Laptop advice

kpac · 02-09-2011 5:07pm #1

I'm starting the Electronic and Computer Engineering course next week. I have a (roughly) 4 year old laptop which is painfully slow, so I'd like to buy a new one.

What I'd like to know is: will the laptop need to be capable of running engineering apps, i.e. do I need to spend enough, or will a standard enough laptop do?

Thanks

Markyy · 02-09-2011 5:21pm

If you want it to definitely last the four years, I'd recommend something in the 700 euro region. That way it won't be too outdated if you move onto newer software.

You want at least 1GB graphics card and 4GB+ of RAM (these are your main priorities)
Followed by the processor.
Also don't get a Dell. (They are notorious for breaking.)

kpac · 02-09-2011 5:35pm

Markyy wrote: »

If you want it to definitely last the four years, I'd recommend something in the 700 euro region. That way it won't be too outdated if you move onto newer software.

You want at least 1GB graphics card and 4GB+ of RAM (these are your main priorities)
Followed by the processor.
Also don't get a Dell. (They are notorious for breaking.)

Yeah, I'm looking at something i5 at the minute I think, with, as you said, 4GB RAM and probably 500GB HDD. Love the ASUS laptops, this one in particular. Could do with a bigger hard drive though.

MSI seem good as well, but haven't heard much about them. Sony are just expensive, full stop - but their battery life is excellent.

Definitely wasn't planning on getting a Dell. Whatever about breaking, I've heard their support is the worst you can get anywhere.

Can you recommend one in particular? Thanks!

Markyy · 02-09-2011 7:19pm

kpac wrote: »

Yeah, I'm looking at something i5 at the minute I think, with, as you said, 4GB RAM and probably 500GB HDD. Love the ASUS laptops, this one in particular. Could do with a bigger hard drive though.

MSI seem good as well, but haven't heard much about them. Sony are just expensive, full stop - but their battery life is excellent.

Definitely wasn't planning on getting a Dell. Whatever about breaking, I've heard their support is the worst you can get anywhere.

Can you recommend one in particular? Thanks!

The one you are looking at is quite good and reasonably priced, the major let down would be the graphics though. The lack of a 1GB+ graphics card means it will run extremely slowly if you try and run any high end software which I assume you will have to given your course.

I'm not sure of your budget so I wouldn't really be in a position to tell you an exact model.

This is one I am looking at. http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/SAMSUNG-RF711S04UK-173andquot-Laptop-Spiral-BlackSilver/306775/301
It is very expensive but it will definitly last for the four years as opposed to a 500/600 euro one which you may have to replace.

This is the next one down http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/SAMSUNG-NPRF511S02UK-156andquot-Laptop-Spiral-BlackSilver/306772/301

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/ACER-Aspire-AS5750-156andquot-Laptop-Black/306749/301

These may or may not be out of your budget I don't know. The downside to the first one I listed is the screen size, its not the most practical of laptops to carry around.

kpac · 02-09-2011 7:47pm

Yeah, that's great - thanks.

This one also seems like a great deal.

One thing I need though is good battery life, and I'm not sure about any of the ones I or you mentioned as regards battery. Just after seeing Komplett mention "a battery that will allow you to stay mobile for longer" on the one above...

EDIT: Komplett have a deal on this...

Markyy · 02-09-2011 9:11pm

kpac wrote: »

Yeah, that's great - thanks.

This one also seems like a great deal.

One thing I need though is good battery life, and I'm not sure about any of the ones I or you mentioned as regards battery. Just after seeing Komplett mention "a battery that will allow you to stay mobile for longer" on the one above...

EDIT: Komplett have a deal on this...

The first one you have linked is an excellent laptop, I may get that myself.

kpac · 02-09-2011 9:51pm

I thought that. Will probably call into PCWorld or Harvey Norman and ask them can they match it as close as possible...doubtful I'd say. Thanks again.

kpac · 04-09-2011 5:54pm

Ended up going with a HP Pavilion dv6 from PC World - i5/6GB RAM/750GB HDD/1GB graphics. Very happy

Tastyboy · 08-09-2011 8:36pm

I've had the same ladtop for 5 years & just completed my M. Eng in UL. Also, it's a Dell. There's no "fast apps" that recent computers can't handle. Same with others in the course 2,3, 4 year old laptops. I just wiped it at the start of the semester. So no you don't need to buy something really fast!

kpac · 08-09-2011 8:51pm

Well I've it bought now!

See my last post... Thanks anyway.

Delta Kilo · 08-09-2011 8:54pm

kpac wrote: »

Ended up going with a HP Pavilion dv6 from PC World - i5/6GB RAM/750GB HDD/1GB graphics. Very happy

Thats serious computing power for browsing facebook/boards and streaming films :eek:

All you need is something that can browse the internet and type word documents, thats all it will be used for!

kpac · 08-09-2011 9:07pm

I know, but it won't be outdated when I leave college in 4 years.

daniels.ducks · 09-09-2011 12:21pm

Do any of ye have solidworks on the laptop? Which laptops allow for solidworks? Our lecturer told us today the he would recommend one for €1200! That's an outrageous price imo.

KealanOCarroll · 09-09-2011 7:41pm

Wouldnt really be bothered about the Hard disk capacity at all tbh...

No matter how big it is computers all seem to slow down if you save things on the internal hard disk. I use external hard drives, find them much better!

4GB Ram, and basically the best processor you can afford. Laptop Im using at the moment has a 4GB RAM, i7 processor, and a 3GB GeForce 425M Video Card...
Im in Computer Aided Engineering and Design, We have to run ProEngineer CAD software which is very demanding on laptops!

Daniel S · 09-09-2011 10:57pm

daniels.ducks wrote: »

Do any of ye have solidworks on the laptop? Which laptops allow for solidworks? Our lecturer told us today the he would recommend one for €1200! That's an outrageous price imo.

Tell him to **** off (Don't!

). If you have decent dedicated graphics you should be okay. I'm looking into getting the cheapest laptop I can with dedicated graphics to see if its possible to swap the graphics card/chip with a pull from a professional laptop.

J_E · 09-09-2011 11:13pm

daniels.ducks wrote: »

Do any of ye have solidworks on the laptop? Which laptops allow for solidworks? Our lecturer told us today the he would recommend one for €1200! That's an outrageous price imo.

The reason it's so expensive is mainly because of the graphics card inside it, an Nvidia Quadro FX. With that you get Realview, which basically makes stuff look realistic while you're modelling it. There is a difference between gaming cards and modelling cards. Neither can do both, they work specifically for what they're made for. I'm confident Solidworks will run on any decent laptop with a dual core processor, it just won't support a standard graphics card. It doesn't mean you can't use it, and you can always use Photoview if you want a realistic preview of your object to display it to someone. if you have the money to spare, go for it by all means, but it is a lot of cash to ask for to get a small benefit.

mtb_kng wrote: »

I'm looking into getting the cheapest laptop I can with dedicated graphics to see if its possible to swap the graphics card/chip with a pull from a professional laptop.

I can't see you being able to swap the graphics card in a laptop, especially not if you're going to swap a gaming card for a modelling card, the modelling cards tend to be bulkier and some of them use a lot of power. Not to mention the painful procedure of actually swapping the card out. Every now and again you see Dell Precisions go on Adverts for reasonable prices like this, might be worth looking out for in the future.

Tea_Bag · 10-09-2011 12:32pm

FWIW I've just had to find a laptop for a friend entering 4th biomedical engineering and for her postgraduate course. Solid works uses CUDA so an Nvidia gpu is what you're looking for ideally, but ram would be very important.

settled on this Asus which is amazing value @ €600.

i7 sandy bridge quad core (most are dual cores) with HT making 8 threads if your software takes advantage of it!

6gb ram

Nvidia 540m, which is one of the better gpus available for laptops,

and 15.6" screen so still very portable.

drawbacks are it has a US keyboard (like all komplett laptops) and meh screen resolution.

its got the most powerful mobile CPU money can buy so its as futureproofed as they come. (which fyi is not very. tech moves very fast)

its got an 18" brother which is a beast for €800 too.

J_E · 10-09-2011 7:41pm

The 540M is a Geforce card though. Solidworks won't know what to do with a gaming card, it won't support realview.

It's a great laptop regardless though. Solidworks will still work fine, just without realview.

Tea_Bag · 11-09-2011 1:25am

Cydoniac wrote: »

The 540M is a Geforce card though. Solidworks won't know what to do with a gaming card, it won't support realview.

It's a great laptop regardless though. Solidworks will still work fine, just without realview.

It will work with a bit of hacking. CUDA is CUDA and there is ways to fool the software into believing its using a quadro.

Laptop advice

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