Laptop help!

[KelseyL]

So I'm going to be looking into getting a laptop so I can work from home when I need to.
I need it to run auto cad and revit mep efficiently, both 2011. I hate it when computers bog down when this is the main thing I will be doing with it.
Do I need a certain processor speed?
Amount of ram?
Other specs?
Operating system?
I'm not sure how autocad and revit are running with windows 7, or should i just get old faithful xp?

Any help with this is greatly appreciated!

[Glenn Pope]

For the Processor, get either the Intel i5 or i7. The i7 if your doing a lot of rendering. The i5 if you not and need to save money.

No less then 4GB of RAM. Try going for 6 or 8 GBs if you can.

Get a laptop with a dictated graphic card with its own memory.

Go with Windows 7 64 Pro. AutoCAD and Revit works great on it and is recommend by Autodesk.

[RobertB]

Go with Windows 7 64 Pro. AutoCAD and Revit works great on it and is recommend by Autodesk.

If you go with Windows 7 64-bit, which I do recommend, then don't get less than 8GB of RAM. Otherwise you are close to being in the same boat with XP 32-bit and only 4GB of RAM. Give the 64-bit OS some breathing room.

I can hit 8GB doing some Revit stuff without breaking a sweat.

[Glenn Pope]

Also look for a DVI or HDMI port. This will allow you to connect to a nice big monitor when your at home. (You can find HDMI to DVI cables for HDMI ports on the cheap)

[Richard McDonald]

There have been some good papers on the Autodesk website for this type of thing and there use to be a youtube video as well.
From memory spend your money in this order.

OS - Windows 7 or Vista 64 ( note vista 32 is preferred over XP 64 I think)
Ram - as much as you can afford.
CPU - The highest speed not the most cores unless its going to be a render engine.
Graphics - how much high quality 3D renders are you going to be dealing with. A good Cheep 500 meg model should suffice.

[KelseyL]

What about mac systems? Are they any better? Worse? Harder/easier to use?

And why windows 7 professional....as opposed to premium?

[Glenn Pope]

What about mac systems? Are they any better? Worse? Harder/easier to use?

There are a few thread about using Macs. You'll have to make a dual boot system using Boot Camp, or run a virtual machine to run Windows inside OSX.

And why windows 7 professional....as opposed to premium?

Professional gives you network domain access, the ability to remote access work computer, and XP Mode.