How capable is the 1720 for CAD and 3D?

Hi everyone
I'm going into architecture and I need to be able to run CAD and 3D modeling (I'd also like to game). How suitable do you think an Inspiron 1720 is for this? I am looking at spending about $1400-$1500 for something relatively powerful and that will last many years.
The only problems I can see are these
-GeForce, not Quadro graphics
-Windows Vista
-Glossy screen
Any thoughts?
Thanks

 

The difference between the GeForce and Quadro graphics cards are largely a matter of software. There's a lot of certifications going into Quadro cards to ensure they're optimized for a particular group of applications. If you aren't doing anything "mission critical" so to speak, you don't really need all the certifications; a consumer GPU should suit your needs just fine.

Yeah Vista sucks. But Ultimate and Business give you an XP downgrade license. Dell's supposedly pretty good with the whole XP downgrade business; on some machines they'll "pre-uninstall" Vista and ship the machine with XP and a Vista upgrade disk. The business lines still have "real" copies of XP if you'll consider those.

Glossy screens I find annoying as well. Again, the business lines offer matte options...

In general, if you want to do any heavy graphics work, I wouldn't go for an Inspiron; at least not one of this generation. The current generation seems to have been somewhat crippled with respect to graphics; the best option in the 1720 is still a relatively pokey 8600M GT (maybe even the GDDR2 flavor?).

If you really want a Quadro and a matte screen, you can get the Precision M6300 with an FX3600 (8800M equivalent), but it will cost a pretty penny. Otherwisee I'd shoot for a Gateway FX or something like it at the 1400 dollar price point. 8800 power real cheap and lots of room for upgrades.

 

I took a look at that gateway you mentioned and it seems very capable for the price...except that the resolution is 144x900, and that's just not going to cut it for the screen space I want. Too bad, because otherwise it would be a no-brainer. It's cheap and powerful.
Also yes, the 1720 is using DDR2 ram on the video card. Too bad.

 

What res screen are you looking for?

 

On a 17" I'd like WUXGA, and on a 15" I think WSXGA+ would be good.
I continued looking around - the 17" Vostro is OK, but again it's the graphics that are the weak point. The Latitude D380 looks pretty good - but the quadro is 8400M-GS based so again that's pretty weak. I may go for the gateway just because of the great specs, and deal with the lower resolution. My desktop monitor is a 19" on 1440x900, and I often find it to small.

 

I ran autocad with no problem in college on my dell latitude x300 (ultra portable with integrated graphics). Even solid works was fine. You will be fine with any laptop you buy.

Edit (has integrated graphics)

 

You're right - I'm overthinking it.