Laptop help

[cjme]

I'm guessing this topic has been covered before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything. I also read the FAQ here

http://www.eng-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=936

and here

http://www.eng-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=974

I've been offered a part-time contract job helping a local company model up some parts for a watch that they are building. I'm back and forth from the lake on the weekends so I kind of wanted to buy a laptop. The problem is that I'm only going to get around $1000 CDN for doing this job, so I don't want to go and spend a lot of money on a laptop, plus I bought a decent desktop computer last year.

If anyone here has any ideas for what type I should buy I'd appreciate it. The assembly I'll be working on I'm guessing won't be real complicated, but the only thing I'm confused about is the graphics card. I know for CAD purposes they say you should have a dedicated card, and for the NVIDIA cards the only CAD certified cards are the quadro ones, but a new Dell with a quadro card is getting up there in price. Should I be okay with a lesser card since I'm not doing complicated assemblies? Should I buy a laptop, then upgrade to a quadro fx500 or something like that?

I'm kind of lost when it comes to shopping for laptops, so if anyone has any links for cheaper refurb'd ones or anything like that let me know.

 

[TateJ]

Buy a piece of luggage, big enough for you to pack your desktop in, with a flat panel monitor. Lug that back & forth for this one job. IMHO... it's not worth buying a laptop in that price range & getting marginal performance. Wait for a bigger side-job, then pull the trigger on a mobile CAD set-up.

Windows XP / Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000 / SolidWorks 2007 SP2.2 / SpaceBall 5000

http://www.Tate3d.com

"Right-click. It's friggin' magic!"... Jack L. Tate
FAQ376 I'm famous.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

If you are planning/hoping to pick up more side work in the future then don't cheap out now. Make the decision, bite the bullet, and and get a decent laptop, or second PC (probably cheaper than a laptop anyway) to leave at the cottage. A removable HDD is even easier to transport than a laptop.