Ultralight for Solidworks/CAD?

[Citizen _insane]

I'm looking to get an ultralight laptop for buisness and pleasure. I'm an engineer so I would need something capable of running solidworks, photoshop, matlab, etc. I don't need something really powerful, but there are times when I would need to be able to open and work with medium complexity solidworks models. Ive looked into the HP envy, which would be pretty ideal but its way too expensive. anycheaper options out there?

 

[W.Feather]

Did you look at the elite book line?

 

[Citizen _insane]

From the benchmarks ive found online it doesn't look like the radeon 6470m isn't much better than the Intel HD 3000 in cad applications. Plus, its not a very pretty laptop. I know I shouldn't care, but thee is something to be said for how sexy some of these ultralights are. I was thinking of getting a Lenovo x120 but it only as the hd30000, which I have a feeling wont cut it in solidworks.

 

[dr.stevil]

Whatever you decide upon, I HIGHLY suggest getting a machine with a professional grade GPU (Firepro or Quadro) if the software you're using calls for it.

I've used consumer level cards in 3D modeling workstations before and they always seem to cause artifacts and instability issues in my experience. This is with Autodesk (3DsMax) and Siemens (NX) software. The worst part is, their customer support isn't usually willing to help too much if you're running hardware that they don't officially support.

 

[cyclone3d]

Whatever you decide upon, I HIGHLY suggest getting a machine with a professional grade GPU (Firepro or Quadro) if the software you're using calls for it.

I've used consumer level cards in 3D modeling workstations before and they always seem to cause artifacts and instability issues in my experience. This is with Autodesk (3DsMax) and Siemens (NX) software. The worst part is, their customer support isn't usually willing to help too much if you're running hardware that they don't officially support.

+1 to this.

Not sure if you are going to find any ultralights that have professional GPUs in them.

 

[W.Feather]

If your not doing any larger projects for extended time frames even an HD3000 shouldn't be an issue, i dont notice a ton of lag when working with Solidworks 2k11 with an i7620m, then a gain they are just personal projects and probably larger than what you would be working on.

From the benchmarks ive found online it doesn't look like the radeon 6470m isn't much better than the Intel HD 3000 in cad applications. Plus, its not a very pretty laptop. I know I shouldn't care, but thee is something to be said for how sexy some of these ultralights are. I was thinking of getting a Lenovo x120 but it only as the hd30000, which I have a feeling wont cut it in solidworks.

 

[Citizen _insane]

Whatever you decide upon, I HIGHLY suggest getting a machine with a professional grade GPU (Firepro or Quadro) if the software you're using calls for it.

I've used consumer level cards in 3D modeling workstations before and they always seem to cause artifacts and instability issues in my experience. This is with Autodesk (3DsMax) and Siemens (NX) software. The worst part is, their customer support isn't usually willing to help too much if you're running hardware that they don't officially support.

This is not going to be a main machine, it will be for travel mostly. I have also used consumer graphics cards with 3Dsmax and had the opposite reaction. In 10 years I have never had issues with graphics based instability. I'm mostly wondering about working with smallish assemblies in Solidworks. Usually our assemblies are under 30mb. I know some people have had issues with the hd3000 and solidworks, but some say its fine.

I would outright say a quadro or fire gl is out of the question. CAD is not the oknly use for this laptop, only one of the considerations. I'm not willing to pay for a pro card especially when in my experience they are no better than the consumer cards ive used.

 

[kevinsbane]

I'm looking to get an ultralight laptop for buisness and pleasure. I'm an engineer so I would need something capable of running solidworks, photoshop, matlab, etc. I don't need something really powerful, but there are times when I would need to be able to open and work with medium complexity solidworks models. Ive looked into the HP envy, which would be pretty ideal but its way too expensive. anycheaper options out there?

I'm a little curious; you speak of an ultralight laptop, but you consider an HP envy as ideal?

When I think ultralight, I think something <14" and 4 lb or less...

In that regard, if I were to recommend what I would consider a true ultraportable, I would suggest an Thinkpad x220. Just over half the weight of an Envy 14", and with the appropriate sales you can get one with an IPS screen ~800 dollars.

Personally I run an x220, and I have AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012 on it, and it runs it plenty fast enough. I'm running an i5 2410m config with 8 GB ram, and have not run into any problems with drivers (yet).

In terms of non-CAD related experiences, I love the 6H+ battery live, the trackpoint, the ~3 pound weight and IPS screen.

Downside? Some people think it's ugly. YMMV. Actually, I thought of another possible one; resolution is low (768p). Again, YMMV.