Configuration Question

[BrenBren]

Hi. We do primarily 2D work using AutoCAD Mechanical. My computer is being refreshed soon, and we have been asked to designation a configuration for future automatic refreshes. I have 4 options to choose from, two are completely off the table. The 2 that matter, however, are a highend laptop and a workstation. I've always gone with the workstation, but that limits me to having to be at my desk to work. I'm contemplating the high end laptop. The main difference is the processor. My main question - is an i7 processor good enough? I think it is. Here are the specs:

Laptop (Dell Precision M6800)
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 Bit
Intel Core i7 Processer
17.3” Display
32GB RAM DDR3L
NVIDIA Quadro K3100M
1TB, SSHD Hard Drive
SmartCard Reader
8X DVD+/-RW
Smartcard Reader – contact only, no fingerprint reader
Intel Wireless (ac/a/b/g/n)

Workstation (Dell Precision T7910)
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 Bit
Intel Processor E5-2630 v3 (Dual 8C, 2.5GHz, Turbo, HT, 20M, 85W)
NVIDIA Quadro K2200
32GB RAM DDR4 RDIMM ECC
1st Hard Drive 1TB
2nd Hard Drive: 1TB
Integrated LSI SAS 3008 12Gb/s SATA/SAS Controller-SW RAID 0,1,10
8x Slimline DVD-ROM Drive
Keyboard, Mouse

[rkmcswain]

We run i7's on virtually all our CAD machines, and they do fine IMO. (Running Civil 3D)

If you want to directly compare the processors, head over to https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
(I couldn't do the comparison for you because I don't know the specs on the i7)

[dgorsman]

The main question(s) should be: how much work do you *actually* do in a mobile configuration? And can you do it on a 17" monitor?

[BrenBren]

Valid questions. 99% of the time, I'd be sitting in the same spot I'm sitting right now, looking at the same dual 24's I'm looking at and it would be sitting in a docking station.

The times it would be nice is when the weather is sucky and I don't want to deal with traffic and accidents and going out in the cold. I have the option of staying home and still getting paid. For example, last year I spent a week buried under 7ft of snow. I couldn't get out even if I wanted to. I missed a week of work. Yes, I got paid, but I still had work that needed to be done, and I couldn't get to it.

So, I wouldn't be working in a mobile configuration very often. I could work, slowly, on one 17" monitor, but I do have the capability to hook up a second, 19 inch monitor when I'm home. Ideal, no. Workable, yes. Better than twiddling my thumbs thinking about deadlines, absolutely.

[cadtag]

Any configuration for CAD that calls for ECC RAM, is simply flushing money down the toilet. Acad can't take any better advantage of the processors that require the expensive ECC RAM than it does with i7/i5 processors that run with much cheaper DDR3 RAM sticks.

[BlackBox]

I'm fortunate to have worked in all three configurations - laptop, workstation, and laptop + workstation.

Laptop only can be quite cumbersome, with always having to bring it home in the event that you should need it. The gross majority of the time, it's just extra work bringing it to and from the office for no benefit. Only on those rare occasions where not coming into the office presented itself, did the laptop have the opportunity to be of value, and even only if you had the forethought to sync and offline copy of the projects, and support files/folders required to work from home.

Workstation only means lots of personal time nights and weekends coming into the office. 'Nough said.

Working over VPN can be a nightmare depending on where your gateway is located in relation to your home, and while a vast improvement, even Direct Access can be less than sufficient in a tight deadline. The best performance I've seen is to plan in advance using Offline Files, and a very close second in terms of performance, but vastly more capable still, is to remotely access you office workstation from home via RDP / RD Web Access.

This is where that tertiary configuration comes in handy, as I remotely access my office workstation from home using a company provided laptop (and my own dual 20" monitors); not as good as sitting at my desk, but pretty d@mn close. Haha

[jaberwok]

IME an i5 processor is adequate for 2d work so any i7 will be more than good enough.

[BrenBren]

I'm fortunate to have worked in all three configurations - laptop, workstation, and laptop + workstation.

Laptop only can be quite cumbersome, with always having to bring it home in the event that you should need it. The gross majority of the time, it's just extra work bringing it to and from the office for no benefit. Only on those rare occasions where not coming into the office presented itself, did the laptop have the opportunity to be of value, and even only if you had the forethought to sync and offline copy of the projects, and support files/folders required to work from home.

Workstation only means lots of personal time nights and weekends coming into the office. 'Nough said.

Not an option - since we can't get paid for overtime, and my status has been changed to non-exempt, I have to record all my time, therefore there are no nights/weekends working in the office for me (not worth the drive, anyway)

Working over VPN can be a nightmare depending on where your gateway is located in relation to your home, and while a vast improvement, even Direct Access can be less than sufficient in a tight deadline. The best performance I've seen is to plan in advance using Offline Files, and a very close second in terms of performance, but vastly more capable still, is to remotely access you office workstation from home via RDP / RD Web Access.

This is where that tertiary configuration comes in handy, as I remotely access my office workstation from home using a company provided laptop (and my own dual 20" monitors); not as good as sitting at my desk, but pretty d@mn close. Haha

Unfortunately, we are not allowed to copy files off of our network; everything is confidential, therefore everything is protected. Likewise, I am unable to access our files without a company issued computer with VPN.

There would be no need to sync/copy files, as we can only work over VPN, so I would only be bringing the laptop home when I assume I'll need it - which is only when the weather will be bad.

I can easily hook a laptop up to my monitor at home, and use the 17" screen as my secondary screen (which is mostly holding spreadsheets for running calcs).

It is what it is, I have no control over it.

- - - Updated - - -

IME an i5 processor is adequate for 2d work so any i7 will be more than good enough.

I've worked on desktops with an i5; it can be slow, but it's workable. If I were only working on it part time, it wouldn't be an issue. My real concern is that this would be my full time machine; I want to make sure it can keep up with me

So, i7 should be fine, what about memory? more is always better, right?

[cadtag]

well, somewhere there's a sweet spot, certainly more than four Gb, probably more than 8 or 16 Gb. I'd personally go for 32. My office Dell has 128Gb RAM installed, and does not perform any better than my 32Gb home machine. To be fair, the home box does not have the corporate carp on it....

[rkmcswain]

My office Dell has 128Gb RAM installed

I believe you can never have too much RAM, but 128GB?
Seems like a lot of $$ that could be used for something else.

If you had a 125GB hard drive, just run your entire PC from RAM.