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New Solidworks Laptop 6

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NTME76249

NTME76249

Mechanical
Mar 1, 2011
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I am planning to by a new laptop for my business. Can anyone speak to this setup one way or another?
I copied this setup off of solid-box for the most part.


Dell Precision M6800 Mobile Workstation
Processor:
Intel® Core™ i7-4710MQ (Quad Core 2.50GHz, 3.50GHz Turbo, 6MB 47W, w/HD Graphics 4600)
Video Card:
Nvidia® Quadro® K3100M w/4GB GDDR5
LCD:
17.3" UltraSharp™ FHD(1920x1080) Wide View Anti-Glare LED-backlit with Premium Panel Guarantee
Memory:
32GB (4x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3L
Hard Drive:
500GB 2.5" 7200rpm Hard Drive
Secondary Hard Drive:
500GB 2.5" 7200rpm Hard Drive

Michael McMillan
 
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If you can upgrade the processor and going for less memory (16 gb) I would do it because you can always upgrade memory later but it's more trouble changing the processor. Also the SSD is pricy from Dell but if you have the opportunity the change the HHD for an SSD for the OS and SW files, it will improve your experience a lot. It's like night and day. It may be worth it to order the HDD and then swapping it yourself for an SSD upon reception, you won't be disappointed.

Personally I would even go as far as taking the 4800 with a better processor and SSD for the same money. Especially since you can have the same HD resolution. Or use a second monitor.

Only my 2 cents.

P.S. I'm working with an Eurocom laptop and they are really good for the price. Of course they are less polished as the Dell but performance wise they offer a great value.

Patrick
 
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I'm sorry I forgot that the Precision 4800 does not offer the possibility of the Quadro K3100m. I was mistaken by the offerings from Eurocom because you can have a K3100m in a 15" laptop from them.

Patrick
 
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Are you stuck on Dell? If not, I'd look around for comparable laptops, even at the Surface Pro3's. Lenovo has some good offerings, and I tested an HP earlier this years that was excellent.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWE
My Blog
 
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Patrick,
Thank you for your insight. I is much appreciated.

I am looking at the dell mostly out of habit more than anything. I looked into HP and it seamed on par with dell for the price. I need to look into Lenovo thought as i have a office laptop that is rock solid.

I am leaning towards a good i7 processor, K3100m Graphics card, 16 gig ram, 250gig ssd, 500gig hhd.
Thanks for your comments.

Michael McMillan
 
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I just bought two of the same Dell workstation and I like it. I stayed with one 500GB HDD and a DVD read\write drive. I wish I had a little more budget for the SSD, but I was pinned on only spending $2500. So I stayed with 16 GB and with the 2.7GHz CPU. I doubt you would see much if any difference between the 2.5 and the 2.7 GHz CPU. Its a lot money to spend but I like having the larger 17" screen when I am just on my laptop. Lenovo no longer offers the 17" monitor laptop and truthfully the HP workstation I used for the past 8 months sucked... (no offense Jeff).

One I would recommend you looking into and one I highly considered. but they could not drop the cost any more than it already was is the Boxx ultra this laptop workstation. That is one you need look into, because its the same powerful workstation that these Dell's are at about the same cost, but the model is thin and much. much lighter. The Dell M6800 is an extremely heavy laptop and has been since their release. Hurts your back for a while. You just have to put the laptop close to your back so the weight is not out on the end of the backpack.

One other suggestion is for the Dell is get the Port replicator (docking station) and if possible get a 2nd one if you work from home some times. I now have a nicer setup at home than I do at work currently because I have a 2nd replicator.

Hope that helps,

Scott Baugh, CSWP [pc2]
Gryphon Environmental
"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"
Click to expand...
faq731-376
 
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I've got the M6700 with an i7-3940 and it works really well. I would suspect that the M6800 would be even better. No SSD, and it doesn't detract from the experience. The only thing I wish I did differently is that I started to carry around my computer and travel more; and this thing is HUGE. I dock up to monitors at my desk, so the 17" screen isn't needed. I'd be fine with a smaller screen for when I'm traveling.

Mike
 
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I switched from Dell workstations to Boxx and now to a Boxx laptop. Support is excellent as is the performance of the software on the machine. If you have the flexibility within your organization and the budget I would suggest taking a look.

Harold
SW2014 SP5.0 OPW2014 SP2.0 Win 7 Ultimate
GOBOXX G2725 Xeon E5-2667v2 @3.3Ghz
nVidia Quadro K5100M
 
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I've had a 17" Dell Precision M6500 for about 6 years now.
It's a good solid machine, needs to be replaced now due as it's too slow for large Solidworks assemblies etc.
I think it will last forever for any other application, it really is a well made machine.
I was in India when the Power Supply failed, I had another within 3 days!
If you get the DELL, get the warranty - it was super impressive how that problem was solved.

Be warned, the Power Supply for this thing weighs more than the damn computer! It is really heavy!
I travel and prefer use a Backpack for the computer and stuff, but it really can get quite tiresome.

I am looking towards a BOXX machine next time round, Solidworks is a curious beast only using one CPU core and the graphics cards are so important. A gaming machine won't do SW like you would think. Boxx have overclocked their machine, and thats what you need - speed!

I'm also thinking about a 15" machine - monitors are cheap now and plugging in an external monitor is easy.
That said, screen on this DELL is awesome

Let us know your decision!
 
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Thank you all for your advice. I really like the boxx machines but due to cost I am going to go with a dell. I have not decided on the 4800 or the 6800 yet. But speed will be my greatest expense. I will op to buy the SSD separate and install my self as I prefer a clean install. Plus the savings over a dell SSD is almost enough to get a small country home. I am ordering this next week so I will let you know the final results. Thanks again

Michael McMillan, CSWP
 
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just get the fastest processor you can, there are some good websites on how Solidworks actually works within a computer.
Perhaps things have changed, but what I learned a few years ago was the damn program uses a single CPU core - so the only way to make it run faster is speed up the core....
My DELL has really been an excellent machine, the arguement about 15" vs 17" comes down to how mobile you are.
If you travel occasionally, get the big one, if frequently - consider the small one.
Check the weight of the Power Supply - I was amazed when I un-boxed this computer, both parts are really heavy.

Good Luck - and get the warranty!
 
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So this is what I went for from @xi. I should have it in 2 weeks or so.
Thanks for your advice everyone.

Xi® PowerGo™ XT (Base Configuration)
Intel® Core™ i7-4790K 4.0/4.4GHz-1C Turbo Boost 8MB Shared L3 Cache DMI 2.0 Quad-Core 4th Gen. 22nm w/Artic Silver® 5 Thermal Compound
16GB DDR3 @1600MHz SO-DIMM Dual Rank Interleave
NVIDIA® Quadro® K3100M 4GB GDDR5 VRAM Kepler™ architecture GPU
17.3" 1920x1080 Full HD (16:9) LED Backlit FHD/Matte Type Display
250GB Solid State Drive Samsung® 850 EVO™ SATA 6Gb/s 540/520MB/s Seq.R/W <.3ms seek Shock Resistant 1500G.
External DVD Writer 8x Max. USB 2.0 (USB 3.0 Compatible) Slim Optical Drive
Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 8.1 Pro Edition 64-bit Fully installed, configured and updated, includes original DVD media and COA
Total of 2 Years System HW Warranty, w/Shipback Parts Replacement & Installation, P&L. FOB Xi


Michael McMillan, CSWP
 
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