Advice For New Laptop

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Vince Lisanti
Senior Member
Posts: 137
Joined: Sat, Jun 11 2005, 7:18AM
Location: Rock Hill, N.Y.
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Advice For New Laptop

Post by Vince Lisanti »

Hi All,

I might be able to get this new laptop for a really good price and I would like to just run it by you guys before I take the plunge. I have been having a lot of problems lately with my current system lately running ecabs ever since version 6 came out. Thanks

It seems like it meets all the min. requirements accept for the Windows 7 Pro being 32 bit and not 64.

Base Precision Mobile Workstation M6500 Laptop
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional
Processor Processor Intel Core i5-580M Dual Core 2.66GHz 3MB
Hard Disk Drive 250 GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Memory 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
Media Bay 8X DVD +/- RW Drive
Video 1.0 GB NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M Graphics
Laptop Screen 17 inch Wide Screen WXGA+ LED Laptop Screen
Network Interface Card Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card
Hardware Upgrade 210W/240W switchable Slim 3P A/C Adapter
125V Power Cord
Back-lit Keyboard
No Fingerprint Reader
Software Upgrade Genuine Windows 7 Professional 32-Bit Operating System DVD
Web Camera Digital Microphone
System Color Silver
Laptop Battery 9 Cell Primary Battery
Dell Precision M4800
Intel(r) core(tm) i7-4800mq cpu @ 2.70ghz
32 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro K 2100M
Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit
Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Advice For New Laptop

Post by Kerry Fullington »

Just my 2 cents.

If I were building a new computer for eCabinets I would not get 32 bit. 64 bit has the ability to address much more memory efficiently and after helping a friend set up his Windows 7 64 bit machine the performance of the 64 bit is noticeable.

If you are serious about eCabinets performance don't get a 32 bit machine.

Kerry
Vince Lisanti
Senior Member
Posts: 137
Joined: Sat, Jun 11 2005, 7:18AM
Location: Rock Hill, N.Y.
Contact:

Re: Advice For New Laptop

Post by Vince Lisanti »

Thanks Kerry,

If I can get one that is 64 bit how do you think the rest of the specs look?
Dell Precision M4800
Intel(r) core(tm) i7-4800mq cpu @ 2.70ghz
32 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro K 2100M
Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit
Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Advice For New Laptop

Post by Kerry Fullington »

Vince,

First, let me put in my disclaimer; I am not a computer expert, this is just my opinions based on many many hours using eCabinet Systems.

I don't think a laptop is ever going to be a good computer for your main eCabinets computer. They are too expensive to get the features you need to run eCabinets and cannot be easily upgraded except for memory and many times (such as my laptop) are limited as to how much memory you can add. You also need to run two large monitors to efficiently use eCabinets.

As for your laptop specs;
with 64 bit get 6 gig of memory (32 bit can address 4 gig) and there are some faster hard drives and faster processors available. (not sure if they are available on laptops)

From talking to the eCabinets guys over the years they suggest faster is better on everything.

Don't get a laptop, invest in a great desktop. Just use your laptop for room layouts on the site and presentation drawings and do the rest in the office.
Vince Lisanti
Senior Member
Posts: 137
Joined: Sat, Jun 11 2005, 7:18AM
Location: Rock Hill, N.Y.
Contact:

Re: Advice For New Laptop

Post by Vince Lisanti »

Kerry,

"You also need to run two large monitors to efficiently use eCabinets"

Just curious as to why the need for the 2 monitors when using a laptop?
I have been using ecabinets on a pretty inferior 17 " laptop now for yrs and never really had any problems until recently with the new build.
I have a job that I am working on now that started acting up on me. Whenever I save it is deleting cabinets from the job.
Big time pain, so that's why I started looking into a new laptop system that is up with latest min. ecab requirements.

I am running around too much to be tied down to a desktop, so a laptop is essential.

Thanks
Dell Precision M4800
Intel(r) core(tm) i7-4800mq cpu @ 2.70ghz
32 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro K 2100M
Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit
Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Advice For New Laptop

Post by Kerry Fullington »

Vince,

The need for two monitors is a reason not to use a laptop. the way eCabinets was structured in version 6 makes two monitors a big plus for productivity. You can open Custom Layout or the Cabinet Editor on one monitor and drag the Item Window to the second. I would actually like a third monitor when bidding to leave my spread sheet open while working in eCabinets. Once you work with two monitors you won't go back to one.

If you feel you must have a laptop then get the 64 bit with 6 gig of memory and the fastest processor and hard rive available. I think the graphics card you have listed would be fine.
Vince Lisanti
Senior Member
Posts: 137
Joined: Sat, Jun 11 2005, 7:18AM
Location: Rock Hill, N.Y.
Contact:

Re: Advice For New Laptop

Post by Vince Lisanti »

I found another one with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit OS. How about this one?;

Precision Mobile Workstation M6500 Laptop
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate
Processor Processor: Intel Core i5-520M Processor (2.4GHz, 4 Threads,3M cache, turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz)
Hard Disk Drive 320 GB Free Fall Sensor Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Memory 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz (2 DIMMs)
Media Bay 8X DVD +/- RW Optical Drive
Video 1.0 GB NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M Graphics
Laptop Screen 17 inch Wide Screen WXGA+ LED Laptop Screen
Network Interface Card Dell Wireless 1501 802.11b/g/n Half Mini Card
Hardware Upgrade 210W/240W switchable Slim 3P A/C Adapter
125V Power Cord
Back-lit Keyboard
No Fingerprint Reader
Software Upgrade Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit Operating System DVD
Web Camera Digital Microphone
System Color Silver
Laptop Battery 9 Cell Primary Battery
Dell Precision M4800
Intel(r) core(tm) i7-4800mq cpu @ 2.70ghz
32 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro K 2100M
Windows 8.1 Professional 64-bit
Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Advice For New Laptop

Post by Kerry Fullington »

Vince,

Looks good to me with the 64 bit upgrade and add more RAM.
Gary Campbell
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Posts: 256
Joined: Sat, Apr 04 2009, 6:27PM
Company Name: ShopBot Tools Inc
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Durham NC

Re: Advice For New Laptop

Post by Gary Campbell »

Vince...
This is one of the few days that you will see me disagree with Kerry. I have a laptop with similar specs to yours (see mine in signature). I also have HDMI and VGA out which allows me to use either my 27" or 37" monitor(in full 1080i) along with the laptop monitor as a second. It works very well. I have had it side by side with a system similar to Kerry's and the little laptop will smoke the desktop in near every way with the inability to add a 3rd & 4th monitor.
Gary Campbell
ShopBot Tools Production Support

ShopBot (eCabinets) Link Training & Support
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