new laptop selection

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PhonAcq

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Message 1074326 - Posted: 5 Feb 2011, 11:43:30 UTC

I'm looking for suggestions and feedback on a new laptop that I need to select for a scientific and engineering application mobile user (son). There is a budget, and so an upper limit.

The best budget and performance fit I can find so far is the Dell Mobile Precision M4500. Fit up with a high end i7, midrange nvidia graphics, 8GB, 256GB SSD, it is about $3100. The Mobile Precision is the only one Dell recommends for Autocad/solidworks type apps, though similar specs can be obtained with their lesser mobile families, such as the lattitude and vostro. This person will only 'dabble' and review the results of 3D CAD, but he is not an expert. However, some high end mathematics may be performed: Ansys FEA and Mathematica.

Are there better choices out there?

Apart from breaking the budget, the M4700 family is very attractive but seems too large to be considered mobile. It is larger than the high end mac book pro, which I have seen and doubt that it would fit in any reasonable briefcase! (Not seriously looking at this because the buyer has no interest in paying the price of glitz for a lesser machine. However, he thinks the M4500 is not particularly stylish/attractive.)

Gaming and video is not of interest, but I suspect he will let me set up Seti for running overnight.

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Richard Haselgrove Project Donor
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Message 1074342 - Posted: 5 Feb 2011, 13:17:29 UTC - in response to Message 1074326.  

From a crunching point of view, you might like to compare my host 5789661. It's a Dell XPS 15 with base i5 and NV 420M GPU. It's only been attached for less than two weeks, and it has done work for other projects as well. I'm guesstimating a daily throughput of around 6,500 credits if crunching for SETI full time. No complaints or problems so far - internal temperatures have stayed below 65 C when using 3 virual cores (dual core CPU with HT) and the GPU, and the case is cool to the touch - though I am using a cooling pad as well to be on the safe side. It has an extremly good audio subsystem - which may or may not be a recommendation in your case!

The cost to me was GBP 629 taxed and delivered (taking advantage of post-holiday sales), which would give you plenty of headroom in your budget for upgrades. The 15" form factor should be more mobile than the Precision range, and there are also XPS Studio 16 and XPS 17 to explore.
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1mp0£173
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Message 1074453 - Posted: 5 Feb 2011, 19:44:50 UTC - in response to Message 1074326.  

The best budget and performance fit I can find so far is the Dell Mobile Precision M4500. Fit up with a high end i7, midrange nvidia graphics, 8GB, 256GB SSD, it is about $3100. The Mobile Precision is the only one Dell recommends for Autocad/solidworks type apps, though similar specs can be obtained with their lesser mobile families, such as the lattitude and vostro. This person will only 'dabble' and review the results of 3D CAD, but he is not an expert. However, some high end mathematics may be performed: Ansys FEA and Mathematica.

The main question is: how is he going to use it?

If it's being used as a desktop replacement (in his dorm room only) then this may be a good choice.

If he's actually going to take it to class and use it for taking notes, word processing, etc. then the only factors I'd consider are battery life and weight.
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dan
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Message 1074460 - Posted: 5 Feb 2011, 20:02:02 UTC - in response to Message 1074453.  

I had to use my laptop as my ABAQUS FEA pc for a while before my research group bought a desktop for me. Granted it wasn't the best option but was the best I had at the time. It is only a Core2 Duo at 1.6 GHz that we paid 750$ for in 2007. I think you can get by with a much lower laptop than you are suggesting from Dell. I would definitely look for long battery life and the weight for carrying to class. I don't think you need to spend more than half of the price of the Dell to get a laptop that will be more than adequate.
I would also have to suggest that unless you are buying the FEA and Mathematica that the computer labs at the college would be a much better place to run those as I am sure they are not cheap even with an academic license.
Just my two cents as a current graduate student.
Dan
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Robert Ribbeck
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Message 1074463 - Posted: 5 Feb 2011, 20:06:19 UTC

If you go dell
do it as a business with cash
you will get better service
I did that with my latest desktop and dell sent out a tech with a new MB and vid card to get it all working
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PhonAcq

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Message 1074575 - Posted: 6 Feb 2011, 1:38:36 UTC

Thanks for the feedback. This young guy is doing some consulting with me and is long out of school. It will be a desktop replacement, but must travel with him.

Does anybody endorse the Dell Mobile Precision platform? I don't get it. There must be an objective reason why this family exists, despite that its features overlap the lower price dells.

BTW, the M4500 has a weight of about 6.5 lbs with the larger battery. So I think this is 'ok'.
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Message 1074585 - Posted: 6 Feb 2011, 2:04:00 UTC

Here is a crazy idea. Fresh out of school - consulting - who knows where they might
end up.

How about a high-end 15" MacBook Pro ? Hardware is top notch in quality and looks
great! The 15" with a 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 and 4G of ram and 500G drive starts out
at 2400 bucks. (there are discounts ava if you look around).

You would then have the flexibility and choice of which OS you wanted to use. With
bootcamp you can boot native into win7 if you needed.

Applecare is top-notch, Apple stores are all over the place if service was ever needed.

Something to consider perhaps...

-David
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PhonAcq

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Message 1074609 - Posted: 6 Feb 2011, 3:13:23 UTC - in response to Message 1074585.  

To be fair, I went to the Apple store twice to view these options. Some of the other people in the group have them, but they are sales guys. (And even they have to find a PC from time to time for certain functions.) Nevertheless, the macbook pro's didn't impress me for this context. If you look, feature by feature, the 15 and 17 models simply didn't measure up or were significantly more expensive than the precision model I've been using as a reference box. The processor selection was meager; only dual cores for example. The weight was equivalent. And so on. Glitz versus basic functioning, in my view. We'll be VPNing into MS SBS 2008; I didn't even want to address that with respect to the Macs. Of course it should work, but our group doesn't have an IT guy to nurse the users (or anything else for now).

Thanks for the suggestion, though.
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bill

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Message 1074653 - Posted: 6 Feb 2011, 4:44:46 UTC - in response to Message 1074326.  

You are doing this backwards. First you find the software you're going to run, then find out it's hardware requirements.

Solidworks has a page

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/videocardtesting.html

Where you fill in the blanks and it will show you what hardware works with it.

Solid works require certified graphics cards and drivers.

You can choose from the hardware that they say they support. Your looking for a mobile workstation, not just a laptop.
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PhonAcq

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Message 1074739 - Posted: 6 Feb 2011, 15:36:54 UTC - in response to Message 1074653.  

Thanks. I bring up solidworks as an example of the type of software we have used in the past. There is going to be a bunch of numerical modeling and graphical display in this project. Possibly some design. Solidworks, especially, seems to be best run on a (very) large screen desktop/workstation. But I will probably check them out before we buy.

My question still remains: what makes the precision line more expensive, etc. I know I can run some high end stuff effectively on dell's lessor lines. (Yes, that might answer my what-to-buy question, but I feel I'm missing something.)
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Message boards : Number crunching : new laptop selection


 
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