Uni/work Cad laptop

Hi everyone

Im an aerospace engineering uni student who does part time work for an aerospace company. Im in my third year looking for a laptop that will still be decent two years from now (when i graduate) and will be great for CAD purposes (and some small amount of gaming).

I use CATIA + Autodesk at work and Solid Edge at Uni.

Im tossing up between the following 3 laptops:

Clevo/metabox P150HM $2325 (or $2025 with a AMD 6990M 2GB GDDR5)
i7- 2760QM (2.4GHz to 3.5Ghz)
16GB DDR3 1333MHz Ram
500GB 7200 RPM HDD
GTX 580M graphics 2GB GDDR5
DVD reader/writer
Intel wifi A/G/N + BT
usb/cardreader/DVI/HDMI, etc. (no VGA)
win 7 home
1 yr pick up return + additonal 2 yr RTB warranty
(base is otherside of australia :S )
95% gamut matte screen



Clevo/metabox P151 HM $1800
i7- 2760QM (2.4GHz to 3.5Ghz)
16GB DDR3 1333MHz Ram
500GB 7200 RPM HDD
GTX 560M graphics 2GB GDDR5
DVD reader/writer
Intel wifi A/G/N + BT
usb/cardreader/DVI/HDMI, etc. (no VGA)
Win7 home
2 yr onsite pick up and return
(base is otherside of australia :S )
95% gamut Matte screen



The main difference between the 2 is the graphics card and prices
Would the 560 great for cad or should i spend the extra on the 580? (cant afford a quadro laptop)
and is glossy better than matte or is it more personal chioce>?
Any idea which laptop I should go for?

thanks heaps

 

If gaming isn't a major concern, then the 560m should be more than sufficient for CAD software. The only difference between Geforce and Quadro cards is the Vbios and drivers they use for them (most of the time). If you want to save the money, you don't need the 580m or 6990m. That said, if workstation work is your primary use, stick with Nvidia cards as CUDA support generally allows for better hardware acceleration.

As for the screen, it's entirely personal choice. Here are links with comparison photos:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/645061-comparison-between-glossy-matte-screens.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...-between-different-screen-options-photos.html

 

Agreed. Go with the P151HM it should be sufficient enough

 

I use my system with autocad and doesn't have any issues with any 2d drawings. But, I have not stressed the system with any large 3d drawings yet. I would suggest that you get the base Clevo P150HM model, so if you later need a better GPU you have that option.
As for the quadro cards, Mythlogic Computers seems to have access to a few other selections of older quadro cards.

 

Quadro shouldn't be a problem.
Try selecting as little ram as possible and upgrade it yourself, its always cheaper that way. This also includes the HDD, don't get one if you can buy a better one cheaper.

It should do the trick