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Forums >> Community >> The Studio >> Want to buy a Laptop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I and looking for a laptop that would handle Revit 8. My supervisor wants me to learn it. Does anyone have a laptop that has revit on it. If so what kind of laptop do you have and what are the specs...
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"I and looking for a laptop that would handle Revit 8. My supervisor wants me to learn it. Does anyone have a laptop that has revit on it. If so what kind of laptop do you have and what are the specs..."
I have one that I use for Revit, and I just spec'd out a couple desktops and laptops we are in the process of purchasing. I should warn you that a laptop powerfull enough for revit will cost twice as much as a desktop with the same spec's.
Laptop Spec:
Gateway M680e
Processor - Pentium M 2.8 GHz
Ram - 2 Gig (when I got my Laptop 6 months ago it had 1 gig. I recently added another 1 gig and it made a big difference.)
Video Card - 128MB
Screen: 17" ultra bright wide screen
Hard drive: 80Gig
Operating system: XP Proffesional
The cost fot the system without a monitor was about $3000. The comprable desktop with a 19" flat panel monitor was about $1600 from Gatway as well. If your using a laptop for Revit or CAD definatly spend the extra money for the 17" dispay. Not only is the larger screeen much nicer, but it also hase a full keyboard with number pad.
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Alienware Area 51
8-10 lbs <-- It get's heavy if you walk with it a lot =)
2.8 Ghz Pentium 4
512 RAM
256 Mb Geforce 6800 Ultra "Mobile"
17" Ultra-Bright screen
with rebate $2400.00
This setup runs Revit like a champ, I am going to upgrade ram soon, Revit bogs a little bit if I have autocad, winamp, etc.. going at once, but nothing drastic. Unless you plan on doing a lot of renderings the videocard doesn't have to be ultra high end. I wouldn't get less then a P4 or if you are an Athalon guy they have some killer 64 bit chips. Hope this helps, in the end try and get something that will be upgradable.
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Alienware Area 51
8-10 lbs <-- It get's heavy if you walk with it a lot =)
2.8 Ghz Pentium 4
512 RAM
256 Mb Geforce 6800 Ultra "Mobile"
17" Ultra-Bright screen
with rebate $2400.00
This setup runs Revit like a champ, I am going to upgrade ram soon, Revit bogs a little bit if I have autocad, winamp, etc.. going at once, but nothing drastic. Unless you plan on doing a lot of renderings the videocard doesn't have to be ultra high end. I wouldn't get less then a P4 or if you are an Athalon guy they have some killer 64 bit chips. Hope this helps, in the end try and get something that will be upgradable.
They don't make P4 chips for laptops anymore, they are all PM's.(pentium M or Mobile) The PM runs just as fast as the P4 (used in desktops) but it consumes much less energy for longer battery life. I hear that Intel may scrap the P4 and use the PM chip in all intel based computers (laptop and desktop) becuase of the energy comsumption and heat bennifits.Pentium 4's run really hot! I would also not go any lower that 2 gig of ram for any station using revit. Like I saif I got a new laptop several months ago with 1 gig. At times it would bog down. I recently installed an addition 1 gig for a total of 2gig. It runs much faster in Revit now.
Just checked, my video card and the vedio cards in the computer I just ordered have 256 ram.
Post edited on 2006-01-26 13:33:30
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Hi,
I use a Toshiba Tecra M4 Tablet PC. It works fine as long as you have 2Gig of Ram in it.
dddi
Post edited on 2006-01-30 19:10:03
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I did forget to mention this is a desktop replacement. It runs really really hot, and the battery life is 1 hour at most. They are still making them with the P4 chips but they are more of a "desktop-laptop" if that makes any sense. Like tekeda1 said, get as much ram as you can as well.
here is the link for my laptop (some componants are different now) http://www.alienware.com/product_detail_pages/area-51_m7700/area-51_m7700_features.aspx?SysCode=PC-LT-AREA51-M-7700&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT
sorry for the obscene link length
Post edited on 2006-01-26 14:05:56
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Just a note, i have seen alot of good things from alienware. there customer service have a very bad reputation however... look at c-net.com... great product with not enough backing behind it it seems...
Post edited on 2006-01-26 15:27:34
Post edited on 2006-01-30 19:10:30
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We just upgraded our architectural (Revit/ADT/Viz)consulting team with new HP / Compaq nx9600 using the specs already quoted by the rest.
2GB RAM, 100GB HDD 5400RPM , 128MB ATI Graphics, P4 3.4 Hyper Threading processor.
big & fast hard drives, fast network cards & connections and lots of RAM and Revit has fun.
I believe our price was around $2500 with a decent warranty for expedited service.
A couple of our civil engineers had been using similar HP models for the last 6-8 months which made these an easier choice.
I've been working with Revit on a laptop since Revit 4.0...the 17" wide screen laptop still has me grinning from ear to ear....we're cooking with gas.
This wider model gives us a full keyboard and a full number pad like a regular keyboard.
I started using a MS four-button mouse where the wheel can be tilted left or right....which does my left-right panning in Revit...one of the buttons is programmed as my Enter key.
Revit doesnt ship on DVD media (yet) but several Autodesk products began shipping on DVD media with version 2006. You may as well get a rewritable DVD...the up charge isn't that much. It makes it easier to back up Revit projects to one disk.
The built-in wireless is great it has an ON/OFF button that controls the wireless 54 b/g from the keypad...I still requested the network cable connection / card to be installed.
Some of the newer projectors that I use (and TVs) have SVIDEO connections provide me with some backup connection options when I conduct classes or presentations. Don't forget the USB ports and the firewire port that I use for video editing.
As a footnote we don't sell HP...so my comments are made on the fun I've had using Revit on it.
Last of all and most importantly, HP has some really cool blue lights that are awesome in the dark. :o)
I found some interesting info from Autodesk on limited advantages to using Revit on dual processers computers (geared to desktops). I posted it a few days ago on my personal blog.
http://cadgrafx.com/blog/revit/2006/01/revit-dual-processor-computers-benefit.html
Cheers!
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We just upgraded our architectural (Revit/ADT/Viz)consulting team with new HP / Compaq nx9600 using the specs already quoted by the rest.
2GB RAM, 100GB HDD 5400RPM , 128MB ATI Graphics, P4 3.4 Hyper Threading processor.
big & fast hard drives, fast network cards & connections and lots of RAM and Revit has fun.
I believe our price was around $2500 with a decent warranty for expedited service.
A couple of our civil engineers had been using similar HP models for the last 6-8 months which made these an easier choice.
Cheers!
My only issue with HP is that from past experience replacement parts and upgrade are extremly expensive. Though that may have changed in recent years. Hp used to only use propriatary components, which is why their replacement parts / upgrades used cost so much. Not sure about now though. I have always had best luck going with either gatway of dell. No matter what anyone tells you both companies pretty much use the same part suppliers. So they are basicly the same machine. I ussually spec out the same system on each site and go with the cheaper one. This past time Gatway was $300 cheaper.
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I would agree that HP, Compaq and Gateway product lines and their respeictive companies have undergone significant changes. I remember (circa 1993) when HP told customers that if they used someone else's memory simms in their HP plotters it would void their warranty on the plotter.
As times have changed, HP / Compaq moved away from the proprietary status that was previously associated with their product lines. When we reviewed them based on 5 criteria (purchase price factored against lifecycle costs, performance, service, product stability and user references) HP met our requirements.
Glad to hear Gateway is working out for you.
Cheers!
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So HP and Dell are the better ones to buy or not?
I looked at the HP labtop and I put this together.
2-year HP Accidental Damage Protection with Express Repair Extended Service Plan for HP Pavilion and Presario Notebook PCs
HP Pavilion zd8000 customizable Notebook PC
Windows(R) XP Media Center Edition for ONLY!
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 650 w/HT Technology, 3.4GHz
17.0" WXGA+ BrightView Wide Viewing (1440x900)
2.0GB DDR2 SDRAM, 533MHz (2x1024MB)
100 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support
Integrated 56K Modem + 10/100 Ethernet LAN
256MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) X600
12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft(R) Works/Money
hpshopping in-box envelope
Are these specs go?
Post edited on 2006-01-29 08:10:28
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So HP and Dell are the better ones to buy or not?
I looked at the HP labtop and I put this together.
2-year HP Accidental Damage Protection with Express Repair Extended Service Plan for HP Pavilion and Presario Notebook PCs
HP Pavilion zd8000 customizable Notebook PC
Windows(R) XP Media Center Edition for ONLY!
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 650 w/HT Technology, 3.4GHz
17.0" WXGA+ BrightView Wide Viewing (1440x900)
2.0GB DDR2 SDRAM, 533MHz (2x1024MB)
100 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support
Integrated 56K Modem + 10/100 Ethernet LAN
256MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) X600
12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft(R) Works/Money
hpshopping in-box envelope
Are these specs go?
Post edited on 2006-01-29 08:10:28
Looks pretty good to me though I would chnage the operating system to XP Professional, and I would also get Miscrosoft Office Instead of Works. IMO Miscrosoft Works is no good, Office is the standard.
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Posted Sunday Jan 29th, 2006 - 7:23 PM
So HP and Dell are the better ones to buy or not?
I looked at the HP labtop and I put this together.
2-year HP Accidental Damage Protection with Express Repair Extended Service Plan for HP Pavilion and Presario Notebook PCs
HP Pavilion zd8000 customizable Notebook PC
Windows(R) XP Media Center Edition for ONLY!
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 650 w/HT Technology, 3.4GHz
17.0" WXGA+ BrightView Wide Viewing (1440x900)
2.0GB DDR2 SDRAM, 533MHz (2x1024MB)
100 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support
Integrated 56K Modem + 10/100 Ethernet LAN
256MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) X600
12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft(R) Works/Money
hpshopping in-box envelope
Are these specs go?
After adding the MS Office you might consider adding the Internal 54b/g wireless options.
Your spec is identeical to the one I configured for my dad only few weeks ago...it arrived without the internal 54 b/g which has a blue button on the keyboard to turn it on...so we just got him a PCMCIA wireless card for wireless connections....My fault, I should have double checked the spec before I ordered it; perhaps should have called HP sales line to confirm. :o(
HIs included Windows XP Pro...not the XP Media Center OS.
I have a HP Media Center Tower running XP Media Center 2005 OS for recording movie files, TV recording, audio recording...not sure if the laptop will have all the input/output jacks or if you need the multimedia functionality of the XP Media Center OS...maybe just select XP Pro.
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100 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
Post edited on 2006-01-29 08:10:28
Didn't notice it earlier, but that is a pretty slow harddrive @ 4200 rpm. 7200 rpm is the minimum I have been spec'g with our new workstations and laptops. If your trying to save money spec out a hard drive with a lower storage capacity and higher speed (rpm). It will make a difference with overall performance.
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Go with AMD (runs faster) for less money. Get at least 1 GB of RAM. And turn off HT in the BIOS. It actually hurts your processing time with CAD and rendering 3D.
If Pentium, HP makes their systems so you have to take them in to be updated to get more $$$ out of you, or you have to buy the upgrade from them, or redo the system with their special disc of the windows OS. I can fix my own computer and every company should have someone who does that for you, but HP doesn't allow for this. Gateway rips you off too. They are on the top of the repair lists. If you get a Gateway be prepared for it to break. I would go with Dell for a Pentium system.
Alienware is one GOOD company. If you are looking for a desktop, I highly suggest going with a BOXX. www.boxxtech.com
Post edited on 2006-01-30 16:21:37
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