Hello all.
I have been browsing the web about laptops and especially this site because of the wealth of information. I'm currently deciding on a laptop to take with me to college where I will be majoring in mechanical engineering. I've been looking for a powerful laptop that can handle high definition video, editing, major multi-tasking, and some CAD. As to what type of CAD and how much, not entirely sure, although I'm pretty sure I won't be doing extremely heavy 3D CAD work on my laptop. I will most likely stick to moderate 2D and maybe some light 3D when I even learn how to do it.
The biggest part about me deciding what laptop to buy has been the graphics card. I cannot afford a laptop that has a good graphics card for CAD (quadro, firepro), as the cheapest one is about 1300 and the only spec that is better than a 1,000 dollar laptop is the graphics. I cannot justify that price when I don't think I'll need such powerful graphics.
I currently have my eyes on the Asus N550. Why? Because it has an i7, decent ram, and a graphics card that I think is mid-level but strong enough for the CAD I might be doing in college. The card in question is the GT 750M, which I hear good and bad things about. I simply cannot find a straight answer on the internet anywhere. Most people seem to want good laptop graphics for gaming- not CAD. I am not at all interested in gaming- only CAD.
I plan on buying the laptop stock- that is, a 1TB 5400 HDD, then buying a separate Samsung Evo 120 GB SSD and swapping it out for the main drive. Then, I'll use an optical bay adapter to install the HDD into the optical drive slot, and I can use an external optical bay if needed. I think this configuration will give me an extremely powerful laptop, but the only thing that worries me is the graphics.
The N550 has Intel 4600 graphics, which I read mostly bad things about when dealing with CAD. I have no doubts the N550 will handle my video needs, I'm just worried about the CAD stuff. I have Radeon integrated graphics on my desktop and it simply sucks with CAD- once there are more than 10 lines in the document, it begins to lag when creating any new components. I can't even smoothly create a line because it's jumpy, and I doubt that's a processor issue (core 2 duo). Now guys, I need a straight answer about the GT 750M. Will it be able to handle the CAD work that I might do on it? That is, mostly 2D with a hint of light 3D?
Appreciate any help I can get. Thanks!
I have been browsing the web about laptops and especially this site because of the wealth of information. I'm currently deciding on a laptop to take with me to college where I will be majoring in mechanical engineering. I've been looking for a powerful laptop that can handle high definition video, editing, major multi-tasking, and some CAD. As to what type of CAD and how much, not entirely sure, although I'm pretty sure I won't be doing extremely heavy 3D CAD work on my laptop. I will most likely stick to moderate 2D and maybe some light 3D when I even learn how to do it.
The biggest part about me deciding what laptop to buy has been the graphics card. I cannot afford a laptop that has a good graphics card for CAD (quadro, firepro), as the cheapest one is about 1300 and the only spec that is better than a 1,000 dollar laptop is the graphics. I cannot justify that price when I don't think I'll need such powerful graphics.
I currently have my eyes on the Asus N550. Why? Because it has an i7, decent ram, and a graphics card that I think is mid-level but strong enough for the CAD I might be doing in college. The card in question is the GT 750M, which I hear good and bad things about. I simply cannot find a straight answer on the internet anywhere. Most people seem to want good laptop graphics for gaming- not CAD. I am not at all interested in gaming- only CAD.
I plan on buying the laptop stock- that is, a 1TB 5400 HDD, then buying a separate Samsung Evo 120 GB SSD and swapping it out for the main drive. Then, I'll use an optical bay adapter to install the HDD into the optical drive slot, and I can use an external optical bay if needed. I think this configuration will give me an extremely powerful laptop, but the only thing that worries me is the graphics.
The N550 has Intel 4600 graphics, which I read mostly bad things about when dealing with CAD. I have no doubts the N550 will handle my video needs, I'm just worried about the CAD stuff. I have Radeon integrated graphics on my desktop and it simply sucks with CAD- once there are more than 10 lines in the document, it begins to lag when creating any new components. I can't even smoothly create a line because it's jumpy, and I doubt that's a processor issue (core 2 duo). Now guys, I need a straight answer about the GT 750M. Will it be able to handle the CAD work that I might do on it? That is, mostly 2D with a hint of light 3D?
Appreciate any help I can get. Thanks!
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