The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    VAIO Z and Soild Works

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by bonbooni, Aug 11, 2009.

  1. bonbooni

    bonbooni Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    221
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Hi, all

    I am thinking of getting a VAIO Z and was thinking if the 256 MB video memory can be perform well in SolidWorks??

    Also I would like owners to tell me their feedbacks, quality, deadpixels.. all the rest regarding the performance.. and so on..!!

    best regards and thanks in advance
     
    bonbooni, Aug 11, 2009
    #1
  2. arth1

    arth1 a҉r҉t҉h

    Reputations:
    418
    Messages:
    1,910
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    The Z has a Geforce branded GPU, not a Quadro branded one.
    This has a major negative impact for running CAD applications -- the CAD optimised drivers simply will not run on a Geforce, even if the hardware is identical.

    The amount of memory usually doesn't matter that much for CAD, unless you map a boatload of textures onto your models. Most don't.
     
    arth1, Aug 11, 2009
    #2
  3. hsv

    hsv Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    17
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    just to further understand this... does this mean that i cant use the Z to to learn CAD or 3D animation software like Maya or 3DMax etc. I am not talking advanced stuff, I only mean being able to run these programs on the Z to be able to learn those softwares, juts the basic use.

    Is that possible with the Z at all? I was so hoping it would be possible, other wise i would have no option but to look in the direction of the SR which has the ATI 4570 which is rated as a much higher graphic card than the 9300GS by notebookcheck.net. I believe the SR can run those softwares, however I do remember reading somewhere that from a learner's point f view even the Z can handle basic use of these 3D animation softwares.
     
    hsv, Aug 11, 2009
    #3
  4. arth1

    arth1 a҉r҉t҉h

    Reputations:
    418
    Messages:
    1,910
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    You can run the programs, but without optimized drivers, they will run slow. We're talking an order of magnitude slower for some operations(!)

    It's still going to be faster than hardware from five years ago, so it's usable -- it just won't be a good working environment. Imagine rotating a complex model at 2 frames per second when the guy next to you rotates the same model at 20 frames per second...
     
    arth1, Aug 11, 2009
    #4
  5. bonbooni

    bonbooni Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    221
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    what about the hard disk. Is it fixed, what if I want to change it?
     
    bonbooni, Aug 11, 2009
    #5
  6. ZugZug

    ZugZug Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    165
    Messages:
    540
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Note that it depends on level of detail, whether you want to see lighting in the viewport, level of materials display, whether you want to preview volumetrics/environment. You can fall back to simple Gouraud shading, hide some layers, objects to speedup viewport. I can work reasonably well with complex scenes (300MB scene with 3.5 millions of polygons) in Cinema4D on Z with proper management.
     
    ZugZug, Aug 11, 2009
    #6