Laptops for Mastercam

[levelh]

I'm looking to buy a laptop to use Mastercam 3D and Solids. Any recomendations on which one to buy. I have found some with the Video card and memory that I need, but the processor speed seems low.1.5 to 1.8ghz. Is that fast enough for a laptop or should I find something over 3.0ghz.

Thanks

[gcode]

I'd go with a 3.0ghz min. and all the ram

the machine can support.

You will not be happy with the performance you get out of a 1.8ghz mobile proccessor.

Make sure your video card is an NVIDIA chipset.

Some people succeed running Mastercam on ATI

video cards, but its hit or miss and a huge hassle.

Do a word search the forum for "laptop"

"ATI" and "NVIDIA". There is a lot on info on the subject.

[Charles Davis]

Look at Alienware. These are big (17"), heavy, high performance desktop replacement computers.

 

Not what you want if you travel on planes a lot, but great if you are just moving desktop to desktop.

 

Otherwise, look at Dell.

[gcode]

Some guys are running Mastercam on widescreen

HP laptops with good results.

[cadcam]

I am running te 17" hp wide screen and stated before

I love it.

 

I just hooked up with Solid works now and of course Mastercam.

Works great.

 

The one that Charlies is talking about is real nice to.

Dell now has a 17wide to.

 

by the way mine hase a full 10key on it two.

 

levelh if you have more questions feel free to contact me at the office.

[Chris Rizzo]

I've got a similar unit to what Jay's talking about.

It's the HP ZD7000 series, and i also love it.

17" screen, full 10-key keyboard, Nvidia card. A bit of a monster to lug around, but I value power, keyboard, and screen over light weight and slimness.

 

It's got a 3.0 ht processor in it, and it's not as fast as I would have thought it to be. The 1.8 processors your refering to, are they the centrino / pentium M processors? If so, they've got a much larger on board L2 cache, which makes mhz to mhz comparisons with desktop chip #'s a little harder.

m2c

[Bullines]

quote:

---

The 1.8 processors your refering to, are they the centrino / pentium M processors? If so, they've got a much larger on board L2 cache, which makes mhz to mhz comparisons with desktop chip #'s a little harder.

---

We have some Pentium-M 2GHz notebooks that easily outperform our 3.06GHz /w HT notebooks. The cache makes the difference and the Quadro FX graphics don't hurt either It's the Dell Precision M70, BTW.

[Chris Rizzo]

That's what I though Bullines. My 3.06 p4 ht does'nt seem all that fast, not to mention the heat output of the fans is about surface-of-the-sun temperature....on your lap.

[Bullines]

quote:

---

My 3.06 p4 ht does'nt seem all that fast, not to mention the heat output of the fans is about surface-of-the-sun temperature....on your lap.

---

This is also true of our 3.06GHz notebooks and it's cuased us some problems like other components in the notebook getting cooked. I never realized how much heat they threw off until later. Unless the chassis is large enough to provide awesome airflow any many heatsinks/fans (sacrificing portability, of course), I'd avoid those CPUs and stick with the Pentium-M's.

[Gary]

I'm using a gateway m675 with 17.1 widescreen. So far so good p4 3.0g with ht. I bought it off ebay refurbed but i think they are just over stocks because it was perfect and the way I had to go thru all the system setup. Got it for under a grand.

[Shop Wench]

I have a HP Pavilion ZD7000 series. It works very well.

[Tom Dorgan from American Precision]

I have the HP Pavillion ZD7058cl with 17" Widescreen and I love it. I only wish I had gotten more memory with it. I love having the real 10 key on the keyboard. Check on Ebay for seller mobilepc. I bought my HP with a 1 yr. warranty for $700 under retail. Here is one I found on Ebay today.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...6766970805&rd=1

I got great service from them and have had no problems with my laptop.

[Mct010]

Well, Now I don't feel well at all, I have a HP7000 and gave $2000 for it new from HP. works great though.

 

Hope my wife don't read this

[Mick]

I have a Toshiba Satellite M30. 1.8 Centrino with 1Gb of Ram, and a Nvidia Go5200 64mb graphics card. It performs flawlessly, and easily outperforms our 3ghz machine at work.

 

Its 15.4 widescreen, and its not a heavy monster to lug around.

 

I asked the same questions about notebooks a while back, and I happily settled on the Toshiba

 

Just my 10cents worth

[Slixmix]

I'de go Alienware also

[Todd Tracey from Fastech]

We use the Dell M60 or M70 systems with Centrino processors. they "blow away" the 3.0 Gig or faster P4 systems in the classroom. The cache on the processor seems to make a big difference in toolpath computation times.

[Jeff Kemper]

Is not ECC ram prefered if you are doing complex surface toolpath? It looks like ECC is not available in a laptop. True?

[Bullines]

quote:

---

Is not ECC ram prefered if you are doing complex surface toolpath? It looks like ECC is not available in a laptop. True?

---

ECC is great for server applications like a domain controllers, application server, email server or web server. Computer manufacturers deem hardware-based error correction as overkill for most other applications. ECC RAM, due to its nature, performs slower than non-ECC RAM. Wanting to provide the most bang for the buck, hardware manufacturers and computer OEMs believe that non-ECC should be the norm for non-server computers.

[Ripper3785]

The Dell M70 is a smokin machine for Mastercam. It's only downfall is the 15.4 wide screen. But the QuadroFX card is supposed to be great.

 

I use a Dell XPS2 with a nvidia 6800 Ultra, and the card is great for games but not for mastercam. I wasn't aware of the M70 at the time of purchase, but probably would have gone with the XPS2 at the time anyway for the 17" screen.

 

In hindsight a M70 with an external monitor for the work desk would have been the best choice for me.

[betts]

Well its a little early, but I'll chime in a little. Just got my Sager 17" 1680 x 1050 glossy with P4 3.4, 2 gig ram, 1-7200 rpm HD, and the NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400 and its damn sweet so far!

 

The Quadro is awesome compared to my ATI in my desktop, and all this in a portable package.

 

Notice I say portable, as the best way to describe this machine is "A portable CAD/CAM workstation with a one hour battery back-up".

 

So its not a "laptop" at 12.5 lbs and hot enough to keep your coffee warm! But so far I love it. Still straightening out things as its my first with XP-Pro, as I'd been using 2000pro, and getting all my stuff squared away.

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

I've got an HP Pavillion ZD7000 3.4 w/ HT. 1GB Ram, NVidia 64MB ( 182MB was going to be a horrendous wait and I needed it ASAP) that works AWESOME! 17" Widescreen, full keyboard, yeah is a bit big, but like others in here, I value performance over weight/size.

 

I use it for keeping score at my kids' baseball games too. Works excellent for that! Oh, and it works excellent with Mastercam as well.

[dhaniel]

Hi all:

 

I have to buy a laptop for mastercam use but, I don´t know where can I view the laptop´s specifications, can any one help me?.

[Todd Tracey from Fastech]

We are running Dell M70 Centrino systems for demoing Mastercam. They outrun a 3.6 Gig P4 on toolpaths easily because of the cache even though they only run 2.13 Gig processor speed. More efficient in their processing of the numbers in the cache, I guess.

[Bryan Johnson]

My vote also goes to the Dell M60/70's

[David Conigliaro CNC Software Inc.]

Hello everyone I'm in the market for a new laptop and am happy to find this topic. However, I'm a bit confused.

Sounds like the Pentium M's are out performing the Pentium R's due to a larger L2 cache (2MB). According to this thread the 1.8 centrino is outperforming the 3.0 desktop processor. I'm assuming those 3.0Ghz are actually Pentium 3.0Ghz 530's running on 1MB L2 cache? What about the Pentium 3.0Ghz 630 running on 2MB L2 cache? If cache is the differentiating factor, then we're not comparing apples to apples if the 500 series Pentium desktop processors is being used. Can Anyone running a 600 series desktop processor shed some light on this?