Laptop for 3D Modeling

Look at the software ruirements to run the Programs..www.google.com

Lots of HD, lots of RAM, and a laptop that incorporates video accelerated card.

That's all I can say. And good luck, because it's really heavy to run...

Basically, spend all the money you can, and cross your fingers.

My dept at work purchased a Dell M90 (Laptop) for Data Acquisition and Analysis with ME'Scope (Around $2K). It's performance is pretty good when working with imported solid models in ME'Scope. The only upgrade from the base model was 2GB RAM.

Hope this helps!

I looked at the M90, seems like a pretty good system. I'm hoping to hear some feedback on other manufactures. We'll see...

Thanks for the feedback.

i asked the same quistion to Autodeck when the launched their software Building information system at Bangalore in India they pointed their finger at HP who are their Hardware parteners as claimed by Autodeck and HP rep present just disappeared from the seen.The hardware requirement is some thing an indivisual cannot afford.if you send your e-mail id i can forward a writeup on the subject you are looking for.But one thing its mind bogloing even the free evoulation version distributed during launch 500GB DVD i could not open so far.Aotodeck rep who was making the presentation was using DELL laptop with 4GB Ram with host of new hardware additions.

Says it all, really.........HP are the partners, but using Dell...

Take a look at Alienware laptops

Holy crap, Alienware has some nice stuff but pricey! Sometimes you get what you pay for though....

Thanks for the feedback.

In my previous position I had been using a Dell (I believe the M90) to run Solid Edge. I was running the entire package with a space ball and it never blinked. I was able to run solid edge, auto cad, and even some office software all at the same time without heistation. Unfortunately it is about a $3000 investment. It is also big and bulky, I had to by a new case for it.

Lenovo/IBM T43p runs PRO/E.

test drive a Mac. I have found the mac computers outperform all other systems when it comes to modeling. on the desktop 2 - 21" screens work best

Mark

Performance squared

MacBook Pro is built on the revolutionary Intel Core 2 Duo — which packs the power of two processor cores (up to 2.33GHz) inside a single chip. It provides 4MB of Smart Cache, L2 cache that can be shared between the cores as needed. It delivers higher performance in 2D and 3D graphics, video editing, and music encoding. But the new engine is only part of the story. MacBook Pro supports hard drives up to 200GB and up to 3GB of 667MHz DDR2 memory. And now every MacBook Pro boasts both a FireWire 800 port and a double-layer burning SuperDrive. Ultimate speed, performance, and connectivity. To go. That's MacBook Pro.

Sit down. Click someone's iChat icon. Video conference from anywhere in the world. Though you can barely see it, there's an iSight camera built into the thin bezel just above the display. So now you can conference with associates during the day and chat with the kids at night. iChat AV lets you video chat with up to three other people simultaneously. And when you go head to head, you'll see your colleagues clearly, at VGA resolution.

Packs power, not pounds

What makes MacBook Pro so mobile? Performance in a portable package. Only one inch thin and 5.6 and 6.8 pounds, respectively, the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros are amongst the thinnest, lightest notebooks in their display class

Road show

MacBook Pro delivers the Front Row media experience, making it easy (and rather spectacular) to showcase your latest creations. Whether you're at the client's office, on location, or back at your hotel room, just use the Apple Remote to control your videos, music, movies, and more. Front Row lets you quickly navigate through your work and play from anywhere in the room. You can even use the Apple Remote

I do like macs because of the way the company does business, and the quality of their products... but I would never buy a macbook pro for business stuff. Thinkpads are built so well, it's just incredible what they can go through. I'm still using a Thinkpad that was made in Dec. 2001, and still has the original IBM 20gb hard drive. This laptop cost about $3800 back then (the base model was about $1500). It's made out of cast carbon titanium composite and cast magnesium alloy. The magnesium case has a lot of battle scars on it from the previous owner that had to have dropped it on hard abrasive things all the time. I got it wet once, on accident while walking through a downpour. Still worked after that. I still routinely hit it against things to show my friends how cool Thinkpads are. When my friends brag about how cool their Mac or Dell is, I say: "OK, so yeah yeah yeah... your's is faster, but let's see who's is more durable... let's have a bashing contest..." They would have the advantage because my laptop only weighs 3.5 lbs and is over 5 years old!

Cheaply designed crappy computers give PCs a bad name. There is nothing like PC that has well designed pieces of hardware like a Thinkpad. Thinkpads are the only line of laptops that have a higher quality and durability ratings than Macintosh laptops.

You just can't beat the build quality of a Thinkpad... I would gladly sacrifice a little speed and graphics power for better build quality and 7 hours of standard battery life. For anything business related, Thinkpads are the only way to go. For school or fun where you don't need something to be ultra durable, there's other good options, First Macs, then Toshiba, and then maybe Dell.

Sorry, I don't want to offend any Mac people, but I'm just sharing my experiences with laptops.

-Nick

Dude....Get a Dell!

No, seriously don't get at Dell or HP. IBM Thinkpads are the only way to go for business laptops. They are built so much better, and will last many years longer. They may not be as fast as the competition per dollar, but the build quality is so much better, it's worth the extra hundred dollars. Even a $1000 Thinkpad will have better build quality than a $1500 Dell.

Look at a Lenovo IBM Thinkpad T60p. Get the one with the ATI mobility FireGL V5250. That will have plenty of graphics power for AutoCad and Inventor. The Intel Core 2Duo's are extremely fast. Opt for the faster 2.0 Ghz duo. You can buy them directly from Lenovo at www.lenovo.com

I've compared Thinkpads in the same price range first hand to other brands, and they are better in every way. The build quality is extremely sturdy, and very well engineered ergonomically and look very nice. That's why they are business class laptops. Every person in my family has a Thinkpad (that makes 6 thinkpads), and only on one of them, there was a problem that it had to be sent in for to be repaired since their purchase. Our HP laptop on the other hand is a piece of crap, even though it was fairly expensive, and had to be fixed 3 times for 3 separate issues under warranty and still has many problems that make it unusable even though it was very lightly used.

If you drop a Thinkpad 4 feet onto concrete, it will be unharmed... I can guarantee it. I've done that with my Thinkpad on accident and there was no more than a scratch. Another time my dad tripped on his power cord, and sent his laptop flying off a work bench, onto a concrete floor landing on a corner with no physical damage (and his cost about $1000 so it was fairly cheap for a quality laptop). I would drop mine again to demonstrate to you how much better Thinkpads are than a Dell or HP. Just drop your Dell right next to mine, and see how many pieces fall off of yours!

I have a Dell XPS system that's over two years old and have run Inventor 8 thru 11 on it. It's basically a gaming rig, battery life is nil and it's heavy but it does the job well. It only lags a bit when searching the libraries, but for modelling it works fine. As a previous poster said - be prepared to spend much of your hard earned money :)

Hello All,

I run a Dell M65, 2GB ram and a Quadro FX card, Autocad 2007 and Inventor. No problems.

Cheers

So... it appears brand loyalty is alive and well. Fine. No one really seams to be answering the question. Sure, there are great Dells and there are great Macs but there are also dogs as well (You can include all other brands here too). When you tie yourself to a brand you're really tieing yourself to the company, not the product. If they make a mistake during the manufacturing process, will they make good? Sometimes, YES, sometimes, NO. It all depends on who answers the phone when you call crying.

As for a computer, look seriously at your components. A fast processor is for naught if you have a slow front end bus and a slow hard drive (even though it's HUGE). Think of RAM as a work table. The larger your table, the more stuff you can work on at once. The trick is... the faster bus you have the easier you can put things onto and off of your "table". L2 cache... as much as you can get. Hard drive, 7200rpm. This way it reads and writes faster. Add a good graphics card with as much memory as it will hold. The dual core processors are wicked fast though I would give Athlon the edge (for what THAT'S worth). It's going to be expensive but those are the guts. The important parts. Everything else is window dressing.

Talk to your friends about different companies. We ALL have horror stories. Some of us even have "feel good" stories. Do what youre doing now. Ask.

Hope this helps.

m:)

3 gigs memmory (any more than 3 is wasted).

60+ gig hard drive.

fastest processor you can afford.

extreme grafixs.

Windows XP profestional (stay away from "Microsoft Vista" Inventor 11 chokes on it) the patches are flying fast and furious.