From: Existential Angst on
Awl --

I'm looking for a laptop that will run SW, trying to avoid super-pricey.

According to http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/SystemRequirements.html,
I'd be best off cost-wise/ram-wise with regular XP Pro, 32 bit.

But then there is a note that support for this is ending.
Also, Windows 7 is the Pro, Ultimate, or Enterprise versions, not the
premium offered on most laptops.

So what's the most economical way to go, for a new laptop purchase, that
will run SW?
I won't be doing fancy stuff, just run of the mill parts for a VMC or
lathe. cam is not necessary.

Thanks,
--
EA


From: stans4 on
On May 7, 11:07 am, "Existential Angst" <UNfit...(a)UNoptonline.net>
wrote:
> Awl --
>
> I'm looking for a laptop that will run SW, trying to avoid super-pricey.
>
> According tohttp://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/SystemRequirements.html,
> I'd be best off cost-wise/ram-wise with regular XP Pro, 32 bit.
>
> But then there is a note that support for this is ending.
> Also, Windows 7 is the Pro, Ultimate, or Enterprise versions, not the
> premium offered on most laptops.
>
> So what's the most economical way to go, for a new laptop purchase, that
> will run SW?
>  I won't be doing fancy stuff, just run of the mill parts for a VMC or
> lathe.  cam is not necessary.
>
> Thanks,
> --
> EA

It's not going to be just the OS that's the gotcha, it's the graphics
chipset. There is no laptop out there that will let you swap graphics
chips, what you get is what you're going to use, or not. So shop to
see what's in there for graphics and what the software wants. Then
buy. Chances are you're going to be 3/4 of the way to the grand mark
or more, nVidia and ATI chips in laptops are put into the higher-end
ones. If it were a desktop, you could probably assemble one for a lot
less than that. Upside is that the higher-end laptops are more likely
to be running 64-bit OS versions. Low-end laptops have integrated
graphics using system memory, usually Intel chipsets do that. Multi-
core processors will definitely put you over a grand.

Stan
From: Zymrgy on
On May 7, 11:07 am, "Existential Angst" <UNfit...(a)UNoptonline.net>
wrote:
> Awl --
>
> I'm looking for a laptop that will run SW, trying to avoid super-pricey.
>
> According tohttp://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/SystemRequirements.html,
> I'd be best off cost-wise/ram-wise with regular XP Pro, 32 bit.
>
> But then there is a note that support for this is ending.
> Also, Windows 7 is the Pro, Ultimate, or Enterprise versions, not the
> premium offered on most laptops.
>
> So what's the most economical way to go, for a new laptop purchase, that
> will run SW?
>  I won't be doing fancy stuff, just run of the mill parts for a VMC or
> lathe.  cam is not necessary.
>
> Thanks,
> --
> EA

As others have said...your budget is the driving factor. I can see
support for XP is not going to be around in a couple of years...I
would of never guessed a few years ago how fast things are migrating
to 64bit OS's. Go with the Pro version of windows 7....from what I
gather its missing some of the eye candy that you would likely disable
anyway. (for performance reasons)