Hardware & Operating Systems Latest Topics

AutoCAD suitable laptop for a Mechanical Engineering freshman

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 02:18:06 +0000

Hi everyone,

I’m starting my Mechanical Engineering degree this fall. I want to practice AutoCAD a bit before starting and get a basic understanding of it. I want to buy a laptop with a budget of 2,000-3,000 USD.

I am currently looking at the MacBook Pro with the M5 chip and 32GB of RAM. I've seen that it recently beaten RTX5090 GPU in blender and I've heard a lot of praise fot Unified Memory, but I’m concerned about how that translates to a professional engineering workflow, specifically for:

AutoCAD: I plan to do both 2D drafting and 3D modeling. I know a native macOS version exists, but are there critical missing features compared to the Windows version?

I'm thinking about choosing between Mac Pro M5 or a Windows Workstation/Gaming Laptop with a discrete RTX 50-series GPU.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has used Macs for AutoCAD or from Windows users who used a discrete GPU setup. Is the M5’s power enough for AutoCAD and if 32GB RAM is good for basic 3D, or should I just stick to a native Windows machine?

Thanks in advance!

Can I run AutoCAD on this laptop?

Fri, 28 Oct 2022 11:47:49 +0000

Hello everybody,

I hope this is the right place to post this:

Is a laptop with a Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8665U CPU @ 1.90GHz 2.11 GHz. RAM: 24,0 GB, and a 64-bit operating system sufficent enough to run AutoCAD smothly? (the laptop is a ThinkPad from Lenovo)

I’m an interior designer who uses AutoCAD to draw 2D floor plans of buildings. Since my old laptop is starting to make some problems I am looking for a new one. A friend of mine has a laptop he would give me with a Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8665U CPU @ 1.90GHz 2.11 GHz. RAM: 24,0 GB, and a 64-bit operating system. I did some research reguarding the System requirements for AutoCAD but laptops are not my field of expertise. So a few extra opinions would be great if it‘s reasonable or if I should rather invest in a different laptop.

I thank you very much in advance!

Suggestion for Window Laptop for 3D AutoCAD

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 23:39:39 +0000

Can this Laptop run 3D AutoCAD? I compared the computer specs from Autodesk. The processor and graphics and RAM size should be enough. Auto desk required 64Bit window 11. This one said pro 64 which I assumed it’s ok? My worry is The graphics card on this one is Intel iris Xe graphic which I read on Autodesk website it might crash or freeze. I hope I can try if it doesn’t work then return if no restocking fee. I just want something that can do 3D AutoCad that is not over $700-$800. Anyone has suggestions on good laptops that you used that are not too expensive? Can you share the model? Thank you

Hardware Choice

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 13:56:32 +0000

Can the newer tablet computers handle AutoCAD? Most of my work is in 2D but I will always need 3D and rendering capabilities. So should I stay with desktops?

Laptop Advice

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 12:32:42 +0000

Hello,

I’m currently interested in a Lenovo laptop, specifically the Lenovo Yoga Slim 6 OLED 14IRH8-671 14".

Main specs:

Intel® Core™ i5-13500H 12-Core, 3.50 GHz, Turbo up to 4.7 GHz, 18 MB Cache
RAM: 16GB LPDDR5-5200MHz
Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics

I'm fine with the Intel processor and the RAM, but I'm concerned about the graphics.

Can someone confirm if this graphics card is suitable for AutoCAD, primarily for 2D use?

Thank you for your time.

Cheers!

AutoCad 2007 black screen on Win 10

Mon, 21 May 2018 19:11:09 +0000

Have been running 2007 on Win 7 for years. Installed 2007 on a new I7 HP

with Win 10 64 pro. It installed and registered in the Win 7 compatiable mode.

2007 runs with administrator and loads a drawing and runs behind a black screen. The command line cursor works, the menus work, but no visual tool tip or cross hairs, the cordinates increase/decrease, etc.

Besides Longbow, is there a fix?

Thanks,

Stan

I7-4770 3.4ghz, 8 gig, 1TB

Suggestion for new Laptop

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 14:33:13 +0000

Hello..

Can someone please help me.

I am willing to buy a laptop under $500, which I will use majorly for my work(Interior Design). The software's which I will be using are:

AutoCad 2017 or above

Google Sketchup

Photoshop

MS Office etc.

With extensive research on Designs.

Please help me with best suited configuration required, for my use in my budget. Also , should I buy AMD Ryzen laptop or Intel?

Thank you.

Hope everyone is safe and taking precautions in this pandemic situation.

Mouse recommendations??

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 06:51:02 +0000

Hello all. I am new to the forum but I have been using AutoCAD for a number of years. My old mouse is about dead, and it is quite possible that I will simply kill it outright here in the next few days!

I was hoping to get some recommendations from you all on your favorite mouse. I have been looking at everything from a standard three button wheel mouse, to a gaming mouse with some extra programmable buttons, to a SpacePilot. I do not do any 3D drafting, so I don't think I need something like the SpacePilot, but I think that something a little more programmable than the basic 3 button would be helpful.

Any thoughts? I did do a search for previous threads, but nothing popped up in the first 6 or 7 pages, so I thought I would go ahead and post a new thread. Any help is appreciated!

New Windows Update trouble?

Fri, 14 Jul 2023 13:23:35 +0000

Is anyone else having weird problems after the latest Win10 update? This morning I opened a drawing, closed it, tried to open another--AutoCAD crashed. Did some work, saved, tried to purge--AutoCAD crashed. I keep getting popups I've never seen--"Key not found," "Copy to clipboard failed."

autocad 2013 variables

Sat, 01 Apr 2023 01:20:44 +0000

does anyone remember the variable that controls that new objects are drawn on top.

ie draw a line very close to another line and then select the line to move it and in the selection cycle list the newest object is at the top of the list

ie draw a line over on top of another line and then select the object and the newest line is the first one to be highlighted in the selection box

was trying some 3d stuff and some variable got changed and now all new objects drawn are placed in the background. so immediately trying to select the newly created object in close proximity of older objects the older objects are selected first. Before things got changed I when making a selection the newest created object was the first to be selected without having to cycle through overlapping objects... very frustrating and time consuming having to cycle through the selection list all the time. thanks to anyone who knows what variable controls this function.

I can no longer put the autocad bar back like the one in the image, how can I go? Thank you

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 20:16:40 +0000

Accidentally deleted the autocad 2021 bar and I can no longer put the autocad bar back like the one in the image, how can I go? Thank you

Looking for Vibrant DOS DRV driver ADI 4.3 or 5. 1920x1024/1050/1080 res

Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:00:08 +0000

I am looking for an AutoCAD driver DRV file capable of displaying 1920x1024 or 1050 resolution. The DRV I am using is 1024x768 stretching this gives bad results. Accelerator needed is ADI 4.3 or 5. This is only an issue for DOS version no such isse for Win as AutoCad uses windows drivers.

Thank you Guys

Which GPU GTX 1080 or GTX 1660S ?

Wed, 11 Jan 2023 12:35:36 +0000

These graphics cards are around the same price but I don't know which would be best for AutoCAD. Could anyone enlighten as what I should be looking for?

Laptop suggestions

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 22:31:41 +0000

I need to buy a new laptop that can run AutoCAD and 3ds MAX without it being super expensive. I'd say my budget is max 1800$ (Canadian). I've already checked all the requirements, but I'm so confused... Anyone can help?

Will this budget computer be any good running AutoCAD Architecture.

Wed, 25 May 2022 15:15:54 +0000

I've just started looking for a reasonably priced machine to AutoCAD Architecture and saw this one. https://www.punchtechnology.co.uk/product/custom-i7-9700k-office-pc/ I know sod all about computers but this seems to meet or surpass the minimum requirements. Will it be any good or am I missing something?

AutoCAD lagging and twitchy mouse mnovement

Fri, 13 May 2022 00:42:16 +0000

I'm having issues with AutoCAD running smoothly on my machine.

There is a lag and the mouse movements are twitchy.

This is with a new 2D file with minimal objects.

Tried DYNMODE to 0, but no success.

It's AutoCAD 2022, system is 16GB, processor 1.7GHz.

Publishing Command Not Working Right

Fri, 13 May 2022 19:46:07 +0000

I have recently updated my copy of AutoCAD to 2023. There is a problem when I run the PUBLISH command. As I look at the icon in the lower right corner of the ACAD window I can see the publishing job running. But there are times when it just goes into hyperspace, appearing to be publishing but it gets caught in an endless loop. Typically when I hover the mouse over this icon I can see progress like (7 of 9) but when it fails to run all I can see if the icon but no status. When I cancel the publishing job and then try to start it again it informs me that a publishing job is in progress and I need to wait until it's complete before running another one. So I close all the CAD files and then exit AutoCAD. Only then can I run the publish job.

Found this while searching this error.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/AutoCAD-crashes-with-a-Fatal-Error-half-way-through-publishing-a-job.html

???

Looking for help with a setting in dimensions.

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 15:51:02 +0000

The company I work for has a standard border preset. We (drafters) take them and modify them to add the blocks/notes we use on a daily basis and use our own modified versions to start a drawing with. We found one from a drafter who's no longer with the company and his version is unique. When you grab the grip of a dimension and drag it to the arrow grip, the extension line disappears. In every other border drawing we have if you grab the dimension grip for the extension line and drag it to the arrow grip there is still a small line there.

We can use this other border, but I can't figure out why it's doing that - it would be nice to be able to do that at different times. I'm not extremely savvy with Autocad but I can get around in it. I looked around in his dimstyle settings and didn't see anything different that would do this. The settings in his dimstyles match the ones in our standard border - so it has to be something that isn't shown in those settings. Does anyone know what may make the dimension do this?

For reference I've created a screenshot and dropped it here: https://imgur.com/a/BOVBUBM

32" MONITOR 4K or Fullhd

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 08:21:05 +0000

Hello i have a pc with a nvidia quadro k600 1gb di ram, now i have 1920x1080 as resolution.

In autocad can it be slowed down if I take a 4k monitor?

Computer upgrade advice

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 23:26:22 +0000

Hi, friends. I could use some advice on the right computer for Sketchup/CAD. My wife's a landscape-architect-in-training who's doing a lot of Sketchup and AutoCAD at home. Her computer is slow, but then I understand that pretty much ALL 3D design work can bog down the best computers, so we're wondering whether we can actually improve things without dropping thousands on a custom build.

We're looking at a specific, relatively inexpensive Beelink box as a possible upgrade, and wondering whether it's (a) adequate, and (b) would be a noticeable improvement over her current laptop. If not, what WOULD folks recommend for a reasonable price?

Here are the specs for the two computers (current and prospective):

Current: Lenovo Ideapad 330-17IKB: Intel Core i5-9250U (4 cores, 8 threads, 1.6-3.4 GHz, 6 MB smart cache) Intel® UHD Graphics 620 (integrated, not a separate card) 500 GB HDD 12 GB RAM (maxed out)

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd500199-product-overview-330-17ikb and https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/124967/intel-core-i58250u-processor-6m-cache-up-to-3-40-ghz.html and https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/ideapad_330_17IKB/ideapad_330_17IKB_Spec.PDF

Proposed: Beelink SER3 Mini PC: AMD Ryzen 7-3750H (4 cores, 8 threads, 2.3GHz base, boost max 4.0 GHz, 4MB smart cache) Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics (integrated, not a separate card) 500GB SSD 16 MB RAM (room to upgrade to 32)

https://www.bee-link.com/products/ser-37580h

Thanks!!!

Windows 11

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 03:22:33 +0000

Just starting to get used to the never ending updates of Windows 10 and now we have Windows 11 coming.

Last time my windows changed was when I went for a coffee and the time out started installing Win 10. Will keep click not now for moment.

Had a very quick look Windows 11 support for Autocad and did not find anything. Any body else found anything ?

Microsoft Surface

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 15:28:20 +0000

Can the new Surface tablet computer run AutoCAD?

Any way to increase performance for laptops?

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 03:49:45 +0000

When I try to edit something in the modelspace from the viewport in Layouts, it is laggy, my commands would sometimes take 1 second to process. But moving around the Layout without the Modelspace selected is fine.

On a desktop however, there is no lag.

My desktop is a Ryzen 2600, 1070ti, 16gb ram.

The laptop is a Lenovo P15 Gen 1, i7 10750H, nVidia T1000, 16gb ram.

I already forced Windows to use the T1000 in autocad, downloaded the latest nVidia drivers etc. Is there anything else I can do to make it smoother?

Hardware requirements

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 23:19:06 +0000

I've been having some issues with autocad so I posted a ticket with Autodesk which replied as I suspected that my system isn't handling the work I'm giving it.
I currently have:
Intel Core i5-8400 CPU
16 GB ram
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB Video card
Intel SSDPEKKW 512GB HARD DRIVE
I am using fairly large files, my current one is 11,699KB and working in 3D.
Does anyone have recommendations on what I can suggest to the owner as an upgrade that won't give him a heart attack?
Obviously I want the system to work for the next few years so it will need to have enough spare power to handle growth.
Thanks
Bruce