Fast Laptop for 3D CAD - i5/i7?

Jimbo333_2

Hi all, your advice sought,

I'm after a laptop suitable for running 3D CAD at a very basic level (simple, single parts, not complex assemblies).

On top of that, I'd like HDMI.

Will a 4GB i5 or i7 laptop be up this task, and are there any slower i5's that I should avoid?

Are gaming laptops well matched to CAD work?

I'm hoping to spend no more than £500-£700. This may not seem like much, but I am able to buy the laptop in Canada (or possible US, but that would be more complicated) where prices seem lower.

As a starting point, are either of these decent in a "bang for your buck" sense?

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/laptop/range/i5plus.html

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6891953&CatId=4938

($799 CAD = £500)

Many thanks

Jimbo:beer:

GeoffX

Core i5 processors come in two different forms at the moment ( that's going to change in January when Intel launches its next generation of CPUs ). The ones in laptops are all dual core with hyperthreading.
http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyID=43483&MarketSegment=MBL

The Core i7 processors come in two forms; either two or four cores with both types being hyperthreaded.
http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyID=43402&MarketSegment=MBL

I've a desktop Core i3-530 and having hyperthreading enabled gives a performance increase equivilant to about two-thirds of an extra core when encoding a video with Handbrake.

Pikeyp

I think the amount of RAM you have installed is more important than what processor you are using .. unless you are doing lots of heavy 3D work!

.. and if you have more than 4G of RAM installed it makes more sense to use a 64bit OS of course ..

Hammyman

CPU is of less importance than the GPU and RAM. Whilst gaming laptops might not be as good for 3D CAD as one with a pukka 3D CAD graphics such as nVidia Quadro, it'll be better than a non-gaming one.