19" screen laptop

Matt,

Certainly would be a bit more interesting if they offered a Quadro option.

We need to upgrade from our old Dell M60

Mark

If you're looking for a new laptop, I can certainly recommend Hypersonics Aviator FX7, which is similar to the AX9 except that it "only" has a 17" display. I got it with the 4800+, and it works great with SW. Someone else here on the ng also has one, and seemed to have had good experience with it.

Car battery optional?

My Dell M60 runs great, but I am going for the 5.6 lb Intel 2.1 ghz Core Duo MacBook @ 5.6 lbs.

Yeaaaaah!

Bo

Well My 17" widescreen Alienware weighs in at about 12lbs and you don't wanna be carrying that around much if you can help it - it does have a quadro card though!

Kev

snipped-for-privacy@veriz> Whoa! This thing must be huge. 2 SLi gpu's and a 19" screen on this

out of curiosity do you guys actually get mobile - as in the field or factory with your laptop or does it end up sitting on your desk much like a pc?

I tote mine around. I've never tried to run it without the power supply for more than a minute or two, I'd probably have 15 minutes of battery life. No car battery, but the power supply is a 2 lb brick. It's nice to not have to squint at the screen. Full keyboard - with a real number pad. I take it to work on customer site. Those little 5-6 lb things are for girls. Reminds me of carrying my trombone to school when I was a kid.

The Alienware is I think the same as my Hypersonic. Is it AMD or Intel?

Dell M60 at about 8 lbs is something I tote to manufacturing, testing, hospitals, toolmakers, shop, etc.

Eminently usable without being a virtual lead weight.

Works with my small solids and assembly files of 30-50 megs without much of a sweat.

The M90 is just announced & ought to be far better.

Bo

I tote my Alienware to different customer sites - but once I'm there it stays on the desk.

I've run it on battery only once (forgot to switch on at electrical outlet - Doh!) and it drains the battery in less than an hour - also seems to run slower, maybe it's that speedstep thingy kicking in.

Just out of interest I'm considering buying an ultra-portable - something with a screen no bigger than 12" (9"ish would be better) Has anyone ever run solidworks on one of these machines and/or can anyone suggest a suitable one.

Cheers,

Kev

Just a note about my 2+ year old 17" Mac PowerBook and Dell M60 Laptop for another comparison.

Both the Mac & Dell have the same ORIGINAL BATTERIES.

Both machines will still run 2-3 hours on batteries without exceptional power saving when working SolidWorks or other intensive programs.

If I were to buy new batteries, I could expect to bump my battery life by about an hour on both machines.

I know from experience that the newer laptops are better yet.

Just a reference point if you are really considering plunking down the $3000+ for a high end laptop (& yes the Dell M90 & MacBook Pro both top out at $4,000 with all the options plus tax in California)

Bo