HELP!...I need a CAD Notebook...

...and my purchase is restricted to my college bookstore because my automotive design career went to India 3 1/2 years ago.[ !] I can pay for a notebook with my financial aid monies...and when I get back to work I'll worry about paying back my loans.[ ]

SORRY ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THIS...I REALLY NEED HELP.

My notebook options are at:

http://collegestore.hfcc.edu/HubDisplay.asp?mscssid=PQM64HCU5NBW8MN1JXQHPBJ5L78PATV8&loc=212


THE ONE I AM LOOKING AT IS NOT ON THE ''NEW'' WEBSITE YET![ ]

I want to run AutoCAD 2006, student version with perpetual license, and due to the above stated conditions I am VERY limited with respect to choices.

I looking at something with GRAPHICS and so far am limited to:

Acer TravelMate 2702WLCi: $1149.00 weight:13.5 lbs.

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 3GHz supporting HT technology
1 MB L2 cache 800MHz FSB

512MB (256/256) DDR333 SDRAM
-User upgradeable up to 1GB @ 512MB memory cards
in each slot or 2GB @ 1GB memory cards in each slot

80GB ATA/100 hard disk drive

Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional SP2

Intgrated variable-speed CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive:
(Read - 8X DVD-ROM, 24X CD-ROM)
(Write - 24X CD-R, 10X CD-RW)

Optional external USB 1.44MB* diskette drive

15.4'' WXGA (1280 x 800) TFT LCD-16.7 million colors

ATI® MOBILITY™ RADEON® 9000 graphics, up to 64MB
shared memory

802.11b/g WLAN, 10/100 LAN,Wake-on-LAN ready and
V.92 56Kbps* data/fax modem, PTT (postal, telegraph,
telephone) certified in select countries, Wake-on-
Ring ready

Interface ports:
Four USB 2.0
DC-in
RJ-11 modem
RJ-45 LAN
VGA
Mono headphones/speakers/line-out
Mono microphone/line-in
FIR (fast infrared)

VGA port

Support for simultaneous display on notebook LCD
and external monitor

Two integrated stereo speakers,

Stereo headphones/speakers/line out and stereo
microphone/line in ports

Microsoft® DirectSound® and Sound Blaster® Pro
compatibility

Installed software other than OS:
Acer® Launch Manager
Acer® Disk-to-Disk Recovery(uses 2GB of hard drive)
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
CyberLink® PowerDVD (OEM, not full-featured version)
Norton AntiVirus (OEM, not full-featured version)
NTI CD-Maker (OEM, not full-featured version)


Any suggestions??? Thanx in advance.........

 

Sounds good, but you can also look at the workstation notebooks, which are geared towards engineers and and graphics designers. They are a good deal more expensive though I believe.

 

In pretty much any notebook you are better off with a Pentium M processor: a 1.6ghz pentium M is probably equivalent to a 3ghz pentium IV. Pentium M notebooks will give you far better battery life and will run quiter and cooler.

The graphics card in the machine you listed (the radeon 9000) is a very poor card. For any CAD work the minimum you will require is an ATI Mobility Radeon X600. This graphics card is much faster, and uses a technology called Hypermemory, which borrows from your normal memory and dedicates it to graphics. (if you have 512mb of system memory, 64mb-128mb of that can be borrowed and dedicated to graphics, on top of the 64mb built in to the graphics chip.) The hypermemory is specifically designed for programs like CAD, which require lots of graphics memory, allowing you to use CAD programs without purchasing a super-expensive machine.

One laptop I noticed on that website was the Toshiba Tecra M4, which has a 1.6ghz Pentium M and the Radeon X600 graphics card. The hard drive is slow (4200rpm), you really need a minimum of a 5400rpm for CAD. Apart from that slow HD I think it might be a good system for your needs.
http://collegestore.hfcc.edu/HubDis...5NBW8MN1JXQHPBJ5L78PATV8&sku=10396178&loc=212

Hope that helps.
Steve