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Cheap basic laptop for sw2006

Help on laptop required for

Maximum £650+Vat@17.5%

What would be best for Solidworks?

OS, Ram/ bigger hard drive, dvd writer, wireless etc.., can be added/upgraded later if needed, so is not an issue here even if it works out more expensive later. Mainly to be used near a mains supply, so battery life not an issue.

So the fastest basic model is what I am after. Pentium, Amd, what type is best for sw 2006? Would it be worth it to go for a 64bit machine or a dual processor or stick to a 32 bit?

Thanks

Reply to
pete
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Pete,

We just bought a new M90. It uses a Pentuim M dual core. All of our desktops are Athlon 64 FX's or Opterons. The processor in this laptop is respectable, when compared to the Athlons, so this may not be an issue. This machine is not "cheap" and I'm not presenting it as a suggestion, only for processor comparison. It has the high end Nvidia Quadro Go graphics.

The question is (and allways will be) what graphics chip set does it use. Any "cheap" laptop is going to come with cheap graphics. Solidworks doesn't work well with most consumer level graphics chipsets. Especially those from ATI. Do a google NG search on this subject and you will get hundreds of hits. Without exeption, most people who buy these types of machines for SW, regret it later.

If you can find a moderatly priced laptop, with a Geforce Go chipset, you can run Solidworks OK with limitations. That is "if" you have a good driver.

Mark

Reply to
MM

If you are looking at those prices, then find a used Dell M50 or M60, and you will have a machine that is capable Centrino driven at about

1.4 to 1.7 ghz with a SolidWorks compatible nVIDIA graphics card.

I use an M60, and a friend uses an M50 every day, and as long as I don't do humongous assemblies, it handles my work in plastics design very well.

Bo

Reply to
Bo

Thank you for the hint for the laptops, I found an M70 with quadro fx1400 for £599 + vat.

Reply to
pete

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