'm a little different as most of my projects rely on the CAD hence i'm hoping to build a PC to use out of uni, and possibly after uni if I ever work from home etc.

If I didnt do much CAD I would prob buy a light portable wireless laptop, to watch dvds on the train on the way home, using at home, and using at uni. Also hooking up to a wireless router so can surf the net sitting with mates in lounge instead of hiding in my room, lol.

JIM