Laptop System equirements for SW

Awl --

I'm looking for a laptop that will run SW, trying to avoid super-pricey.

According to

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I'd be best off cost-wise/ram-wise with regular XP Pro, 32 bit.

But then there is a note that support for this is ending. Also, Windows 7 is the Pro, Ultimate, or Enterprise versions, not the premium offered on most laptops.

So what's the most economical way to go, for a new laptop purchase, that will run SW? I won't be doing fancy stuff, just run of the mill parts for a VMC or lathe. cam is not necessary.

Thanks,

Reply to
Existential Angst
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First, figure out how much you want to spend.. then go from there..

You would be better off with a newer arch processor (the i# family) or at least the core 2 duo/quads at the highest clock speed you can afford, A decent amount of ram (max the bitch out) and a decent video card..

Reply to
tnik

It's not going to be just the OS that's the gotcha, it's the graphics chipset. There is no laptop out there that will let you swap graphics chips, what you get is what you're going to use, or not. So shop to see what's in there for graphics and what the software wants. Then buy. Chances are you're going to be 3/4 of the way to the grand mark or more, nVidia and ATI chips in laptops are put into the higher-end ones. If it were a desktop, you could probably assemble one for a lot less than that. Upside is that the higher-end laptops are more likely to be running 64-bit OS versions. Low-end laptops have integrated graphics using system memory, usually Intel chipsets do that. Multi- core processors will definitely put you over a grand.

Stan

Reply to
stans4

As others have said...your budget is the driving factor. I can see support for XP is not going to be around in a couple of years...I would of never guessed a few years ago how fast things are migrating to 64bit OS's. Go with the Pro version of windows 7....from what I gather its missing some of the eye candy that you would likely disable anyway. (for performance reasons)

Reply to
Zymrgy

The video chipset is the hardest requirement to meet without buying a high-end laptop. I run SW and Inventor and figure on spending around $400 for a mid-range video card when I put together a desktop box.

You can get a feel for what works by looking at this SW page where tested systems are listed, or just buy one of the tested laptops.

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Get at least 2GB RAM.

Reply to
Ned Simmons

Or 6 GB (!!), with 64 bit Win7, according to my SW link. Mebbe Win7 is using 4 of those 6??!!

I was looking at Dell's, with 2 GB. For 4 GB, it's +$130, for 8 GB, it's

+$541!!! Why the radical jump from 4 to 8???

I will look at your link, tho.

Reply to
Existential Angst

2GB is adequate for single parts, unless they're very complex. I only have 3GB and that's usually not a problem unless I'm working on a very large assembly.

Probably the number of memory slots requires expensive high density sticks to go above 4GB.

Reply to
Ned Simmons

There are usually only two SODIMM slots in laptops, sometimes only one, so you have to go with 4G SODIMMs x 2, they're the most expensive out there right now. 2x 2G is a lot cheaper. SODIMMS are about twice as expensive as regular desktop memory of the same type, so there you are. Fitting out a desktop box is a whole lot cheaper. Another gotcha is that you're going to have to run a 64-bit OS to take advantage of that memory, the 32-bit versions only see 4G and only use about 3G of that. And then make sure that the graphics chipset(and everything else) has 64-bit drivers.

Stan

Reply to
stans4

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