ATI card in laptop...

[Chris Rizzo]

I'm looking for a reasonably priced laptop(1400+ -), however most come with ATI cards...are the laptop ati cards as un-mastercam-friendly as the desktop cards?

[Bullines]

ATI chipsets will likely be fine for X, but for now...

 

How about Dell's Inspiron 5150? It appears to be in the price range you're looking for, video chipset is from nVIDIA, and it's the notebook used by In-House Solutions. That last point has to count for something

[Matthew]

I am looking at this Inspion 5150 from Dell.

 

Does anyone use this with Solidworks also?

 

Any Estimates on the amount of usage from one battery charge? Is it worth upgrading the battery and/or adding a second one?

 

Is the screen size adequate, or does it seem small? I am used to a 19" on my desktop.

 

I was thinking of adding the wireless network option, what is the difference between 802.11b/g and 802.11a/b/g?

 

I am looking at upgrading to 1gb RAM from 512mb. Is that necessary?

 

Dell has some other systems with Pentium M processors. They say these are comparable to Pentium 4 (1.6 Pentium M is approximate to Pentium 4 2.4). Is this accurate?

 

Do the Pentium M's have longer battery life? Is it a drastic difference?

 

Basically, I am upgrading from a Pentium III 1.0GHZ desktop with 32mb Oxygen VX1. I am looking at the laptop for some portability thoughout the shop (instead of having to run upstairs to make program changes) and also the ability to take it to customers or home to do work.

 

Thanks for any input.

[gcode]

I was looking at laptops on the HP website the other day. They have some really good looking machines and they run NVIDIA video cards.

I've never owned an HP so I can't comment on reliability or customer service.

[cadcam]

Gcode just got the HP 17" wide with Nvidia gf5600 video and 3gh processer.

 

Really like the full keyboard and nice screen.

I even like it better then my Toshiba 16.1 screen.

 

[gcode]

Thats a good looking machine

Does it run Mastercam OK???

[Matthew]

web page

 

I found this on the HP website. This looks like it has everything I'm looking for, except for only 512mb ram.

 

Jay, have you run Mastercam and Solidworks on that HP? How do they work?

[Chris Rizzo]

I had to go out of town quickly for about 3 weeks, and picked this guy up in a real hurry. compaq 3240...It's been running pretty darn good with mcam and sw. I was alittle unsure of the gforce 4 440 graphics card, but it was one of the only machines I could find locally available WITHOUT an ATI card.

 

Only drawback is the battery life is VERY short. About 1.5 - 2 hours.

[cadcam]

i got this for exactly Mastercam X and SW2004 and they both work great including MCX runs gret on so far.

 

I found that my last one worked real good with this to. but the new one has the full keyboard and instead of the 16.1" screen that was good size but this one have the 17 wide that I really like.

 

it has 512 ram right now but by the end of the week it should be at 1 gig and it supports 2 gig compared to my toshiba that only supported 1 gig total.

[cadcam]

CNR I have found unless you go with Centurian proccser. These are built for battery life.

this one gets about 2hrs.(being the HP)

Most of the time I plug it in.but I am thinking about getting another battry.

 

The HP has a really cool docking system that you can get to hold the laptop up and has a wireless keboard and mouse combo with built in speakers.

 

[Matthew]

Jay,

 

Are you running XP Home or XP Pro?

[Chris Rizzo]

Thx for the info Jay....I'm contemplating returning this compaq for that HP! I really like the full keyboard and 17" display. I'd probably go with the 5200 video card to save a few $$. Looks like it's around 1750$ at the hp store.

[cadcam]

I paid at Circuit City $1948 + change after taxes and all and it was the last day of the $200.00 rebate that I am about to put in the envelope after I type to send out.

 

So I would say costs about $1595. Plus take after the rebate.

 

As for the OS it is Home like my last laptop with SP2. I have a Lic of XP pro I bought for my last laptop I could put in but I found know issues with Home at all really.

 

Now I just sold my lat laptop for $1500.00 and got the money back.

 

Just so you know my last one worked great.

It was a 2.53 with 768 megs of ram 60 gig HD OS was home and it had the Nvidia gforce 4 440 graphics card & tat worked great on that big screen.te screen was really close to my 17" lcd panle.

[cadcam]

CMR there should be a Circuit City in Portland, Oregon thats not far.

Or go on line to Costco ,here is the link to there refurbed ones price is greate.

 

http://www.costco.com/Common/Category.aspx...ath=84*&Browse=

[Matthew]

I really like the look of the screen and the full keyboard also. The only thing I didn't like about the Dell was the 15.4" screen which I thought might be a big shock going from using a 19" for the last 4 years.

 

I think I'll have to give HP a call.

 

Thanks for the info Jay.

[cadcam]

let me know if you guys want any other shots close up like the keyboard or front or sides.

 

Some time the sites dont give you good views and I like to see around it.

 

Also the 17" wide wt is 9.5 lbs so you know.

But my Toshiba with the 16.1 wt was 9lbs

[Trevor Bailey]

I have the HP and it works great. I can take 60+ mg files and roll it on my screen with no problems or pauses. With the HT processor, getting toolpaths on a lot of surfaces is unbelieveably fast. I am very happy with it. I can run 3 seesions of MC at once with minimal power-shortage.

 

Movies on it are pretty cool also. It comes with Harman/Kardon speakers built in along with all kinds of other crap I will never use, but sure is cool.

 

to HP.

[cadcam]

Treavor, have looked at the docking bay?

I have and might pick one up.

How much ram do you have?

 

Later jay

[Matthew]

Jay,

 

What is the model # of the one you have?

 

Thanks,

[cadcam]

it is the zd7140us.

[Trevor Bailey]

I have the zd7000 with the 128 mg Geforce 5700 card, 1 gig of ram, P4 3.0ht processor, 60 gig hard-drive @ 7200 and every other option you could get.

 

Sweet system.

[cadcam]

trevor look on the bottom for the actull model.

I have a ZD7000 to but is diffrent to yours.

[Trevor Bailey]

When I was on the web site, I went to the home/home office section. This was the only place that you could totally customize your own pc.

[Chris Rizzo]

Ok, so I've hit Circut City and Best Buy, and they don't stock the hp zd7xxx series laptops (at least here in Portland)...got to order them online. In which case the hp direct store looks pretty good. The zd7140 looks pretty sweet, however the 7260 has the 800mhz bus...let the comparos begin! sorry I can't foward the hp links now...their web store is down for sched. maintence.

[Jack Mitchell]

Hey cmr,

 

I just now joined the forum at [H]ardOCP which might be considered on of the premier hotspots for computing and related issues. It is rather amazing to see 472 users on line at 3:00AM.

 

http://www.hardforum.com is the link.

You do not need to join this forum in order to view the threads; hike it over there for some great info on mobile computing solutions.

 

 

Regards, Jack