Laptop for ADT 2005?

[Neil Hardy]

As per the subject heading.

I have a budget of £1500 ($2800)

I will be designing and managing a job of 120 apartments 2 days of the week from a consultants office. There is not much space and there will be lots of travel. A laptop seems to make sense.

I will need something with a decent resolution and screen size powerful/efficient enough to run ADT 2005. Unlikely to be rendering, however the use of viewing the model perspectively will be neccessary on a regular basis. I tend to build models using LOTS of x-refs and therefore HD speed is important (relevant?) to keep the loading time to a minimum.

I would be grateful for any advice forum members can give. Thanks in advance f0r your time.

Regards

Neil Hardy

[f700es]

I would get a desktop replacement laptop. These will be bigger and heavier than a normal laptop but with more power (less battery life though). ADT is a monster. I can tell a difference on it from my Home machine (2.66 GHz P4, 1 gb ram and GF FX5200) to my work box (3.6 GHz P4 EM64T HT, 1 gb DDR2 and Quadro FX 1300). My work box also has SATA harddrive so that would make a difference as well. My suggestions..

1. A Hyper Threaded P4 chip @ atleast 3.0 GHz
2. 1 gb of ram
3. Fastest hard drive you can get (do they have SATA in laptops yet?).
4. Good graphics card (middle to high end nVidia or ATi). Stay away from the on-board intel extreme chipsets.
5. No smaller than a 15.4" screen

A few I saw...

Toshiba Satellite 538: $1,699.99
3.2 GHz HT P4 (533 MHz FSB)
512 mb DDR2700 (I'd up this but 512 is a fair start)
80 gb hdd (4200 rpm - not so good but might be all you can get)
DVD+/-RW with DVD-RAM support
17" Wide screen (1440x900 res)
ATi Radeon 128 mb video
5 in 1 memory card reader
Wireless card
IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port


HP Pavilion ZV547US: $1,699.99
3.2 GHz. HT P4 (800 MHz FSB)
1 GB DDR2700
100 gb hdd 4200 rpm
DVD+/-RW
15.4" screen (1280x800)
ATi Radeon 128 mb video
5 in 1 card reader
wireless
IEEE 1394 card

So it looks like you should be able to get what you need with no worries. Good luck and don't grab the 1st one you see

[Neil Hardy]

Thanks for your response.

Have just checked out the Toshiba here in the UK. Over here the '538' is marketed as a 'p30-110' exactly the same spec and retails at £1449 a cool $2775. Its crazy! It's like dollars are pounds when it it comes to electronics here. I don't hold out too much hope for any difference with the HP, however, I have prepared the boss for this.

Again, thanks for your time. Will have a wee route around for the best compromise and let you know what I can get away with. What 'the powers that be' let me spend.

Cheers

Neil

[f700es]

here is a good comparrison...
http://www.johnlewis.com/Shopping/Pr...U&Id=230200123
hey prices are kinda high

I priced those from "Best Buy", an electronic store we have over here in the U.S. . There should be an equal type chain of store. Good luck

[Neil Hardy]

You just wouldn't believe the price of hardware and software over here...sheesh

Come next wednesday I'll be the proud owner of Dell Inspiron 9100 packing:
Pentium 4-M HyperThreading 3.2GHz
1Gb PC3200 DDR RAM
60Gb 7200rpm Hard Disk
128Mb ATI 9700 VGA
DVD RW
15.4" WUXGA Display (1920x1200)
802.11g Wireless
Windows Xp Professional
Microsoft Office 2003 Pro
3Yr NBD Warranty

oh and a carry case

TOTAL Excl. Taxes : £1,649 !!! ($3,095 !!!!!!)

Anyhoo I'll save money on my gym membership at 2" thick and a minimum weight of 8lb 14oz. It'll be a daily work out just getting it to work.

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Neil Hardy