Student needing help choosing the right notebook

I'm an interior student working towards an MFA. This upcoming semester we will start using autocad/revit and a number of other possible programs for drafting. I've had the hardest time making a decision on the right notebook. My max budget is $4500 but that also must include at least a 27" monitor for class work at home. I'm strongly considering a completely maxed out 15 inch rmbp with 1tb hd and 2.6ghz quad processor. I see this notebook taking me past grad school and into the first few years as a designer. This will be the most money I have ever spent on a computer so I want to make a smart decision. Any thoughts? Or should I be looking at other notebooks?

Welcome to CADTutor.

What you want will probably be described as a MOBILE WORKSTATION.

Anything thus designated, should be able to handle just about anything you ask it to do.

Even so, they are not all created equal.

Take a look at Xi Computers.

http://www.xicomputer.com/products/PowerGoIntelXT.asp

http://www.xicomputer.com/products/Configure_prof.asp?model=PowerGoIntelXT

The second link describes customizable configuration options, where you will see 27" monitors too.

They get consistenly high marks for CAD work, and have been doing so since 1992.

With a budget like that, you should have no difficulty getting a great system.

No doubt lots of forum members will be weighing in with personal preferences and suggestions,

be patient, the information garnered will be well worth the frustration of a short delay.

Due to the holidays lots of regulars might be out of the loop, but I look forward to hearing

suggestions, given that you have a very doable budget. Typically people are hoping to spend

a lot less, and at the end of the day, you get what you pay for.

Thanks, for the suggestion. I was also looking at the m3800 and m4800 by dell. The Xi computers look pretty heftys, what's the build quality like?

I have never used one, but they have been highly recommended.

ReMark who is a forum member uses them, and really likes them.

The Cadalyst test results for them have always been very favorable.

If you are unfamiliar with Cadalyst, you should probably do some homework on their site.

They know what it takes to get the job done.

The Dell Workstations are certainly another possibility,

and there is another knowledgable forum member (Eldon I think) who has spoken highly of them.

http://www.cadalyst.com/listing/28/workstations

I'm an interior student working towards an MFA. This upcoming semester we will start using autocad/revit and a number of other possible programs for drafting. I've had the hardest time making a decision on the right notebook. My max budget is $4500 but that also must include at least a 27" monitor for class work at home. I'm strongly considering a completely maxed out 15 inch rmbp with 1tb hd and 2.6ghz quad processor. I see this notebook taking me past grad school and into the first few years as a designer. This will be the most money I have ever spent on a computer so I want to make a smart decision. Any thoughts? Or should I be looking at other notebooks?

I have spent time with XI and Boxx techs on the phone trying to get the best direction to go when I was to build mine.

This is what I have been recommended-

Stay with the fastest i7 processor you can afford. (3ghz +)

CAD will only use 1 core but Revit can use more. 4 cores should be fine.

Get as much memory as possible and as fast as the motherboard can use. 1600mhz or 1833mhz.

A SSD main drive is a must. The secondary drive can be a platter but another SSD would be great.

A good game video card is great for CAD, Revit will benefit from a work station class card. (This is where must people differ)

Dell has been around and builds all kinds of computers.

Xi specializes in computers for people that need a great working computer for what you are using it for.

Xi computer will serve your needs better and longer than others.

I have NO ties to Xi, but from everything I have researched they keep ending up on top.

Boxx would be a computer company to use if a company were building up where multiple people work on the same file kind of setup.

They are very serious systems. They have very good smaller systems. I will cost a little more.

And to find a good 27" monitor for home shouldn't be a problem. A big box store is probably the best place to look for it.

Good Luck

My recommendations would include a SSD for the main drive (programs go here) and a second platter drive for data storage (drawings go here). I would also recommend getting as much RAM as you could possibly afford. Oh, and it should go without saying that your OS and all programs should be 64-bit.

Get something with as much RAM as you can afford and the fastest RAM you can afford. You can have a ton of RAM but if it is slow then you will have bottle necks and poor performance. So summary lots of fast RAM 2400Mhz is good or faster.