Is there an affordable laptop to run ecabinets?

Michael Vendryes · Post by **Michael Vendryes** » Tue, Apr 03 2007, 3:16AM

I recently bought a Sony Viao to attended an ecabinets training course and had terrible problems with my laptop computer failing in class it was very slow and when I tried moving cabinets in a room it would leave an annoying green ghostly trail on the screen. I later found out it was inadequate, so I returned it to the store.

If I go for the full ecabinets specifications for a laptop I priced a laptop at nearly $3000.00 , that’s out of my budget I can spend up to about $1500.00 on the new laptop any suggestions out there from people that are using ecabinets sorftware on less expensive machines?

DanEpps · Post by **DanEpps** » Tue, Apr 03 2007, 6:12AM

You are going to be very hard pressed to find a laptop for under $3000 that will provide suitable performance.

However, check out the Dell Outlet and you will find some great prices there on refurbished, scratch&dent or previously ordered new laptops.

Just select:

\"Dell Precision Workstations\" from the \"Stockrooms\" dropdown
\"M90\" from the \"Model\" dropdown
\"2000\" from the \"Minimum RAM\" dropdown
\"Genuine Windows XP Pro\" from the \"Operating System\" dropdown.

Post by **Dean Fehribach** » Tue, Apr 03 2007, 10:51AM

Wow, Dan! That's pretty neat. I didn't even know about that method of finding the refurbs. Certainly some good pricing there.

Theodore R Fountain · Post by **Theodore R Fountain** » Wed, Apr 04 2007, 6:02AM

I bought a dell inspiron 9400 , it came with 1.6g processor and 60 gig 7400rpm HD. Also i found one with a 256meg dedicated graphics card. (which should be first on your list of specs.) Its a wide screen which is nice. I got it about 6 months ago for $969.00. It was a refurbished model. No issues at all, I have been building a large job on e-cab. with no speed problems, In fact i can open 4 programs at the same time with no issue, and i run a sencond moniter off of the same lap top to.

Scan the dell outlet with the specs you want. things change every min so keep looking, if somthing pops up save it.

DanEpps · Post by **DanEpps** » Wed, Apr 04 2007, 6:18AM

You're right, it changes constantly. In fact, things in your shopping cart will be deleted if you do not complete the transaction within 15 minutes.

I bought a loaded Precision Workstation 380 last year for well under $1000--about a $3000 savings!

I strongly encourage anyone shopping for a new computer to check the site several days in a row or even several times a day for deals. Very often you will find an affordable system with much more capability than your budget would allow if it were new.

Not only that, but the refurbs have a 3 year on-site warranty with next day service.

The only downside is that you cannot make changes and have to buy the system \"as configured\". Sometimes this even includes software such as Microsoft Office and I have even seen AutoCAD on some of the higher-end workstations.

Al Navas · Post by **Al Navas** » Wed, Apr 04 2007, 5:27PM

I see many of these machines have a video card with only 128MB video RAM. Is this OK to run eCabinets? I suspect it is, as many of you appear to have this.

My current laptop just won't cut it with only 512MB RAM and integrated graphics

. So, I will be looking at the Dell outlet several times daily too.

Thanks!

Rick Palechuk · Post by **Rick Palechuk** » Thu, Apr 05 2007, 8:07AM

Hey Dan, is there a Canadian version of the Dell Outlet? The fine print says US only.

DanEpps · Post by **DanEpps** » Thu, Apr 05 2007, 10:37AM

There doesn't appear to be just from looking at the Canadian site. You could give them a call to verify that.

mikesand · Post by **mikesand** » Thu, Apr 05 2007, 7:12PM

You can get a servicable laptop for $1500. No problem. I am using a Dell M70 2.26 Ghz with the top end video card that I bought brand new, in the box, on Ebay for $900. And that was 6 months ago.

I looked earlier today and there was an M70 goint for $800. Also consider the M60 or 65.

Don't be afraid of buying a slightly used M70 or M90. If the seller has good feedback and has enough sales then you are likely as safe as you would be in any other enviroment.

By the way, I think that my purchase still holds the record for the lowest selling price for a loaded M70.

I can work on all but the very largest and complex jobs with no issues. I had one very large kitchen that had more than 50 raised panel doors/endcaps, plus a lot of mouldings and .hsf files in it. I had to split the job in half to keep it managible, But I could render the whole job .... slowly.

Mike

Jack Duren · Post by **Jack Duren** » Fri, Apr 06 2007, 10:47PM

I use a Dell 5100 2.8 Ghz without any problems.....Jack

Al Navas · Post by **Al Navas** » Sat, Apr 07 2007, 7:30AM

Still looking - but Jack suggested (elsewhere) that I use wireframe until it is time to render the final image. I might try it and see how much improvement I get.

Jon Dieterlen · Post by **Jon Dieterlen** » Sat, Apr 07 2007, 9:20PM

I've been using a gateway with AMD anthlon 64 4000+2.59 ghz. 1 gig ram w/ATI radeon x600. I paid $1200 about 18 months ago. It works well w/no issues unless you start adding door and drawer pulls. It seems to run a little slower if you do a global material change on the whole job. Other than that it seems to work fine. I don't send data to a router however, so I cannot comment on its permance in that situation.

Al Navas · Post by **Al Navas** » Tue, Apr 10 2007, 7:38AM

I keep looking at the Dell Outlet regularly, and find that the M65 Notebook typically is listed with the following graphics card:

512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 350M Turbocache, OpenGL(256MB dedicated, up to 256MB shared)

Will the shared portion of the memory affect performance on this laptop? Also, the screen size on the M65 is 15.4\", while the M90 has a 17-inch screen. I currently have a 17-inch screen on my current HP, and am somewhat reluctant to go back to a smaller screen.

I am interested in your opinions on the graphics card, and on the screen size. Thanks for your feedback!

.

DanEpps · Post by **DanEpps** » Tue, Apr 10 2007, 8:35AM

Al

What that means is that if your program needs more that 256MB for graphics, it will take up to 256MB additional from system RAM. That will definitely affect system performance if it happens.

You should be able to find an M90 on the Dell outlet for a reasonable price. It has the large screen and is faster with a better graphics card.

Al Navas · Post by **Al Navas** » Tue, Apr 10 2007, 8:56AM

Thanks for your quick feedback, Dan. You are correct - the M90 will be a much better performer all around. I have been looking at the ones with the Quadro FX 2500M graphics card, rather than the FX 1500 card. Should buy one later this week.

.