Sony Z1290 for CAD or Solidworks?

Hello,

I'm new to this site, please be nice on me

I'm going to order the Sony Z 1290 CTO with specs:
i5 -540M
8GB ram
250 SSD
1600x900 res

Mainly I will be using the system to play some games (CSS or Heroes of newerth, and perhaps Diablo 3 in the future), AutoCAD, and Solidworks. Do you guys think the configuration is sufficient to meet my need?
Also should I get the i7 620 or i5 540?

Heat is a concern for me, so I really need your suggestion which processor should I get..

Thanks A LOT

 

For AutoCAD and similar, get a laptop that has a Quadro-labeled graphics card, not Geforce.
The difference of being able to run the workstation drivers is immense.

So my advice is to not go for a Sony for this.

 

Oh i forgot to mention that I'm still an engineering student..So I will not use the solidworks optimally, i will just play around/study the solidworks program.Do you have any recommendation which laptop should I get?

My budget is around $2-$2.5k
I rarely stay at home, so a powerhouse ultraportable laptop would be nice..

thanks

 

While Z laptops are absolutely great I would recommend F series. Get one with at least 6GB ram and ssd drive and you will be very happy with it.

Pros
1. Full HD 16.4'' screen.
2. i7-740 or i7-840 cpus (4 cores)
3. Numeric Keypad (very helpful)

Cons
1. Bigger, heavier and feels cheaper than Z
2. Poor standard battery life (around 1.5h or less with moderate usage or almost 3h with wifi and simple stuff)
3. Reflective screen. (Solution - buy anti glare screen film, looks original)

Everything will cost you less than $2k. I'm also studying eng. - Automatics and Robotics. I bought F series from BB 6 months ago. Since then I upgraded my main hdd to Intel 80gb SSD drive. I got 6 GB ram, second 500GB hdd in optical bay and external Blu-ray drive. Keep in mind that Z series has dual core processor (correct me if I'm wrong).

Worst case scenario, download AutoCAD trial, go to Sony Store and ask if you can install it on both computers to compare it.

 

I'd recommend a Toshiba Tecra with a Quadro labeled card. While the graphics may be slightly slower for games, being able to use workstation drivers makes it run circles around any Vaio laptop for AutoCAD and Solidworks.

 

If you're worried about heat, the thing with the Z is that it's GREAT at dissipating heat, but i find that when i put it on my lap, it blocks the air intake vent and yeah... it begins to heat up... As for the processor, i'm pretty sure there's not a huge difference between the two in heat output. People have also weighed in and said the diff between the processor in terms of performance is also quite negligible, but if you want, you can wait possibly a month until sony does yet another refresh, but this time with new processors, the i5-580m(same clock as the 620m but less cache) and the i7-640m(2.93ghz -> 3.47 ghz). The thing is even with the i5-540m, your bottleneck will be the GPU.

 

I am doing massive Engineering and 3D CAD with my Z (Catia, Pro/E UGS NX). Of course the driver capabilities of the Quadro series are better and they provide a little bit more functionalities and are "CAD-certified" but my Z is doing great with huge assemblies. If you have single parts or small assemblies, even the Stamina mode provides decent speed in CATIA.

I am doing my Ph.D's and for my needs as a student, the Z would absolutely have been a kick-a$$ powerhouse. As you see in my sig, I had a laptop with a Radeon X600 (rather than a FireGL). I used it for 5 Years during my studies and it was by far enough for that.

 

it seems that the Z13 is about to be launched at USA. So...should I wait for the Z13 and get the i5-580m, which I assume should be cooler and energy efficient than the i7-640m?

And, thanks a lot pyr0, you have definitely boost up my confidence in getting Z..Now the concern is the specs

 

The difference between the heat and running time should be negligible, a few degrees C and a few minutes difference. Go down one brightness level and you gain an extra 5 min or so. It's not really important. However, if you wanted, you could wait for the Z13 and *hopefully* get a preconfigured Z12 from a retailer who's trying to get it out of stock(back when the Z12 came out, the base model Z11 was actually sold for 1.1k USD at the MS store after a 40% discount) but no guarantee. But if you want to get a higher speced Z, only way is through SonyStyle. I guess you could wait for the Z13 and see if any of the parts/upgrades got cheaper... it costed me $200 to go from 128 -> 192GB, but early on for the Z12 it cost $200 to go from 128 -> 256GB then it went up to $300, so yeah. It all comes down to, do you need it now? Can you wait and hopefully score a better deal?