My daughter turns 21 in 3 weeks. She'll be a senior in college and wants a laptop. She is taking design classes and will need to run AutoCad. So I figure I need to get her a pretty good unit but I've never bought a laptop. Anyone have good luck with certain brands or models, or any don't buy advice?
Am I correct that like a desktop you can get a separate video card instead of integrated?
I see one model had PC2700 DDR SDRAM and another PC3200 DDR2 memory. Is the 3200 worth the extra money?
Should I just get her a box of new pencils and a pad of paper and tell her I'm a Ludite?

on ram....

notebooks have a real problem with speed.
the hard drives are mostly 4200RPM--slow access speed.

in autocad, quantity is better than quality--get the most you can of DDR.

get a Pentium based processor--they are proven to handle extreme number crunching faster.

do NOT get a Celeron processor....it's like trying to run with a broken leg....

I've been a laptop guy for many years...a computer guy for more than that.

***If at all possible, I would not get a laptop. video cards for laptops are not upgradeable....

if you need a laptop, get TOSHIBA or DELL(2nd choice).

Both are easy to work on, easy access to internal cards(less labor $$)...i've worked on both (taken them apart and put back together). If you need any help, pm me.

actually on a more technical note, I've worked on basically every streamlined brand of laptop one sees these days, my recommendations are based from a personal experience and from a professional experience as well.

compaq's are good too, but i see that thier parts choices aren't too bright--the parts frequently die..and are pretty hard to get into.

I useto run AutoCAD at work on a Toshiba and it worked fine. Good computer. Desktop would be better for AutoCAD. CRT's are better for color and have a lower pixle pitch.

I have a Dell laptop for work and then bought one for at home. Happy with both.

If your daughter is just doing Word, Excel, and power point, "cheap" one is fine. I would get one with DVD - R/RW drive as laptops are basically not upgradeable.

Memory speed difference, at those rates, is minimal, as the other components are the bottlenecks.

I like Intel. Laptops get hotter than hell. You are looking for HONEST mobile chipsets, not Celeron, or AMD desktop chips, crammed in a small shell.

For CAD, you need CRUNCH POWER, BIG MEMORY, and COMPATABILITY, period.

16x9 format screens are good for watching movies, while waiting on yoru plane to crash, at Gate 9, but a more traditional aspect ratio is much prefered to +width, 'specially given price point breaks, and being used to the view vs a desktop monitor.

The rest, subjective.


M

I agree with the Toshiba/Compaq/Dell choices. As for processor... If she will use it in a stationary place most of the time (at a desk most of the time), get a Pentium 4 processor. If she will be on the go alot, then go for the Pentium M processor.

Toshiba
Pentium
as much ram as will fit in there.

acer 8100

Pentium4 3.2 GHz processor
100 gig drive
1 Gig memory
Decent video memory.

1600 on buy.com

I have a freshman going into mechanical engineering...autocad is coming.

I figure if it gets bad, we can also get him a desktop later on.

The advice I have is that laptops are really not upgradable for little money, like a dektop.
So I am going for the fastest processor and the biggest disk and the most memory when we buy it.

Rich

Thanks for the replies so far. Toshiba seems to be a front runner, they got top pick in Consumer Reports which pulls a lot of weight with my wife.
I'll go for 1gig of ram.
Should I hold out for a separate video card or is shared okay.

QUOTE (drew365 @ Aug 14 2005, 08:21 PM)

Thanks for the replies so far. Toshiba seems to be a front runner, they got top pick in Consumer Reports which pulls a lot of weight with my wife. I'll go for 1gig of ram. Should I hold out for a separate video card or is shared okay.

It's soldered onto the mainboard. What you buy, is what it's got. To upgrade, you simply buy a new laptop. It's not like a desktop. BUT... If you buy a highend laptop, it will have a highend graphics chipset. You'll be fine. Just pay attention to the memory and processor. Get as much as you can afford.

As for the graphics memory, try and get one with its own dedicated memory. Most of your mid - high end laptops will have their own dedicated video memory.

Hmmm if'n I was to go with anything other then an IBM it would be a Compaq. Compaqs can have a three year warranty. I used to be a reseller but got out of the game and went back to corporate life... Thinkpads are work horses, very dependable and long lasting. Compaqs can be and you cant beat thier warranty program.

My best,
Mike D.

QUOTE (Sparky @ Aug 14 2005, 08:46 PM)

Hmmm if'n I was to go with anything other then an IBM it would be a Compaq. Compaqs can have a three year warranty. I used to be a reseller but got out of the game and went back to corporate life... Thinkpads are work horses, very dependable and long lasting. Compaqs can be and you cant beat thier warranty program. My best, Mike D.

Thinkpads are bad ass for sure. I like em. We switched to Compaq for all of our laptops at the bank. We went with the 3 year warranty, and will rollout new machines when they hit the warranty. The ones that we have had issues with, i can't complain too much. The warranty process was quick. Of course, I am comparing this to our previous supplier (gateway)

QUOTE (drew365 @ Aug 14 2005, 04:44 PM)

My daughter turns 21 in 3 weeks. She'll be a senior in college and wants a laptop. She is taking design classes and will need to run AutoCad. So I figure I need to get her a pretty good unit but I've never bought a laptop. Anyone have good luck with certain brands or models, or any don't buy advice? Am I correct that like a desktop you can get a separate video card instead of integrated? I see one model had PC2700 DDR SDRAM and another PC3200 DDR2 memory. Is the 3200 worth the extra money? Should I just get her a box of new pencils and a pad of paper and tell her I'm a Ludite?

Wait you have a 21 y.o daughter?! Does she like New England

Just kidding... I have two daughters of my own and I am not looking forward to the teenage years. They are both as beautiful as their mother (thankfully) blonde hair, blue eyes, and enough fiestiness to stand on their own.

Hmm fiestiness, is that a word or is it the peah margarita's I been making and sipping?

My best,
Mike D.

IMO, you would do yourself very well to ask this question on a CAD forum.

People there will know all the problems, with the latest version. They all have bugs, and workarounds in the best of circumstances *only*.


M

Thinkpads are at the top of my list, but pricey and therefore not included in my list...kinda hard to work on too.

they have *LOTS* of tiny screws and stuff....plates and etc.



but they are rock-solid. i have never seen a completly dead thinkpad. They are very reliable.

revised list:
1)T-Pad
2)toshiba
3)Dell
4)compaq...(you will *need* the 3 yr warranty.....)

I use Autocad 2005/Microstation CE every day for engineering stuff....

i have a nice 17" widescreen HP with number pad.
7000 series... 3.2 GHZ, 60 gig 7200rpm HD, 1gig ram......

works great. the NUMERICAL keypad to the right is a godsend....

here it is in all its glory (of course.....on the clubsite)

In addition to what Miles suggested, your daughter should ask other students in the design program what laptops they have and the pros and cons. My daughter will be entering the Interior Design program at SJSU next semester. When we visited the school I was amazed that all of the students were working on laptops. I expected to see drafting tables but I guess that is old school.

-Jeff

yeah my school didnt focus very much on drafting at all..its all CAD done now....


solidworks... whoo hoo!!!

I'm a junior in Mech. Eng. at Cal Poly, FWIW.

Get an Intel Pentium M processor (these are usually labeled "Centrino" computers), or possibly an AMD Athlon 64, as these are the two best processors on the market IMO. AVOID the Intel Celeron and AMD Sempron Processors, which are crippled versions of the Pentiums and Athlons respectively.

DEFINITELY get a separate graphics card with its own memory. AutoCAD 2006 requires a DirectX 9.0c-compatible video card. A standard graphics chip with shared memory has neither the memory or processor architecture to run newer CAD programs.

Keep in mind is that no laptop is going to take the place of a dedicated CAD workstation, so don't break the bank trying. Find out if she wants the laptop for design work, or if she just wants it for MS Office, email, internet, music, etc.

I've got a Dell Centrino laptop, and it's lasted two years without any major problems. When the CD burner died (my fault), they had a new one on my doorstep the next day. I also hear very good things about Toshiba and IBM.