Would Asus be a good buy for a CAD laptop?

Hey everyone, I bought a s96j (posting from it right now) about a year and a half ago. I love the computer, it works great.

My dad contacted me recently asking for advice for a new laptop. He would be using it for architecture, CAD, ADT, etc. I was wondering if Asus would be a good solution for him as well.

I would prefer a barebones computer over a Dell so that it doesn't have tons of bloatware and unnecessary tech. support. Is Asus the best way to go, or should I be looking somewhere else? (Unbiased answers are preferred- since it's not for me , I would personally get an Asus again- so feel free to send me back to Dell if that's the best option)

 

Here is his e-mail:

"Talking with guys at work, they says he thinks a machine to run ADT should cost around $3500 from Dell. What are you proposing? What are the specs? Will it run ADT nice and fast?"

$3500 is ridiculous IMO. It shouldn't be nearly that much, right? I told him $2,100 would be the most he should spend.

 

Well, I'm assuming the ones from Dell are their Precision line of CAD notebooks, mainly the M90. Other options include Lenovo, especially the Thinkpads designed for CAD with their FireGL GPUs.

 

Is that necessary though? It seems like a lot more money for what can't be such a substantial performance upgrade. "Designed for CAD" sounds fishy to me.

 

G2S with 7200 HDD for program files, 4GB RAM, 4 GB ReadyBoost, and eSATA farm for data files. Hands down better than anything Dell can offer, for $1000 less. I run mega Vizio files on my G1S (configured as stated) with very acceptable difference between G1S and my desktop (Intel QuadCore on a EVGA 680i NF68-A1, 8800GTX, and 10K drives in RAID 1.) The G1S is perceptibly slower, but still acceptable.... it doesn't choke at any time.

The G2S will give a a bigger screen, or you could configure a G1S (far more portable) and use an external LCD.

 

architectural/mechanical engineers dont normally use 15" or 17" screens for their work let alone a laptop. I bet your dad works on a 22" or bigger.
But for your work you would be better suited with the res of the G2S. Add on a 22" monitor and it would rock

 

yes... a G1S with an Express Card docking station at the office, and 24" external LCD. G1S goes to meetings or jobsite easily, and docks in the office.

 

I would differ from the general opinion here. A G2S has a 8600GT, while a Precision M90 can be configured with upto a Quadro FX3500. Which is based off a Go7950GTX. And the 7950GTX is twice as powerful as a 8600GT. CAD doesn't require DX10, so the 8600GT is a downgrade, as far as work is concerned. Also, the professional cards are modded and optimised for the work they are supposed to do.
As for the bloatware is concerned, the Precision series is free of it for the most part. It's only the inspirons that suffer from that fate.
I would recommend a maxed out M90 anyday, over the G1S.

 

the 8600GT does offer openGL however, which is a major component that is necessary to properly run CAD. So although it is a good gaming card it could potentially do CAD as well. Most people do go with the firegl or something like that but its because of its openGL capabilities which the 8600GT has too. Although I'm not sure what else the fireGL card does better. I'm also considering the G1S for CAD applications so this thread is great for me too.

 

You're forgetting something - most CAD packages will only have all accelerated features available on a workstation card - FireGL or Quadro. The drivers/hardware on the workstation cards are different - they are optimized specifically for CAD. Generic OpenGL support will not get you everything CAD packages have to offer.

I'd strongly recommend a machine with FireGL or Quadro if the primary use is CAD for work. Accept no substitutes. They are the only cards fully certified by AutoDesk, etc, for tech support purposes.

There is another issue as well - build quality. The G1S and G2S are by no means business class machines. They have plastic chassis, etc.

So, my recommendation is a Thinkpad T60p or one of the Dell Latitude or Precision M machines with a business-class chassis and a FireGL or Quadro card. It's the only responsible way to go for a work machine being used for CAD. Nothing Asus makes is up to it.

Also, with a Thinkpad or a Dell, you dad can get a 3 year on-site business class warranty, and 3 years of accident protection - something else that no Asus machines have. This is *critical* for machines that your livelihood depends on.

Not that I don't think highly of Asus machines, but when your job depends on a machine, you need the right tool.

At work our cognizant engineers who need to do CAD work on their laptops get assigned Precision M's, and docking stations with dual 20" widescreens so that the only have to have one machine.

So yes, you're headed back to Dell or Lenovo, and yes, you need a 'designed for CAD' graphics solution.

As a student you can get by with a general graphics solution, but for work... Get the FireGL or Quadro.

The rendering path for a game and the rendering path for CAD are extremely different, so performance in one does not equate to performance in the other.

 

Hey, I am an engineering student myself, and from all my research around, I have found out that the perfect Notebook for me would be HP with professional graphics. I mean, those notebooks are SWEEET thin, light, compact, stylish, durable, professional and powerful for a reasonable price. Too bad that this reasonable price is at least 50% more than I can afford So I am going with GF8600GT... but if the money is not a problem I recommend nothing but HP Compaq nw9440 Mobile Workstation (if you can wait a bit go for new HP Compaq 8710w) for 17'' or HP Compaq 8510w if you prefer 15''
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF04a/321957-321957-64295-321838-3329741.html?jumpid=re_R295_prodexp/busproducts/computing-notebook/go-powerful&psn=notebooks_tablet_pcs/notebook_pcs

 

The Thinkpad is by far his best option in this arena. HP is also good, Dell really doesn't care (I have friends that work in the ECE department and marketing department, they tell their employees "components make the computer" so having a FireGL card is really all you are getting that is unlike the un-highly garnered other Dells). IBM builds each computer to the standards of its target audience, though, so along with the same quality components you get longer lifespan, better support and a very pretty laptop (IMO).

 

The T61p with the Quadro FX 570M as mentioned above.

Since screen size is important though, consider the 17" HP 8710w with the Quadro FX1600M, which is slightly better than the FX 570M.

Neither has been officially released yet though.

 

What is the use profile? Does it go to jobsites? Is it mainly for presentations? Is it for general use among staff or will it be one person's only computer. Is cost very important? The machines with AutoCAD certified graphics cards are great... and carry a significant price increase. If this machine will be kept in a cabinet and checked out for occasional use, in my firm I wouldn't pay for workstation quality. It might be used once a week, and there's a new generation of machine once or twice a year.

 

Jumper's post is spot on. I've owned nearly every notebook mentioned here. Each has its purpose and when it comes to CAD, no question about it... I reach for my Precision M.

 

Jumper is right. Although consumer cards support Open GL, they lack support for critical features such as overlays. The drivers are also accessible to developers so that the software and drivers can be optimised for eachother, and therefor, you can expect a lot of bugging if you even get your system running on a consumer card.

 

so waht about for students who cant afford top of the line machines? is there any recommendation under $1,500?

 

For mainstream professional software like Maya, 3ds, Adobe After FX and so on, consumer card/drivers actually perform quite well. Not a 100% shure in this case, but I don't think nVidia spends that many hours testing a new GeForce driver release with CAD...

 

You may be able to run lighter CAD programs with consumer hardware and have satisfactory results, but I agree that for professional level use they are not well suited to the task. Case in point, the super-geniuses in my former employer's IT department bought 256MB nVidia gaming cards for our CAD workstations thinking they would save a bundle over the Quadros and we (the engineers) would be none the wiser. They were able to handle 2D Autocad without too many major problems, but 5 minutes in Inventor was all it took to reveal serious issues with artifacting and feature support. The same would have been true for any enterprise level 3D suite like Solidworks, Pro/E etc. So, if this machine will be used in any professional capacity, keep in mind that the added expense of the right hardware is far far less than the cost of not being able to get your work done.

 

Take a look at the T61p, A review was just posted, It has the CAD optimized version of the 8600GT with GDDR3 ram and a very high screen res, Downsides are weight and battery life.

If you really want an Asus your options are pretty much the G1s which is more of a flashy gaming rig but it has a powerful GPU, Or the V1S which is a business machine and has the same GPU as the G1S but it has DDR2 Ram and is a fair bit slower. But its lighter and dosent have the flashy bling bling that the G1S has.

 

i'd agree with alex here. the thinkpad is definitely THE notebook to get for CAD designs as they are designed for that purpose (the t61p) anyways.

 

Just got my Precision M90 at work. It's huge (17", 8lbs) so not very portable, but it flies at CAD/CAE. 2.2 GHz/4GB/160 7200RPM HD.

I would have gone with the 15.4" model, but our IT folks don't support it.

 

I am considering purchasing the Asus C90 and I will be starting University Engineering in September. Will this be suitable for any student CAD needs I will have?

 

The C90 isnt very useful for Students, Its extremely heavy, Quite loud, And its battery life is like under an hour. I went with the V1S as I should be able to squeeze 5 hours out of its battery and its very powerful both in terms of CPU and GPU. (Same GPU as in the C90) But as pointed out, Gaming GPU's are not always compatiable with CAD rendering.

 

you don't need branded laptop (like Dell, HP, etc.)

If you have 2GB Ram, good graphic cards that can handle 3D and 100GB HDD you're good to go.

i've handling a lot of autocad operators and i recommend what system they need for Autocad 2007 (latest is 2008).

 

While this is true, I don't plan on moving it very often, and if I do, it will be to an area with an outlet. However, you raise a good point about the GPU, but I am a student, and not a professional engineer, so I think the proper hardware is a little out of my league. (Was it $3000ish for the dell?)

 

To be honest that most important thing for a university student laptop is to have a good warranty for the entire four years you are in school.

If your school sells Thinkpads or Dell Latitudes (not Inspirons!) at a discount, and they are an authorized service center for one of the brands they sell (mine was for IBM/Lenovo) then I would get one of those with a 4 year warranty.

A lot of my friends bought Thinkpads with only a 3 year warranty and had things fail on them during senior year, let alone another brand. With any laptop by the 4th year it will tend to be pretty beat up.

So for a student, I would recommend what your school can do repairs for, with a 4 year warranty. Preferrably with more then just integrated graphics. You don't want out-of-warranty failures biting you in the ass senior year and requiring an emergency computer purchase. If you have a desktop as well, no worries.

For a professional engineer, as described in the OP, either a Dell Precision M or a Thinkpad T61p is the way to go.

I wouldn't get a C90S as a student. It's an accident waiting to happen. I don't think I'd buy one at all actually.

 

Thanks for the advice. I plan on purchasing my laptop at a computer store that is reasonably close to the university, so service should not be a big concern. I assume your warning has to do with many bsod problems that have been reported?

 

That and as Asus dosent insure the individual components your putting in I wouldnt really recommend it. Go with an Ensembele, The T61P can be configured quite cheaply.

 

As a student, it's not likely that you will be doing any CAD work on your own machine anyway. Even with University discounts, student CAD licenses are still well over $100. They know it's unreasonable to expect every member of a class of students to be able to afford a license and a CAD capable computer. I would expect any CAD work you do for classes or assignments to be done on a University workstation. Feel free to correct me if your individual program is different, though.

The suggestions here are good. Go for reliability, service, and warranty. If you have money left over, get an external hard drive for backups too. Your university may also have discounts available on machines and extended warranty service through certain suppliers. It's worth checking with your department.

 

so NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M (128MB) > geforce m 7700 (512mb) for cad aplications??

im sorry to ask again but i know nothing of cad programs and my brother is going to study architecture and is asking me advice on a lappie i was going to recommend a asus z84jp since he wanted a 17" for around 1,400ish but if this is abetter choice then ill tell to get the t61 though its a 15"

 

yes? no? anyone knows?

 

I'd get the T61 for reliability and service. Get 4 years of depot service and Thinkpad Protection.

Asus has no accidental damage protection. With a laptop in college that is your only PC, you want accidental damage protection.