HD5850 or 3100m for NX6 and Solidworks
Last response: in Applications
I'm looking at laptops for college. My school is offering a Thinkpad with a Nvidia NVS 3100m, but I could get a HP ENVY with a ATI HD5850 for a similar price. I need this to be a desktop replacement that would work for both CAD and gaming. I know the 5850 will work great for gaming and the 3100m probably won't. However, even though the 3100m is a workstation card I can't imagine it would perform better than the HD5850 with how wimpy the NVS 3100m seems to be in straight horsepower. Any opinions or recommendations for a laptop in the $1800 price range?
More about : hd5850 3100m nx6 solidworks
Best solution
Gaming and CAD don't really mix. The cards for gaming are optimized for performance while the ones optimized for CAD are designed to be accurate (less aliasing).
I would say to look at the Dell Precision or Lenovo W series :
Dell mobile Precision website
Lenovo Thinkpad W series website
I haven't used the HP Elitebook workstations but you can have a look at them:
HP Elitebook
You didn't specify if you were doing 2D or 3D CAD. 3D CAD heavily prefers a Quadro or Firepro/FireGL card while 2D doesn't require much (NVS is for 2D applications, so it isn't very good for gaming).
I would say to look at the Dell Precision or Lenovo W series :
Dell mobile Precision website
Lenovo Thinkpad W series website
I haven't used the HP Elitebook workstations but you can have a look at them:
HP Elitebook
You didn't specify if you were doing 2D or 3D CAD. 3D CAD heavily prefers a Quadro or Firepro/FireGL card while 2D doesn't require much (NVS is for 2D applications, so it isn't very good for gaming).
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