Laptop for drafting with AutoCAD 2013 - Graphics card?

[tzframpton]

Yeah but my point is RAM can (and should) be a "tomorrow" purchase.... it'll be faster and cheaper anyways. 16GB is very stout and will provide plenty for the next two years. It's one of two easy upgrades in a laptop, the other being the hard drive.

[snakebite729]

Thanks so much everyone. Lots of useful info in there.

 

Which parts should I focus on most and which parts can I afford to save a bit of cash on?

 

Typically, each staff member will run AutoCAD or LT in 2D, with Chrome, Excel, Skype, Outlook and Foxit Phantom running at the same time. For most of the day, CAD will be on the monitor and Phantom will be on the laptop screen.

I am assuming that a lower speed CPU (say, 4th gen i7 4700MQ 2.4/3.4GHz) should be ok and around 8 or 16GB of RAM would be adequate? Could upgrade the RAM easily later any way, as tzframpton mentioned.

 

Would SSD make a noticeable difference to AutoCAD performance?

 

I have no idea when it comes to GPU specs and AutoCAD, so guidance in this regard would also be hugely appreciated.

 

Thanks again guys

[ReMark]

CAD techs are like gamers, they're power users. If all you are striving for is an adequate system then walk into any big box store, grab a half dozen laptops off the shelf and buy them. Done. It shouldn't take more than 20 minutes. I bet you could spend less than $6,000 U.S. on the whole lot. Think of the money you'll save your company too. They'll be enough left over to give you a nice raise. Everybody wins.

[f700es]

Well you don't need a core i7 for AutoCAD 2D and LT work. Total waste of money. Why do you have to buy laptops? Are the techs going to be going from place to place with their PC? If not then better to buy a desktop with better specs and less expense.

 

Most off the shelf laptops at the big box stores will have integrated video solutions with shared memory. DO NOT buy these for all day AutoCAD use.

[ReMark]

You could probably run LT on a good netbook. A few models even allow for up to 4GB of RAM. Imagine the money you could save the company.

[Tuns]

You could get by easily with 4GB of ram with what you're saying will be running on there. A desktop would be better than a laptop though. They will last longer and they're better for working with AutoCAD.

[tzframpton]

Yeah, gonna have to agree with everyone else. Now that we know it's 2D AutoCAD LT with normal email and office/internet applications, $2,500 USD is waaaay overkill. $600-$700 laptop, Core i5, 8GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 4000 and no SSD is all you'd need for the next few years.

[ReMark]

I'd see what a laptop with an SSD would go for. Might be worth the extra cost not having to wait long enough to smoke a cigarette before it booted up. Heck, I've even seen netbooks with small capacity SSD's in them.

 

Want to save even more? Ditch AutoCAD LT altogether (no more upgrade costs) and download/install Draftsight which is strictly 2D. Best of all it is FREE! And Dessault even offers a free 180 page user's guide to go with it. How can you beat that? Make sure you get a good 10-20% bump in your salary for the effort.

[f700es]

I'd see what a laptop with an SSD would go for. Might be worth the extra cost not having to wait long enough to smoke a cigarette before it booted up.

 

Wat?? Man my cheap-o laptop is not that slow Probably about a minute to log-in screen.

[Tuns]

Wat?? Man my cheap-o laptop is not that slow Probably about a minute to log-in screen.

Maybe he inhales nonstop for an entire minute? That could burn an entire cigarette pretty easily.

[snakebite729]

Well you don't need a core i7 for AutoCAD 2D and LT work. Total waste of money. Why do you have to buy laptops? Are the techs going to be going from place to place with their PC? If not then better to buy a desktop with better specs and less expense.

 

Most off the shelf laptops at the big box stores will have integrated video solutions with shared memory. DO NOT buy these for all day AutoCAD use.

 

Yes, laptops are required due to the mobility. The staff are working both in the office and at home as well as visiting clients with their laptops. I have thought about desktops, but it's not practical for our team.

 

At the moment, everyone (including management and engineers) are using off the shelf Toshiba Satellites with Core i7-3610QM 2.30 GHz, 8GB RAM and Radeon HD 7670M.

Each drafter has the same issues using AutoCAD: lack of speed and response, freezing even when carrying out the simplest of commands (eg polyline or copy) and sometimes even crashing when trying to do relatively simple tasks such as hatching or editing blocks/xrefs. I have experienced the same issues first hand. Although I am using the full version of AutoCAD not LT, it's still 2D work. File sizes are typically less than 1.5MB and rarely exceed 10MB.

If these specs seem as though they should work fine with AutoCAD LT, then maybe it's something else. Does seem as though it's the computer though, seeing as everyone is having the exact same issues.

 

Bit of info I found on the card: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7670M.69483.0.html

 

By the way, just a quick note, I'm in Australia. Everything is a bit more expensive here unfortunately.

[ReMark]

You're pushing around 1.5 to 10MB drawing files on a laptop that probably has a hard drive (platter type) spinning at 5400 rpm and you wonder why your computer is slow?

[nestly]

Isn't the point of having 8GB RAM (820x more than the size of a 10MB file) so you're not always accessing the HDD?

[ReMark]

How much of that RAM is also being sapped to help drive video performance? Drain on resources. Virtual memory settings are probably being taxed as well.

[snakebite729]

You're pushing around 1.5 to 10MB drawing files on a laptop that probably has a hard drive (platter type) spinning at 5400 rpm and you wonder why your computer is slow?

 

This is why we're getting new computers. The whole reason I started this thread...

 

How much of that RAM is also being sapped to help drive video performance? Drain on resources. Virtual memory settings are probably being taxed as well.

 

This would be why an off the shelf laptop wouldn't really cut it.

Would having dedicated graphics (say 2GB - 4GB) help with that?

[ReMark]

How about we address the issue you are having now. I don't understand why you're having so many problems running LT on the laptop you already have.

 

Did you disable hardware acceleration?

 

Did you disable the InfoCenter (a.k.a. - the CommCenter)?

 

Did you test the performance of your laptop while temporarily disabling your anti-virus software? Some AV programs aggressively target AutoCAD dlls (why I don't know) because they think they are suspicious.

 

Are you using xrefs?

 

Is there a large amount of hatching used in your drawings?

 

Have you purged the drawings and run an audit on them?

 

Maybe we can get your current laptops to function a little better while you are looking for replacements.

[f700es]

I agree, an i7 of any generation should smoke 2D AutoCAD and LT. Something else is up here.

[ReMark]

I might also ask if all service packs have been installed for the version of AutoCAD LT that is being used?

[snakebite729]

How about we address the issue you are having now. I don't understand why you're having so many problems running LT on the laptop you already have.

 

Did you disable hardware acceleration?

 

Did you disable the InfoCenter (a.k.a. - the CommCenter)?

 

Did you test the performance of your laptop while temporarily disabling your anti-virus software? Some AV programs aggressively target AutoCAD dlls (why I don't know) because they think they are suspicious.

 

Are you using xrefs?

 

Is there a large amount of hatching used in your drawings?

 

Have you purged the drawings and run an audit on them?

 

Maybe we can get your current laptops to function a little better while you are looking for replacements.

 

Thanks, if I can get these machines to work smoothly instead of frustrating the hell out of people, that would be ideal.

 

Hardware acceleration is disabled.

 

InfoCenter is disabled.

 

Have not tried testing without AV on. Will give that a shot with everyone today.

 

Xrefs are used on older drawings from before I started at the company, but they aren't used any more. But there are still variations coming in for the older drawings with xrefs in them.

 

There isn't very much hatching.

 

The drawings generally aren't purged or audited, but if they were, it probably wouldn't be until the end of the project any way. I'll see if the guys can do regular purging of blocks and if that makes a difference for them. There are typically a fair few blocks imported that are exploded, so it could help keep the file sizes down if they are purged.

 

I've uploaded an example drawing of a typical project so that you can have a look.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vr167fp55ba60lp/EXAMPLE.dwg

 

This file is 1.75MB. I ran a purge and audit on it and got it down to 1.04MB.

 

I might also ask if all service packs have been installed for the version of AutoCAD LT that is being used?

 

As far as I know everyone has the latest SP installed. I'll double check though.

[f700es]

Enable hardware acceleration and then see if there is a difference.