TryingThingsOut Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Hi guys! I've been recommended to this forum by a friend of mine. He saw me struggling with picking the right laptop and told me that this is the best place to find what I need. Offside information not related to this thread: I'm going for my 3rd year of college (Majoring in Graphic Design) at first I wanted to do something with Photoshop, but realized that there isn't a lot of jobs that JUST require Photoshop. Then I wanted to move into Magazine design, but realized with eBooks, eReaders, and eNews the newspapers companies are loosing some serius money, so the future for that isn't that bring. Then I wanted to get into WebDesign (WordPress/Flash). I know Flash, and wanted to outsource WordPress. If I charge $500 for a WordPress site, $300 will go to the coder, and $200 will go to me for making the template. I calculated and realized that I need to make 25 websites a month in order to get $5000/monthy. Not that good. Now I want to get into CADdesign. My dad is a CAD designer, and I like what he does. It seems fun desiging in AutoCad, Inventor, Vector works, then rendering it. A lot of money to be made, very mature work (IMO), and very interestin overall. So to make it short and sweet... I need a laptop. I need this laptop for about a year, a year and a half (afterwards I'll gradtuate, hopefully get a job, and buy a kickass desktop). The laptop needs to be pushing $900 (maximum). I'll be installing AutoCAD on it, and Photoshop. Then perhaps towards the end (after 8 months or so) I might install Inventor, Vectoworks, etc. But perhaps at that time I might even get a laptop, or just won't need it yet. I'll be using AutoCAD to learn how to make displays/exhibits (Just google: Exhibit Design. Unfortunately I can't post a picture (link) I have less then 9 posts) Some Questions That I have: 1. I read the forums over here and it says that you SHOULDN'T buy ... a 'shared' graphic card or something? Does anyone know what I'm talking about? If so, then why not? 2. Should I go with 32bit or 64bit? These are the specifications for the 2010 AutoCAD (c/p from the website) System Requirements For 32-bit AutoCAD 2010 Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional or Home edition (SP2 or later) Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® dual-core processor, 1.6 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology 2 GB RAM 1 GB free disk space for installation 1,024 x 768 VGA display with true color Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 7.0 or later Install from download, DVD, or CD or Microsoft® Windows Vista® (SP1 or later) including Enterprise, Business, Ultimate, or Home Premium edition Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon dual-core processor, 3 GHz or higher with SSE2 technology 2 GB RAM 1 GB free disk space for installation 1,024 x 768 VGA display with true color Internet Explorer 7.0 or later Install from download, DVD, or CD For 64-bit AutoCAD 2010 Windows XP Professional x64 edition (SP2 or later) or Windows Vista (SP1 or later) including Enterprise, Business, Ultimate, or Home Premium edition AMD Athlon 64 with SSE2 technology, or AMD Opteron® processor with SSE2 technology, or Intel® Xeon® processor with Intel EM64T support and SSE2 technology, or Intel Pentium 4 with Intel EM64T support and SSE2 technology 2 GB RAM 1.5 GB free space for installation 1,024 x 768 VGA display with true color Internet Explorer 7.0 or later Install from download, DVD, or CD Additional Requirements for 3D Modeling (All Configurations) Intel Pentium 4 processor or AMD Athlon, 3 GHz or higher; Intel or AMD dual-core processor, 2 GHz or higher 2 GB RAM or greater 2 GB hard disk space available in addition to free space required for installation 1,280 x 1,024 32-bit color video display adapter (true color) 128 MB or greater, Microsoft® Direct3D® capable workstation class graphics card I'm thinking of getting Intel Core2Duo @ 2GHz 4 GB RAM Nvidia Graphic Card (8 - 9 series) a) How much would that cost me? b) Is that a good setup for a beginner? Thank you so much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea1307 Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 1. I read the forums over here and it says that you SHOULDN'T buy ... a 'shared' graphic card or something? Does anyone know what I'm talking about? If so, then why not? I think your talking about an integrated graphics card - meaning a card that is built into the laptop. These tend to not have the ability to produce quality output for 3d and cause lag and other problems (i dont work in 3D so i cant explain much past that) but from reading other posts similar to this, and seeing the forums response you definitely want a dedicated graphics card. Also check the bottom of this page fo threads similar to this. and check the autocad general area in the hardware and specs section been quite a bit of talk there lately regarding laptops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea1307 Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 One more question does it have to be a laptop? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nocturne00 Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Your budget may be a bit tricky for a laptop that can run acad2010. The specs you posted are good, the problem will be to find the right model. Your best bet would be to go for gaming laptops, not the very expensive ones (eg. Alienware), though it will be a bit more expensive. Check out DELL XPS M1630, it has reasonably rounded specs. also, to answer some of your questions. Yes , dont go for shared graphics, check the ones with Dedicated GPU's, 64bit to be able to upgrade to up to or more than 8GB of RAM, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 I'm not sure a $900 laptop for running AutoCAD 2010 is the way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TryingThingsOut Posted August 19, 2009 Author Share Posted August 19, 2009 I'm not sure a $900 laptop for running AutoCAD 2010 is the way to go. What do you think the problem might be? Overheating & Slow rendering? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TryingThingsOut Posted August 19, 2009 Author Share Posted August 19, 2009 One more question does it have to be a laptop? Dedicated Graphics Card, gotcha! What does "GPU" stand for? (And what is it used for? Sorry) And yeah, it needs to be a laptop because a desktop is a bit out of my budget, and I will be getting a desktop in about a year (for sure), I just want something not as expansive to 'mess around' with it. Get it down, see how its working and start doing some stuff. Then when I get somewhat good at it (fingers crossed) and I'll be doing some heavy rendering, etc. Then I'll need a killer desktop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TryingThingsOut Posted August 19, 2009 Author Share Posted August 19, 2009 Your budget may be a bit tricky for a laptop that can run acad2010.The specs you posted are good, the problem will be to find the right model. Your best bet would be to go for gaming laptops, not the very expensive ones (eg. Alienware), though it will be a bit more expensive. Check out DELL XPS M1630, it has reasonably rounded specs. also, to answer some of your questions. Yes , dont go for shared graphics, check the ones with Dedicated GPU's, 64bit to be able to upgrade to up to or more than 8GB of RAM, Hey, thank you so much for the reply! I'll def. look into it. I have a family-friend who has his own company that makes custom laptops and computers, hopefully I'll try and get some deal out of it. But wow... It becomes a quite expansive toy if you think about it:geek: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 GPU = Graphics processing unit (I think). Probably used in place of the phrase integrated graphics chip. When doing 3D and rendering an integrated graphics chip will suffer from performance issues as the complexity of the drawing/task increases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsea1307 Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 In my experience desktops are cheaper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TryingThingsOut Posted August 19, 2009 Author Share Posted August 19, 2009 In my experience desktops are cheaper In the long run you mean? Yeah, I totally agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TryingThingsOut Posted August 19, 2009 Author Share Posted August 19, 2009 So wait, the only difference between 32bit and 64bit is that in 64bit I can put 8GB+ of RAM, while on 32bit I can go as high as 4GB of RAM, and that is it? that is the only difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 64-bit software on a 64-bit machine is supposed to run faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 A 64-bit OS will not support 16-bit software. If you have any "old" programs that are 16-bit you can pretty much forget about using them. 64-bit OS does not support some 32-bit drivers. 64-bit systems tend to be a bit pricier. You can spend the same amount of money on a desktop and a laptop and get more for the money in the desktop system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nocturne00 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Yup GPU=Graphics Processing Unit (a bit easier to type than Graphics Card/Vid Card ) in a 64bit vs 32bit OS, 32bit is sort of "yesterday", its biggest downside is that it only reads a maximum of 3.25GB(not sure but always less than 4GB) of RAM. Here's some info on other OS (Vista), 32-bit versions of Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate: 4GB 32-bit Windows Vista Starter: 1GB 64-bit versions of Windows Vista Home Basic: 8GB 64-bit versions of Windows Vista Home Premium: 16GB 64-bit versions of Windows Vista Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate: 128GB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TryingThingsOut Posted August 20, 2009 Author Share Posted August 20, 2009 ReMark, I don't know about this, but isn't it true that all the new systems that are coming out are all mostly 64bit? So it cant be that pricey, can it? nocturne00, what about Windows XP? Or.. people don't use it anymore? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 There are plenty of 32-bit systems to be had. People do use Windows XP. I know I do and will continue to do so until I buy a new system. Then I might just set it up as dual boot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankman Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Look at Lenovo Thinkpad™ laptops. Great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TryingThingsOut Posted August 21, 2009 Author Share Posted August 21, 2009 Okay, what about Windows XP? How much RAM can it run? Its just I need to email the guy to give me a price for a laptop so I want to make sure I have everything So far I got: Intel Core2Duo @ 2GHz 4 GB RAM Nvidia Graphic Card (8 - 9 series) P.S. Can anyone recommend me an 'average' card between the 8 and the 9 series? I also need to tell him what Windows, and 32bit or 64bit, and what resolution it should be and have no idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 You can install the max (4GB) of RAM if you are running XP as you OS. To get it to recognize most of it you will have to edit your boot.ini file. This requires adding what is referred to as the 3/GB switch. The procedure for doing this can be found at both the Microsoft and AutoDesk websites. If you're running 32-bit AutoCAD now then I would recommend staying with it. Make the jump to 64-bit when you get that "power user" system down the road. Resolution: minimum should be 1024x768. Higher is better. That's all I got at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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