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Laptop for CAD (Tight Budget)


abanlc

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Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum and AutoCAD so please forgive me if I have mistakes. I'm also not a techie, but I am trying to learn slowly as much as I can.

 

 

I'm looking for a very temporary laptop for AutoCAD and 3DS. I won't be using it for long since I plan on buying new machine after graduating in about a year. Anyway, I've asked on a different forum as to which might be a good choice for a CAD laptop that costs 700$. I know that's pretty low but it is very temporary. I'd like to get a second opinion of which among the three woud be the best to get. Other suggestions or comments are very much welcomed.

 

 

Here are the choices:

 

 

A. Lenovo IdeaPad Z500

 

i5-3230M 2.6GHz Ivy Bridge

4GB DDR3 RAM (I will have to confirm though if this can be upgraded to 8GB. I read somewhere that it had "no upgrade options", but the one they had had 8GB.)

1TB HDD

nVidia GeForce GT740M

Windows 8 SL

$704

 

 

B. Acer V5-452G

 

AMD A-Series Quad-core processor A8-5557M (4MB L2 cache, up to 3.1 GHz, DDR3 1600 MHz, 35 W)

4GB DDRIII

500 GB 2.5 inch 5400 RPM

14-inch HD 1366x768

AMD Radeon HD 8750M with 2 GB

$679

 

I saw the Acer V5-452G on another site of a store, it's much cheaper at $600. Would it be better if I take that and get an SSD or more ram? Someone said in another forum:

"The (Acer V5-452G) looks the most promising. It apparently performs at around 740M levels and you should be able to enable the integrated graphics of the APU for crossfire."

I read about the crossfire thing, but it still is very vague. I am very much new to this, would it help in 3D rendering? Also I have no clue if crossfire would be utilized by autocad.

 

 

C. Neo Elan LD2JL

15.6-IN.I7-3610QM,

8GB DDR3 RAM

750GB HDD 5400RPM

GT640M 2GB

DOS (The OS isn't really an issue since I can just install)

704$

 

 

 

Thank you very much. :)

 

 

P.S. - I'm live in the Philippines so the deals for laptops are not as cheap as in US or something. Thus, newegg and etc. isn't really an option for me. So if you have suggestions, I'll find it here and compare the prices. :)

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I'd take my $700 and go looking on craigslist. You could probably find a computer that has better specs for the same price. Just make sure you can see the computer in action (boot up and run) before plunking down your hard earned cash.

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Couldn't find anything on craigslist that is being sold in my area. I checked with different sites, no luck. Any thoughts?

 

To put this bluntly, if those were the last options, which among the three would be the best pick?

 

 

Thank you for your time and help. :)

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Option "C" would be my pick if you already have a legal copy of Windows 7/8/8.1. The 600 series GPU is plenty powerful enough, and it comes with 8GB RAM (which is a bare minimum in my opinion) and a Core-i7 CPU which is the best bang for the buck.

 

You can always upgrade the RAM and the hard drive to a high-end SSD at a later time when money becomes available which will greatly increase your performance.

 

For the record, anything Intel Core-i5 or Core-i7 CPU with the Intel HD4000 or higher GPU is plenty fast enough to handle CAD applications. Maybe refine your search criteria and see what you come up with?

 

*EDIT*

Another thing to consider is a 10-key numeric keyboard. I specifically searched a mid-grade laptop for myself a while back that was 15" screen size range with a 10-key. Just something that I made a standard for myself... I can't sit there and type out dimensions all day long without a 10-key. Again, just something to consider is all.

 

*EDIT 2*

Have you searched for an HP 6570b by chance? Those are "last year's model" laptops and priced insanely good. You can get one for $400-$500 refurb with warranty all day long in most cases. It's the laptop model I purchased for myself and I cannot be happier with it for a $500 laptop.

 

:)

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Sadly, there aren't really any refurbished laptop dealers in the Philippines. Not that I know of that is, and I've checked. That 10-key numeric keyboard thing is a good point. I guess the Acer's out. The Neo and Lenovo are out of stock right now, so I'll have to wait. Perfect timing. *sarcasm* Maybe I'll find something better while waiting for them.

 

 

Anyway, thank you very much for you time and advice!

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  • 3 weeks later...

The laptops I was checking out were sold out. Sucks. That Z500 tho. :

 

Anyway, I'm trying to choose among these laptops. Which would be the best bet? I do have a tight budget and have narrowed it down to these few choices. I've checked in so many stores and these are by far the best among the possible ones.

 

I'm not exactly a tech-savvy person, but I have read about the graphics cards of these machines. Although I'm still undecided because I'm still new to these things and I am still having difficulty understanding them.

 

Here are the choices:

 

Lenovo G5070

Intel Core i5-4210U Processor (3M Cache, 1.7GHz up to 2.70 GHz)

500 GB HDD

8GB DDR3 RAM

ATI JET LE R5 M230 with 2GB DDR3L VRAM

No OS

 

 

Lenovo G5070

Intel Core i5-4200U Processor (3M Cache, 1.6GHz up to 2.60 GHz)

1TB HDD

8GB DDR3 RAM

ATI JET LE R5 M230 with 2GB DDR3L VRAM

No OS

 

ASUS X550

i5-4200U

GT 820M

4GB DDR3 RAM

Windows 8.1

1TB HDD

 

 

 

 

So it's basically

ATI JET LE R5 M230 with 2GB DDR3L VRAM or GT 820M?

 

 

(Sorry to revive the thread. Wasn't sure if I was supposed to just start another topic or what, but I checked and this thread hasn't been burried yet so I just re-used this.)

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The cards are both comparable, but 4GB RAM just isn't going to cut it. 8GB minimum, and upgrade to 16GB later if budget allows. I'm not seeing prices attached to these units but they are all pretty much the same exact laptop other than less RAM on the Asus and less 500GB HDD on the 1st Lenovo, and less an OS on both Lenovo's.

 

So.... my opinion? Choose two, and flip a coin. :)

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Alright then. Just wondered if maybe the graphics card would be a deciding factor. lol Their prices just about the same. 680-700$

 

I'll do that coin-flip right before I buy it then, haha. Thank you!

 

 

Just to put this out there, this is also an option.

 

Asus X550DP-XX048H

AMD® Quad Core A10-5750M 2.5GHz Processor

AMD Radeon® HD 8670M Graphics with 2GB DDR3 VRAM

4GB DDR3

15.6" 16:9 HD (1366x768)

750GB HDD

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Alright. Again thank you very much for all your suggestions and insights. Great community!

 

I've decided to go with the G5070, and I'll probably use the spare cash to get an SSD soon or change to 16GB RAM if I need it. I wish I had more time to save up so I can get a better laptop but oh well. Gotta settle for now because I gotta work on my thesis asap and my home pc's 8 years old and the specs would probably make us all cry.

 

Thank you very much!

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  • 8 months later...

How did the purchase work out for you. I am looking at buying a Lenovo for my REVIT using staff and am curious to know how it performs.

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