Laptop Reviews !!

[EQguys]

Welcome back from Easter Holidays !! I have been planning to buy a laptop for a while now (3 months to be precise). Have been reading a lot of reviews/specs etc.

My two main criteria are portability and engineering analysis performance. I will be using high end softwares such as SAP2000, STAAD, ETABS etc. Please suggest me based on your experience.

"Does the man make the journey or does the journey make the man" - Mark Twain

 

[Ron]

I have had a variety of laptops/luggables over the years. Thus far the best one I have had is my present Sony Vaio. The only irritation I have with it is that the space bar doesn't always work. I modified it according to instructions on the internet, but now it needs it again. Appears to be a design flaw, but other than that, it is great. Good battery life, fast processor, good storage capacity, strong screen, durable (I dropped it on pavement, popped the DVD drive door off...snapped it back on and no problems).

I have full versions of analytical software, CAD, Adobe products, MS Office, etc. ...all working fine.

 

[Pmatherne]

A great site to go to about getting set up with a good laptop is notebookreview.com
Go to the discussions and they to the "What notebook should I buy" section and there is a questionnaire you can fill out and post and usually within a day or so you will a few laptops recommended
Personally I use a Lenovo T61p and I have never had any trouble with it

 

[FreddyNurk]

I too have a T61p, and haven't had any issues to date.

Worth noting is that your definition of portability is subject to varying interpretations, and ability to run high end software may end up being mutually exclusive. What is portable to one person (i.e. 12" screen, light as a feather) may not suit another's definition. My T61p has a 15" widescreen, so probably doesn't quite classify as a portable.

For what I wanted in a laptop, setting up a desk space complete with a docking station, separate keyboard, mouse and monitors has been a great option, though if you're on the road all the time that may not be so appealing (or cost effective). I use the laptop by itself enough to justify not having a desktop, but for most of my work the docking station is more than worth it. I also like the fact that my pc doesn't fall over if the power goes out.

Other considerations may be how robust you need the laptop to be. Some of them are flimsier than others.

 

[GregLocock]

"SAP2000, STAAD, ETABS"

So, how CPU/RAM intensive are these? What is the typical run time for a model?

If they are basically beam element FEA models then they'll run fine on anything that was made in the last few years.

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[Baldy217]

I have used a Thinkpad T40 and a T60 in the past.

If I were to buy a laptop right now, I'd definitely be looking at the new Thinkpads.

 

[Ron]

Greg...agree. I even run a couple of plate element FEA programs on mine with no problem. Beam/frame stuff runs in microseconds.

 

[EngineerDave]

I'm looking for something ultraportable for document review, studying things for an exam, etc.

I already have one so it's tough to justify getting another.

What I won't do is pay a ton for a laptop anymore. Did that the first time and it got stolen.

Paid a medium and still moderately high price the second time and it crashed on me

Third time probably due to laptops getting more affordalbe) I got the cheaper one I have now.

 

[Noway2]

I bought one about a year ago, mostly for the spouse to use in the travel trailer where a desktop PC wasn't feasible. Turns out that I have been the one to use it the most. I bought a Compaq 7500 series, at a cost of about $400 US (IIRC), which was wasn't the cheapest, but was far from the most expensive.

Overall I have been quite pleased with it. Mechanically it has held up well. Software wise, it came with Vista (yuck) and I dual booted it with Ubuntu. That proved to be a problem with the wireless ethernet (it uses an AR5007 which is common) and the NVidia graphics adapter. Ultimately I was able to get it to work.

I have used it for both game playing (Windows) and some decent computational work such as running Scilab with some sizable simulations which makes it run rather warm. I wouldn't call it a work horse as far as processing goes, but it gets the job done.

 

[GregLocock]

I run large FEAs on my Compaq, anything up to 500000 Degrees of Freedom, the solve time is about double compared with my desktop.

Since the CPU speed of the laptop is half that of the desktop, I figure that is fair enough. Incidentally with the original RAM solve times were 8 times longer, 1.5 Gb of RAM lets it run without using the disk.

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[MortenA]

Im happy with my Lenovo Thinkpad T7500. Its OK for speed, graphics etc and a nice build. Its a litle heavy but acceptable. OK battery life - although i rarely bring it anywhere (company policy that we must have laptops). I use it for process simulation and transient hydraulic calculations and i cant (really) complaint about speed.

Best regards

Morten

 

[plasgears]

I have an HP with sep mouse and keyboard. They don't even concave the buttons on laptop keyboards. Nuisance for typists.

 

[B16A2]

I'm running a Dell Inspiron 1525 Core2Duo, 15" screen, 3GB RAM. I run SAP, ETABS, ACAD Arch09, and Revit Structure on it. Needless to say I work this machine pretty hard. Has been great. All the components are better quality than my older Toshiba. Solid keyboard and dvd tray and lots of ports.

I lug the Dell everywhere, every day.

If you go for it, you can call in and haggle down the price and get a 2 year warranty for free.

 

[Mr168]

Our rigging guys run Dells very similar to what B16A2 described. Dells are used company-wide here. They bring theirs with them, and use docking stations with them here in the office. They're faster than my P380 desktop with a 3.4ghz duo core and 2GB RAM.

 

[swearingen]

If you can afford it (or if the company is paying) a workstation level laptop really makes the difference.

At my previous employer, I was spending time at two offices about 75 miles apart. Initially, I had a desktop at each office and set them up the way I liked them. I was approached by management about getting a laptop and all I requested was that it be able to keep up with my desktops. It turns out that the machine would cost more than both desktops put together, so they balked. Six months later, they asked again and I again proffered the same specifications. This time they purchased it ($2600) and I couldn't have been happier. It actually ran circles around every desktop in both offices! The real kicker was that it came with a dedicated workstation help line - you get a real person in under 1 minute that actually knows what you're talking about. It was a great experience - until I left the company and had to cough it up, of course. I forget what the exact number was (that was 3 years ago), but it was an 8000 series HP workstation (I see now that the comparable one is called the Elitebook 8730w).


If you "heard" it on the internet, it's guilty until proven innocent. - DCS

http://www.eng-tips.com/supportus.cfm

 

[Jordonlaw]

I run MSC Marc and Ansys/Dyna FEA on a Dell M70. You can get these for £200 on eBay !