Best Notebook Configuration for AutoCad?

I ran my business for the first 2 yrs on a laptop which was a pentium 2

333mhz, 96megs of RAM, 6 gig HDD with a 13.3" screen and a 16meg onboard graphics card (not even 3d accelerated). I ran autocad r14 and although it wasnt great with my 3d work, I had no problems at all running, at times, some quite big 2d drawings.

Any new laptop will easily run autocad (2d & 3d), your best bet is askin her what else she wants to use it for, if its gaming you know to get 1 with a descent graphics card etc.. Otherwise just set yourself a budget and get the most for your money, can't go wrong .. Ohh and a big screen never hurts :)

Thanks, Remo. Somehow I thought AutoCad required lots and lots of memory, at least 1GB, and a good fast CPU.

vanilla autocad doesn't absolutely HAVE to have high end equipment, BUT

3d model> Thanks, Remo. Somehow I thought AutoCad required lots and lots of

Given the choice would you opt for a 17 inch wide screen notebook or a desktop with a 19 inch wide screen? Or are wide screens not a good choice for AutoCad?

Thanks for all your help.

If you plan to run newer versions of AutoCAD, such as 2007, you really need to consider the video card and speed of the machine (consider that you will have the laptop for at least 3 years). AutoCAD is becoming serious bloatware. To give them credit, it won't hog memory with smaller files, however, it does hoard memory as you edit the file and never gives it back unless you close out of AutoCAD and reopen. 2007 now requires high performance video cards if you get into the 3D walkthroughs.

-S

I use AutoCAD 2000 at home on a Pentium II desktop. I am going to get a new Dell desktop soon with a 19" flat screen monitor. I had considered a laptop just to save space, but since I do not have to travel with my pc for my work, I decided to stay with the desktop. I have used a laptop in the past when I worked in an office and would have to sometimes bring CAD work home. I used a docking station with the laptop at both work and home. It allowed me to use a standard monitor and keyboard. I really hate the tiny laptop keyboards and spend more time in backspace..VBG..trying to correct typing errors. I hope this helps some. Shirley

Many thanks for all who've pitched in and helped me out on this question. I've decided to go with a desktop and am now trying to get a grip on how it should be configured, i.e. CPU, amount of memory, graphics card, etc. Don't want to spend more than I have to, but don't want to spend significant dollars and fall short on performance for my little girl. Am also wondering if a regular or widescreen 19" LCD monitor would be best. Her line is interior design/decorating. While the wide screen are wider (surprise!), they are not as high as the regular 19" screen. So, for her application, which is better, wider or higher?

Thanks again.

The usual answer... "It depends."

I work in a cabinet shop where many of our drawings are sections of tall cabinets or furniture pieces. Many floor plans are more-or-less square or vertically oriented as well. I use my monitor (Dell 19") rotated to portrait which gives me a square drawing area after all the tool and menu bars (which really means I'm equally limited for room in both directions.), because landscape severely handicaps vertically oriented drawings, and as you've noted, widescreens make that worse. Of course for only another $700 or so Dell makes a beautiful 24" widescreen that is slightly tallerr than my rotated 19". ;-)

Joe