Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
(OP)
Hi All,
Anybody got any recommendations for a good laptop to run CAD & FEA software?
My last one has finally melted down (HP Pavallon D) the graphics where very good with fast 3D rendering for the price range but it had serious overheating issues.
Price range from £500 to £1000 give or take a couple of hundred.
I've been looking at gaming laptops due to the way they deal with graphics.
Also would like an NVIDIA card so I can make use of CUDA.
Thanks for any help
Nic
Anybody got any recommendations for a good laptop to run CAD & FEA software?
My last one has finally melted down (HP Pavallon D) the graphics where very good with fast 3D rendering for the price range but it had serious overheating issues.
Price range from £500 to £1000 give or take a couple of hundred.
I've been looking at gaming laptops due to the way they deal with graphics.
Also would like an NVIDIA card so I can make use of CUDA.
Thanks for any help
Nic






RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
Don't remember the specs offhand, but it has handled Seimens NX with few problems.
"Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively."
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RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
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RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
The difference is in how the graphics is processed. CAD systems write graphivs comands to the system in OpenGL. Radeon cards have to software process that information to their native DirectX hardware. Nvidia cards use hardware designed for native OpenGL processing.
They can both work, but for CAd, performancxe will be better with a Qudro card. Personally, I prefer Nvidia cards over AMD/ATI cards.
"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."
Ben Loosli
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
Just had a look at the HP EliteBook 8560w, looking good. My concern is with HP is the cooling issues they seem to have with laptops how are you finding that?
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
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RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
Cheers
Greg Locock
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RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
As for video cards, in addition to the Quadro series, AMD makes the FirePro series of cards which are direct competition with the Quadro line. So, any laptop with the FirePro card would possibly be a viable substitute. IIRC, I think HP uses the FirePro in place of the Quadro.
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
--Scott
www.wertel.pro
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
I'm currently using an MSI with a GeForce to run Catia and Abaqus with no issues.
I second the SSD card and also suggest a second HD with more storage. This usually makes you ditch the DVD drive but you can get an external if needed.
Make sure you can return it if performance isn't up to expectations. While the computer is being shipped I download every program I need so I can set it up ASAP to take it through it's paces.
I hope this helps.
Rob Stupplebeen
www.optimaldevice.com
https://sites.google.com/site/robertkstupplebeen/
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
Will buy another 16GB when I get the money but for now its run everything I've thrown at it with no problem.
Thanks for all the advice, its made the process a lot less painful
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
A confused student is a good student.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, PE
www.medeek.com
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
BTW, until a few years ago I felt the same way about laptops and even opted for a 'transportable workstation' for several years before I finally gave in and got a laptop, but by then they had come a long way. I'm currently on my 3rd laptop, the first with an SSD drive. You can't beat the portability and convenience though.
In terms of what I meant by a 'transportable workstation' was basically a full sized workstation in a briefcase-sized package from a company named 'MaxVision'. Now they were not considered to be 'portable' since you had to plug'em into the wall (no batteries), but at the time, they were the only thing that you could run real CAD on.
Here's a photo of me back in 2006 doing a demo on my 3rd, and last, MaxVision workstation (note the folding handle on the top of the case).
And before you ask, no I didn't take it on the plane with me. I had a foam-line 'Pelican' case with wheels that I would send as luggage when I traveled, which was fun getting through customs at times (if you look in the picture you'll see on the back of the case, flags of the countries that that particular unit had been hauled to during my various travels with it). You can see now why I say that laptops are so much more convenient.
John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:
To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
RE: Good laptop for CAD & FEA?
TTFN

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