Computer upgrade advice

[Scoobey]

Hi, friends. I could use some advice on the right computer for Sketchup/CAD. My wife's a landscape-architect-in-training who's doing a lot of Sketchup and AutoCAD at home. Her computer is slow, but then I understand that pretty much ALL 3D design work can bog down the best computers, so we're wondering whether we can actually improve things without dropping thousands on a custom build.

 

We're looking at a specific, relatively inexpensive Beelink box as a possible upgrade, and wondering whether it's (a) adequate, and (b) would be a noticeable improvement over her current laptop. If not, what WOULD folks recommend for a reasonable price?

 

Here are the specs for the two computers (current and prospective):

 

Current: Lenovo Ideapad 330-17IKB: Intel Core i5-9250U (4 cores, 8 threads, 1.6-3.4 GHz, 6 MB smart cache) Intel® UHD Graphics 620 (integrated, not a separate card) 500 GB HDD 12 GB RAM (maxed out)

https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd500199-product-overview-330-17ikb and https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/124967/intel-core-i58250u-processor-6m-cache-up-to-3-40-ghz.html and https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/ideapad_330_17IKB/ideapad_330_17IKB_Spec.PDF

 

Proposed: Beelink SER3 Mini PC: AMD Ryzen 7-3750H (4 cores, 8 threads, 2.3GHz base, boost max 4.0 GHz, 4MB smart cache) Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics (integrated, not a separate card) 500GB SSD 16 MB RAM (room to upgrade to 32)

https://www.bee-link.com/products/ser-37580h

 

Thanks!!!

[Cad64]

If you're doing a lot of 3D work, I would recommend a desktop PC with at least a 6 core processor, 16GB RAM and a mid range dedicated graphics card. Integrated graphics are not ideal for doing 3D work. I was looking around a few days ago and found some pretty decent ones at Best Buy for under $1,500. This one would probably work well for what you're doing: Element Mini Gaming Desktop