Calling all engineering students/engineers/people who know PC's: Laptop Question

[Kenbuntu]

This can apply to anyone else who knows computers as well.

So I'll be starting mechanical eng in a month and 5 days, and I need to know (my parents really, I already know) if My T42 can be used for programs I'll be using. AFAIK I'll be using CAD and solidworks, and similar software. My parents think that my current laptop can be used for these programs.

Some specs:
-1.8 GHz single core processor.
-1 gig DDR RAM
-40 GB HDD (pointless i know)
-and a Whopping IGP with a grand total of 32 MB Video memory.

This thing runs ubuntu just fine. But i highly doubt i'll be able to use solidworks without any problems. Heck my desktop pc ran solidworks very sluggishly (AMD 3800 X2 and 2 gigs ddr ram).

So my question to you is: will I be able to efficiently run any of the programs I will need for engineering?

My parents want me to either rent a laptop from the university or use one of the boxes at the various computer rooms there. That'd be great, BUT I'm commuting, and have class till 5:30 PM four times a week. Right after class is done I have to Catch the last bus back home which departs at 6:40. Definitely not enough time to get any serious amount of work done.

Some background information: First semester I'll be taking Calc I, Chem, Intro to programming, Eng design, and Eng mechanics. I'm also looking to join the f.SAE team and helping out there. I'm certain I'll have to use some kind of modeling software for at least three things during the semester.

Next topic. This one is suited for the computer nerds here

I've been looking at the new (to Canada) HP TX2 Touchsmart laptop/tablet, and I'm just about convinced that's the one I want.
Is it better to run a 32 bit os and move the IGP memory to say 768 MB since the OS can only recognize 3.3 GB of RAM?
Or
Is it better to run the 64 bit OS and leave the IGP memory to the default 256 MB (or whatever it is)?
Mind you, I should be able to obtain a 64-bit version of the software I'll be using and iirc 64bit OS with 64 bit software means faster processing when it comes to simulations and various mathematical calculations (basically stuff i'll be doing first year).

Also, If you guys can think of a better choice for a laptop, please include it in your reply!

Thanks!

[fdeck]

Congrats and best of luck in college! Work your ass off.

I will ask the mechanical engineering manager at work about the computing needs for Solid Works, particularly relative to the 32 vs 64 bit OS issue. She has to constantly weigh between upgrading the hardware for our SW users, versus saving the money and waiting.

I'm the systems engineering manager, and my work isn't nearly as computation intensive as CAD, so I get by with an old generation notebook. I got mine after it was used for a road show of our products in the far east, a year ago. It's nothing special.

Something to consider is that SW ran on slower computers, not too long ago, and I doubt it is fundamentally different under the hood from year to year.

Perhaps you can e-mail the engineering profs and ask for a syllabus, with the explanation that you are trying to decide if and when to upgrade your computer, or maybe if they can put you in touch with a student who went through it last year.

Does SW run under WINE?

[Kenbuntu]

Thanks fdeck! I will try finding the prof of the design and mechanics course. As for SW running on older notebooks. Probably but this 32 MB of video memory worries me. My university has a forum but i don't see many eng students on there, and none of them are mech's. This is the first year this university is offering mech eng.

As for SW through WINE: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManage...cation&iId=318
It won't be smooth, BUT it may work on Crossover Linux? MS office and GuitarPro instaleed run fairly well through it.

[fdeck]

Here's a SW forum:

http://www.mcadcentral.com/solidworks/forum/default.asp

Let them know your situation... Everybody understands that students need to keep an eye on expenses. And truth be told, there are a lot of SW users who are trying to pinch pennies too.

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by Kenbuntu

This can apply to anyone else who knows computers as well.

So I'll be starting mechanical eng in a month and 5 days, and I need to know (my parents really, I already know) if My T42 can be used for programs I'll be using. AFAIK I'll be using CAD and solidworks, and similar software. My parents think that my current laptop can be used for these programs.

Some specs:
-1.8 GHz single core processor.
-1 gig DDR RAM
-40 GB HDD (pointless i know)
-and a Whopping IGP with a grand total of 32 MB Video memory.

This thing runs ubuntu just fine. But i highly doubt i'll be able to use solidworks without any problems. Heck my desktop pc ran solidworks very sluggishly (AMD 3800 X2 and 2 gigs ddr ram).

So my question to you is: will I be able to efficiently run any of the programs I will need for engineering?

My parents want me to either rent a laptop from the university or use one of the boxes at the various computer rooms there. That'd be great, BUT I'm commuting, and have class till 5:30 PM four times a week. Right after class is done I have to Catch the last bus back home which departs at 6:40. Definitely not enough time to get any serious amount of work done.

Some background information: First semester I'll be taking Calc I, Chem, Intro to programming, Eng design, and Eng mechanics. I'm also looking to join the f.SAE team and helping out there. I'm certain I'll have to use some kind of modeling software for at least three things during the semester.

Next topic. This one is suited for the computer nerds here

I've been looking at the new (to Canada) HP TX2 Touchsmart laptop/tablet, and I'm just about convinced that's the one I want.
Is it better to run a 32 bit os and move the IGP memory to say 768 MB since the OS can only recognize 3.3 GB of RAM?
Or
Is it better to run the 64 bit OS and leave the IGP memory to the default 256 MB (or whatever it is)?
Mind you, I should be able to obtain a 64-bit version of the software I'll be using and iirc 64bit OS with 64 bit software means faster processing when it comes to simulations and various mathematical calculations (basically stuff i'll be doing first year).

Also, If you guys can think of a better choice for a laptop, please include it in your reply!

Thanks!

Dude, your T42 will be just fine. Upgrade to 2G Ram if you are running Vista, stay away from 64 bit OS, you\ll pay out the hoo haw from apps, and frankly unless they are server based and interfacing with Unix/AIX forget it. 40G HD is plenty, unless you want to store your entire music collection too. I have developers running work stations that don't use 20G of space, but, hey, if it makes you feel better upgrade the hard drive, they are cheap. BTW, I am writing this on a T30, I use it to monitor&track so many networks I support, I would hate to think about it. It also renders film when I am not using it for TB or work So, if you want to dump the 42, just give a holler, ya hear?

[Kenbuntu]

haha, i don't think ill be throwing this badboy out just yet. Still works fine for surfing the internet, watching movies etc. And i will be storing my music collection. Unfortunately, T42's = old technology which means paying more than i paid for the laptop. Ex: A new 120 GB harddrive will cost 70, and even then that's the cheapest. As for the RAM, I'd have to spend another 100 to get 2GB's of ram. There's no way in hell id run vista on this though. Windows 7 would be more like it, but again, I'd be dual booting that and ubuntu which equals a good 20GB gone.

And thanks for the link fdeck, let me know regarding your coworker's 32 V 64 bit thing.

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by Kenbuntu

haha, i don't think ill be throwing this badboy out just yet. Still works fine for surfing the internet, watching movies etc. And i will be storing my music collection. Unfortunately, T42's = old technology which means paying more than i paid for the laptop. Ex: A new 120 GB harddrive will cost 70, and even then that's the cheapest. As for the RAM, I'd have to spend another 100 to get 2GB's of ram. There's no way in hell id run vista on this though. Windows 7 would be more like it, but again, I'd be dual booting that and ubuntu which equals a good 20GB gone.

And thanks for the link fdeck, let me know regarding your coworker's 32 V 64 bit thing.

RAM is dirt cheap,I think the t42 takes PC 3200, buy it all day long for 20-25 a G, nd you can get a 250G EIDE Laptop Hard Drive for probably $80-90 at the most. I Build, maintain engineering and animation systems for a living. And whats old about the technology? Yup, its not a Dual Core and it won't support a SATA drive, but other than that these things are built to be bounced around and to work. Course, if what you really want to do is play games, there's better boxes. Sell that to mom and dad.

The only thing you'll run into problems with compatibility wise is the video card, and you'll run into that on almost every laptop that is reasonab;y priced. Thats why they build work stations.....

[TrooperFarva]

I use SolidWorks nearly every day at my job, on a laptop.

It sucks. It bogs down a lot, and SolidWorks crashes from time to time. Individual parts it handles okay, but once I get into some assemblies, it goes straight to hell. And this is working in wireframe, to save some computing. If I worked with surfaces, which I prefer, my laptop would die. It's a middle of the road 1 year old Dell.

I would highly recommend a laptop with a good bit of RAM, and definitely a separate graphics processor.

Another option is to keep your current laptop, and pick up a cheap desktop. Throw in some RAM and a good graphics card, you'll be all set. Hard drive space isn't critical, but you will need good memory and good graphics.

[Kenbuntu]

True say guys. Maybe im just wanting something new for a change. I am human, which is why i use Ubuntu haha.

And i'd definitely keep the new one for a good 5 years. But i guess we will see how it turns out. Ultimately, its up to my parents. I think I'll have to get Solidworks on this computer and see first.

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by TrooperFarva

I use SolidWorks nearly every day at my job, on a laptop.

It sucks. It bogs down a lot, and SolidWorks crashes from time to time. Individual parts it handles okay, but once I get into some assemblies, it goes straight to hell. And this is working in wireframe, to save some computing. If I worked with surfaces, which I prefer, my laptop would die. It's a middle of the road 1 year old Dell.

I would highly recommend a laptop with a good bit of RAM, and definitely a separate graphics processor.

Another option is to keep your current laptop, and pick up a cheap desktop. Throw in some RAM and a good graphics card, you'll be all set. Hard drive space isn't critical, but you will need good memory and good graphics.

Well, it is a Dell I have more dead one and two year old Dells in my bone pile...and it probably has shared video RAM instead of dedicated 32M like the IBM T42 the OP has

[Kenbuntu]

The TX2 has AMD's latest IGP "feature", PUMA, which is apparently as good as entry-level video cards. Looking at some tests done, it seems like its not a hoax. Also, would tablets be beneficial for me? Note taking and CADing wise?