Good Laptop for Revit?

[CrawfordSmith]

:?: I've finally thrown off the shackles of having a boss (and a regular paycheck), and gone out on my own. I'm looking to get a laptop as a secondary machine for use while on the road. To be honest, I've gotten way out of the loop regarding the best measures of computer performance, other than RAM. So basically, I'm looking for a a machine with 16GB of RAM and a price tag in the vicinity of a grand. Any suggestions/experiences you folks could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

-Crawford

[cdatechguy]

A decent laptop that will last you a couple of years is going to cost around $2300... I just priced a Dell M3800 with a Core i7-4702HQ Quad Core 2.20 ghz, 16 gb ram,. 256gb SSD & 500gb SSHD, 15.6" QHD Screen and a Quadro K1100M

Yeah, you could get a laptop for $1000 but because most of them come with mediocre cards and 5400rpm hard drives...you'd be hating your purchase.

[CrawfordSmith]

Thanks for the feedback, Michael! Curious about the "card" issue you mention: I was given to believe that Revit didn't need a super-duper gamer-type graphics card. Was I mistaken in this assumption? Thanks.

-Crawford


A decent laptop that will last you a couple of years is going to cost around $2300... I just priced a Dell M3800 with a Core i7-4702HQ Quad Core 2.20 ghz, 16 gb ram,. 256gb SSD & 500gb SSHD, 15.6" QHD Screen and a Quadro K1100M

Yeah, you could get a laptop for $1000 but because most of them come with mediocre cards and 5400rpm hard drives...you'd be hating your purchase.

[irneb]

Thanks for the feedback, Michael! Curious about the "card" issue you mention: I was given to believe that Revit didn't need a super-duper gamer-type graphics card. Was I mistaken in this assumption? Thanks.

-CrawfordDepends on the projects you're going to model. But I'd advise at the very least a discreet gaming card (GeForce/Radeon). For larger projects I've found Quaddro/FireGL (the CAD cards - not gaming) good, but exorbitantly priced. Actually I've found that if the "gaming card" is high-end and has more built-in RAM than the "cad-card" it generally performs better even on large projects, usually they're cheaper than a similar cad-card (though entry-level gaming cards are not even close to a Quaddro's performance). So if you find a cad-card similarly priced to a gaming card, I'd advise the gaming card instead, chances are a cad card at the price range of a gaming is but an entry-level one.

You'd need a card with at least 2GB of its OWN RAM, not shared from your PC/Laptops 16GB. I'd say preferably 4GB if you can. Otherwise you're going to sit and wait each time you zoom / change views.

RAM (the laptop's own, not the cards) go for as much as you can afford - this is probably the most important thing you can do. 8GB absolute minimum, 16 better, 24/32 best. Also look at the RAM speed - 1600MHz minimum these days, try for something faster.

On CPU I'd advise you look for one with the highest GHz you can. Multiple cores don't help much. 2 cores minimum so you can run 2 programs at once without freezing, 4 cores more than enough, 6/8 is just a waste. The only time Revit uses more than 1 core at any one time is during Rendering, and I hope you're not thinking of a laptop as a decent rendering device. Unfortunately, these days it's hard to find any decent CPU with less than 4 cores - even that i7 has 4 cores with hyper-threading = 8 running "cores". The newer models i7/5 (i.e. 4000 range instead of 3000 or 2000) are not much faster (if any), they usually just use less power, so your battery life might improve a slight bit. AMD used to be another option, though these days they seem to be behind Intel - especially their mobile chips. XEON chips are not for laptops, they're designed as server chips so use a hell of a lot of power, if you find a mobile "XEON" it's probably declocked so much that even an i3 would outperform it easily - and they're usually so expensive it hurts.

Hard drive: Try to go with a SSD, at least where you install your programs & windows. You can use a normal HDD for the data, through try for a 7200+ RPM disc if you do (but they're rare in laptops and use lots of power). Generally I'd say your data disc doesn't need a lot of performance, but Revit is an exception: Since it's actually a database it doesn't load everything into RAM and keeps on accessing the disc (unlike CAD). So if you can spare the money, try for a larger SSD or even a 2nd. Faster data disc improves speed on opening views, running schedules, etc. Also SSD will save a bit on battery in comparison to a HDD (even the so-called "green" version 5400 RPMs). As 2nd prize a hybrid might be allowed, though I've heard stories of them crashing a lot (especially Seagate - look at some of the comments here: http://www.zdnet.com/who-makes-the-best-disk-drives-7000025375/).

Screen: 15" is absolute minimum. I'd even go as far as to say it's too small. I've got a 15" HP and I'm hating using it, especially since my PC has a 24" so I'm spoilt there (the ribbon just can't show all the buttons I want). I'd advise to try for 17" or bigger, but obviously this is going to sky-rocket the price. If your eyes aren't too bad you could go with a full HD, though on a 15" your eyes need to be close to an eagles to be able to read at that resolution - so test what works best for you.

Input: Get yourself a decent mouse, a track-pad DOESN'T work for CAD/BIM it's just silly trying to go there. You'd like something wireless, but remember that's another battery you'd need to worry about, so go with wired if you're going to do a lot of work. And don't go for the smallest one you can find: unless you like cramps.

Battery-life: forget about it, you'd be lucky to do any sort of serious Reviting for more than an hour on battery. I've even seen some only last around 30 min. So always keep a charger with you, if you drive a lot, even look for a car charger/inverter.

Heat: Because Revit uses the card & CPU nearly to their max, this is always a problem. You're going to find hot-spots on the laptop so be warned, don't expect comfort when resting it on your knees. Perhaps look for a laptop ventilation pad, some might even have a mouse-pad on the side so you can use your mouse even on your knees. But I prefer placing my laptop on a table if I want to "work".

That's about it in the order you need to check: Card/RAM around same priority, CPU, then disk, then ease of use. Other stuff are ancillary at best, usually of no consequence (except perhaps networking if you need it - wireless is generally a bad idea, even the new AC versions still have speed issues comparing to a 1GB/s LAN cable, if N or older then don't even consider it). For me I use wireless ONLY for internet (else through my phone), when at the office/home I plug in a cable. Wireless (even the new stuff) tend to drop connection and/or re-connect more often than it actually works - even if you're sitting right next to the router, and with Revit that's just asking for trouble! My brother actually tried this, a AC router rated at 800MB/s as well as his laptop with an AC wireless chip, he'd be lucky to get speeds of around 30 MBytes/sec throughput (i.e. USB2-like speed), and it would drop connection every few minutes, on the cable through the same router he gets no drops and speeds averaging 90MB/s.

If you "really" have to get a laptop, then try for the ultimate one you can afford. Even if it means you can't buy a 2nd PC workstation. You can always plug the laptop into a screen at home to get a similar feel as you could with a full on PC, but only if the laptop is similar in performance. Remember comparing laptops to PC's you generally pay 2/3rds to double extra to get the same performance out of a laptop as you would from the PC.

As for which brands: lots of them make workstation-like laptops. Dell/HP/Lenovo/Samsung. Some even specialize in such Rock/Boxx/Sager/Razer. Look for some with decent support. Edit: just saw Rock's actually closed down, so scratch them off the list.

[irneb]

A decent laptop that will last you a couple of years is going to cost around $2300... I just priced a Dell M3800 with a Core i7-4702HQ Quad Core 2.20 ghz, 16 gb ram,. 256gb SSD & 500gb SSHD, 15.6" QHD Screen and a Quadro K1100M

Yeah, you could get a laptop for $1000 but because most of them come with mediocre cards and 5400rpm hard drives...you'd be hating your purchase.Here's what I don't like too much about Dell: they're expensive compared to some others. E.g. customizing a Sager NP8235 (http://www.sagernotebook.com/index.php?page=product_customed&model_name=NP8235) (starting at $1249) to include the same specs as that Dell yields $1919, actually the Sager's entry-level CPU (i7-4700MQ 2.4GHz) is already slightly higher (http://www.cpubenchmark.net/laptop.html) than the Dell's. Is the Dell badge worth the extra $380?

[Mike L Sealander]

I have a Lenovo W530. I love it. I have found Lenovo machines to be higher quality than Dell. My Dell Studio XPS used to crash quite a lot. The Lenovo has crashed maybe twice in the past 18 months. The screen is a really nice matte surface with no glare, and the 1980 pixels across is a lot of real estate. Lenovo also makes it easy to upgrade components. About graphics cards, I'm not an expert but the fact that nVidia owns mental images (at least that's what it looks like) means there is potentially a lot of synergy with nVidia hardware and the iRAy and Mental Ray rendering engines ins 3ds Max.
And yes, I'd think about spending $2,000 or so. It's a lot of cash, and congratulations on being out on your own, but if you can at all afford it, spend the money.

[irneb]

I have a Lenovo W530.Specs seem quite good there! Only reason I'd not opt for it is it has no number pad, I like entering distances using a calculator-like set of keys. You could always add a usb pad for that, but that means another thing hanging off the side.

[Craig_L]

Check out Alienware, they make good quality machines with higher end graphics cards (as they are mostly set up for gaming) but they also have some other neat bits n pieces on them which make them a better buy. Also means in your time off you can game :)
Friend of mine just bought one recently around the 2grand mark and its a great machine

[irneb]

Check out AlienwareNot too sure AW is simply a subsidiary of Dell. You may be correct that Dell places the higher-end stuff in them, but I'd be surprised if they've got better than Dell's Mobile Workstation ranges.

[Craig_L]

The benefit is the dual graphics cards, and the much higher end processor available (and able to be overclocked) For the same price, the AW will give you a better machine.

94754

[MikeJarosz]

At AU 2013, Intel, Dell Autodesk and other industry leaders held a roundtable on what sort of equipment was best for technical work like Revit. They all agreed that the machine you choose should be designed specifically for CAD. Avoid retail machines meant for communications and entertainment. I.E., the kind your kids have. Trouble is, the machines that AD recommends are HEAVY! Dell had one running Revit at AU. I played with it for a while and surprised the Dell guy with what it could do, who apparently didn't know Revit. I ran a render on the sample project that comes with Revit.

As far as the graphics card goes, if you don't get one that has been tested by Autodesk, you are likely to have screwball fill patterns. I have an approved card and in 3D, brick bond patterns still get messed up, particularly on foreshortened perspective views.

[CrawfordSmith]

Hey, just as a follow-up, I ended up going with a Lenovo IdeaPad Y510P. I'm pretty pleased with it so far; it came with 16GB of RAM and a pretty heavy-duty graphics card (although not an Autodesk-sanctioned one, alas). It was a good value at $1100. I haven't put it through its paces yet, as the project I'm currently working on isn't very large. So far, so good.

Thanks for the input and advice from the rest of the forum!

Regards,

Crawford

[marklee563305]

I wish you had looked at the MSI Mobile Workstations. No, you won't pay around $1000.00 for them either but for the best bang for the buck, i would go with the MSI brand. It's probably a good investment on your part over HP, Dell or Lenovo. MSI has a model GT60 20KWS 3K -615US which packs in I7-4800mq, 16GB of DDR3L memory, 128GB SSD + 1TB 7200rpm hdd. But the best feature is a 3K display where you get 2880x1620 IPS screen on y our machine. The GPU on the unit is Quadro K3100m so this is more than suitable for your CAD. Retail is around $2800.00 but this mobile workstation can last you a good few years and you can actually go toe to toe with the desktop workstation on performance. MSI designed the workstation around their gaming notebook, so you get the benefits of RAID 0, Cooling technology, Killer Network, and also the "Backlit and programmable" keyboard.

http://www.msimobile.com/level3_productpage.aspx?cid=114&id=445

GT60 2OKWS 3K-615US
• Windows 7 Professional
• Intel® Core™ i7-4800MQ Processor
• 15.6" WQHD+ 3K Display (16:9; 2880 x 1620)
• NVIDIA® Quadro® K3100M (4GB DDR3 VRAM)
• Matrix Display
• Cooler Boost 2
• Full-Color Programmable Backlit Keyboard by SteelSeries
• Killer™ Doubleshot (Killer E2200™ Networking + Killer™ Wireless-N1202)
• 128GB SSD + 1TB HDD (7200RPM)
• 16GB DDR3L 1600MHz System Memory
• USB 3.0 x 3; USB 2.0 x 1
• HDMI, mDP x2
• Blu-ray Disc Burner
• Built-in 720p HD Webcam
• World-Class Dynaudio Premium Speakers
• Audio Boost