Laptops for PDEs and 3D Modeling: Finding the Best Option

[PerennialII]

Hi, my old laptop is nearing its expiration date ... need a new one. There is only one criteria ... all around punch, since I do numerical mathematics (PDEs) and 3D modeling. I'm currently considering Dell Precision M60 as the best option ... am I on the right track or are there better laptops / something else I need to consider ?

 

[Anttech]

Dell Latitude D800 is also good..

 

[PerennialII]

Dell Latitude D800 is also good..

Yeah, last one of latitude series I've had was C800 I think ... worked fine. I think the major difference between Latitude & Precision is in the display controller ... Precision beating Latitude in this match ... and is actually the primary reason I'm currently going for Precision if nothing else comes up.

 

[alexkerhead]

anythingh with a Pentium M dothan are good as of now.

 

[Sirus]

I would say that memory is very important if you do 3D modelling. I always recommend people build their computers from scratch rather than buy them from a company like Dell. You end up getting a much better (and more customized to your taste) computer for the money.

I'd say at least 1GB RAM, 2GB if you can afford it.

 

[PerennialII]

Yeah, starting from scratch would be the better way to go in all respects. However, I'm getting a chunk of the costs from my employer which also means I don't in this case want to go the extra mile ... I'll do that from my own pc. 1 Gb in a necessity, I'm taking 2 Gbs, even though the price it adds is quite phenomenal (for example with Dell I think it adds around 2k $ to the nominal price). In my current I have 1 Gb and its not all that difficult to run the system to a stall.

 

[hitssquad]

Why not buy the unit with minimal RAM and then add RAM from Crucial or Mushkin?

 

[PerennialII]

Why not buy the unit with minimal RAM and then add RAM from Crucial or Mushkin?

Sounds like a plan ... since this is a "work - unit" I've typically gone with manufacturer specs to minimize blue screening etc. No real reason not to do as you suggested, however.

 

[hitssquad]

That's what I did. I bought my Dell laptop (2+ years ago) with 128MB of RAM at a bargain price and boosted it to 1GB (at the time, a large amount) with Crucial RAM for minimal cost.

 

[alexkerhead]

I'd say at least 1GB RAM, 2GB if you can afford it.

lol, wtf?
I use 1GB and I haven't seen a difference than when I had 512, so 1GB would be the best bet.

 

[Sirus]

It is possible that you either had faster ram earlier, changed something else on your PC, or don't do very memory-intensive work. 1GB (1024MB to be exact) is twice as good as 512.

 

[alexkerhead]

It is possible that you either had faster ram earlier, changed something else on your PC, or don't do very memory-intensive work. 1GB (1024MB to be exact) is twice as good as 512.

ROFL, I know everything about mem requirments, I run cad all the time.
I am saying, that 1024MB is the perfect amount for now.
My previous was 512MB ddr266(pc2100)2-3-6-6-i, now I use 1024MB ddr333(pc2700)2-2-6-6-16

 

[PerennialII]

Well in my case 1 Gb would probably just do modeling wise ... working further with the models (like solving PDEs in them) is where I can get it pretty easily to reach the max and resort to using virtual.