Laptop for friends AutoCAD

I couldn't get any of those links to load.

In general Autocad needs a fast CPU and a fast hard drive. A dual core is good, a quad core is not really needed. It works well with 4GB of ram. If you are running very large models then more than 4GB of ram is worthwhile but I've run Autocad on large building projects and have never found files that wouldn't work with 4GB of ram.

Try these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...



http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+17.3%22+XPS+Laptop+-...

I think those 3 would perform similarly. The Dell has a slower processor but faster hard drive. Toshiba is generally recognized to be the most reliable of that group. You might also look at Lenovo and ASUS, which are 2 others that are supposed to be more reliable than average.

Actually what I would recommend would be to buy a cheaper model from one of those brands, with the fastest i5 you can get and then put an SSD in it. And buy the extended battery if they offer it.

Toshiba Satellite P740-BT4G22 Laptop

List Price: $1,069.00

Instant Savings: -$360.00

Total Price: $709.00


Processor Intel® Core™ i5-2450M Processor, 2.5 GHz (3.1 GHz with Turbo Boost Technology), 3MB L3 Cache

Memory 4GB DDR3 1333MHz

Hard Disk Drive 500GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial ATA)

Graphics 1GB NVIDIA GT 525M

Scratch the last one


Dell Inspiron 17R

Market Value1 $1,133.99
Total Savings $434.00
Dell Price $699.99



2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2450M processor 2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.10 GHz

8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory

750GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive

GeForce GT 525M (128-bit) 1GB

FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE Integrated 1.0 mega pixel widescreen HD Webcam

DISPLAY 17.3" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Display with Truelife™

Hi James  

That last one looks ok actually...

We have customers who use Autocad on laptops (although its most usual on desktops)

I wont go into specific makes or models but their requirements are...

A VERY fast cpu...

A HUGE amount of ram (8 or 16 gb)

A GOOD graphics card....

Most also go for an SSD....

You realise how much AUTOCAD costs by the way ??? (Correct answer is Thousands, or an arm and a leg)

Hope this helps....

All the best Brett  

last one as in dell or toshiba? lol


Also Brett. The core i7 is shown as an upgrade with 2.2gigz from an i5 with 2.5gigz what gives? Is 6MB L3 Cache worth the drop in clock speed?

Doh............ duel core  

I have run Autocad on every type of PC made over the past 23 years. CPU speed is most important, SSD next, ram is important if you really run large models, but I have not seen anything out of our clients during that time that took over 8GB of ram. Graphics card is LEAST important.

I believe the OP was talking about a student and he can probably get a copy of Autocad for significantly less. We buy Autocad packaged with Revit and I believe it costs about $8,000 for the first copy (we have at least 5 licenses total.)

I run Autocad and Revit on my Dell Latitude E6500 with 2.53GHz dual core processor (P9500 I think).

So integrated graphics is fine?

My buddy went for this dell with the gpu

Dell Inspiron 17R

Market Value1 $1,133.99
Total Savings $434.00
Dell Price $699.99



2nd generation Intel® Core™ i5-2450M processor 2.50 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.10 GHz

8GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory

750GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive

GeForce GT 525M (128-bit) 1GB

FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE Integrated 1.0 mega pixel widescreen HD Webcam

DISPLAY 17.3" HD+ (1600 x 900) LED Display with Truelife™