Mastercam laptops?

[memphisjed]

For 300-400 dollars an old elitebook w series will work the same as a new gaming rig. Pick graphics card to software. Amd sucks with autodesk directs ,smokes OpenGL (solidworks, Catia). Nvidea is opposite. Also which the software company likes more. I can barely open a medium size building file on the newer gaming rig desktop- old elitebook doesn’t blink- well blinks some, touchpad died, it has been rock solid for years. my computers stay with me including shop floor.
It needs to retire so I just got the same thing but this model year. Zbook fury. I wouldve got a MacBook minus the stupid no number pad thing.

 

[triumph406]

Those are not bad requirements. Used Hp elitebook 8770. Old but is going to be cheap and have plenty of umph for your needs.

I've been using an HP 8740 for 10+ years, great laptops.

 

[memphisjed]

I've been using an HP 8740 for 10+ years, great laptops.

Still kicking in a pristine environment…

 

[empower]

For 300-400 dollars an old elitebook w series will work the same as a new gaming rig. Pick graphics card to software. Amd sucks with autodesk directs ,smokes OpenGL (solidworks, Catia). Nvidea is opposite. Also which the software company likes more. I can barely open a medium size building file on the newer gaming rig desktop- old elitebook doesn’t blink- well blinks some, touchpad died, it has been rock solid for years. my computers stay with me including shop floor.
It needs to retire so I just got the same thing but this model year. Zbook fury. I wouldve got a MacBook minus the stupid no number pad thing.

i literally just spit my drink out, surely you jest?

 

[jaguar36]

Thank you. I wouldn't mind spending more, $2500ish would be reasonable if it was a good machine that would remain usable for a decade. I'm not a fan of windows 11 though. What about a nice "refurbished" high end laptop?

Keep in mind that just because you do cad/cam doesn't mean you need a expensive 'Workstation'. If you are mostly working with single parts or small assemblies you don't need to go crazy with a super expensive Quadro video card and a huge amount of ram. Keep in mind that a $3k PC from three years ago is a $1k PC now, and people managed just fine with those PCs at the time. I use 5 different computers for doing CAD/CAM work and my lowly little $100 refurb off lease Dell works just fine for dealing with single parts or making quick changes to a simple toolpath.

On the other end, I've got a $5k 'workstation' that still goes to crap if I try to load in a huge model with all the fasteners and full detail of everything. Its not like the top end computers do everything instantaneously. CAD programs also have lots of options for adjusting your performance. For instance in CATIA at least you can adjust what size parts it displays so that all the tiny little fasteners aren't shown if you zoom out.

I've had good luck with Dell refurbs, although keep in mind that Dell's laptop 'workstations' are pretty terrible. They're huge, have terrible battery life and don't have basic features like a light up keyboard.

Also skip the ECC memory, the chances of having a memory error that actually causes you an issue are incredibly small and its significantly more expensive.

 

[empower]

Keep in mind that just because you do cad/cam doesn't mean you need a expensive 'Workstation'. If you are mostly working with single parts or small assemblies you don't need to go crazy with a super expensive Quadro video card and a huge amount of ram. Keep in mind that a $3k PC from three years ago is a $1k PC now, and people managed just fine with those PCs at the time. I use 5 different computers for doing CAD/CAM work and my lowly little $100 refurb off lease Dell works just fine for dealing with single parts or making quick changes to a simple toolpath.

On the other end, I've got a $5k 'workstation' that still goes to crap if I try to load in a huge model with all the fasteners and full detail of everything. Its not like the top end computers do everything instantaneously. CAD programs also have lots of options for adjusting your performance. For instance in CATIA at least you can adjust what size parts it displays so that all the tiny little fasteners aren't shown if you zoom out.

I've had good luck with Dell refurbs, although keep in mind that Dell's laptop 'workstations' are pretty terrible. They're huge, have terrible battery life and don't have basic features like a light up keyboard.

Also skip the ECC memory, the chances of having a memory error that actually causes you an issue are incredibly small and its significantly more expensive.

yeah, cant agree with you there bud... i've run numerous cad/cam programs on computers without ECC, and the difference in stability is STAGGERING. non ECC setups i'd have to reboot every day, sometimes more than once a day. with ECC ram, i can go for weeks without a reboot.

 

[Mtndew]

A question for all:

If someone handed you $1400 to go on ebay and buy yourself a laptop -with a backlit keyboard - for cad/cam work; what specific computer would you buy?

"Make sure it has xyz, eec, high speed, blah blah" has me totally lost lol.

I wouldn't buy from Ebay. I'd go to the Dell outlet and see what deals they have, even though I hate Dell.
If you said desktop, I'd take that money and go to Microcenter, buy the parts and build it myself.

 

[memphisjed]

1400$!!!?
For just more you can get Hp laptop workstation with onsite warranty with I dropped it into coolant sump coverage for three years/ brand new. These warranties are the big benefit to real computers vs hobbiest/gamer toys. Also email your graphics card company with your software and you get drivers tailored to that. These are sold as machines with service.
You have to be very patient with pricing, they change every hour for different configurations. Call when one close comes up and they will knock another few hundred off if you are repeat customer on a slightly different configuration. Even used repeat.. just tell them you are.
1900 was well equipped fury 16 inch.

 

[jaguar36]

yeah, cant agree with you there bud... i've run numerous cad/cam programs on computers without ECC, and the difference in stability is STAGGERING. non ECC setups i'd have to reboot every day, sometimes more than once a day. with ECC ram, i can go for weeks without a reboot.

Definitely had something else going on there then. You shouldn’t have that sort of stabilty issues regardless of memory type.

 

[empower]

Definitely had something else going on there then. You shouldn’t have that sort of stabilty issues regardless of memory type.

across multiple different computers?
the difference was clear between ecc and non ecc computers. ECC are flat out more stable.

 

[Houdini]

across multiple different computers?
the difference was clear between ecc and non ecc computers. ECC are flat out more stable.

I agree with ECC, but actually I notice the bigger difference in #1 the graphics card drivers!
and #2workstation CPU reliability/stability

Nvidia even mentions the main reason in a pro video card is the reliability, stability, accuracy, and driver updates and reliability.

Pro video cards, especially when running with workstation processors(XEON) just work far better, not speed,
but the MAIN reason you buy workstation HW,
reliability, stability, and that includes drivers.

and gaming stuff vs pro stuff just isn't the same.
Its wicked fast, but that's it, everything else is less.

I have 2 workstations at the shop, 7 computers (4 modern gaming rigs) at home, One updated each year, ouch$$
and been running 3D related content for next to 30 years.

And to add AMD has never had the stability and reliability of intel, and neither has their video cards, even before they bought out ATI, ATI was junk.

there may be bigger computer nerds on here, but I have actually ran them.

I personally, and I know this is strange, would rather run older workstation hardware, than newer high speed gaming hardware.
the reliability, stability, accuracy are that different from my experience.
One of my workstations at the shop runs an old 8 core XEON with some Nvidia 4000 video card, ECC, and it NEVER has issues, it runs far better than running the same software on my sons top of the line water cooled
$3000-4000 gaming rig.

I have hacked copies of CAD/CAM at home on various rigs, depending on who needs which one. and I prefer the workstation hardware, even if its older slower.

Just my 2 cents

 

[Houdini]

Thank you. I wouldn't mind spending more, $2500ish would be reasonable if it was a good machine that would remain usable for a decade. I'm not a fan of windows 11 though. What about a nice "refurbished" high end laptop?

Ok, So with a grain of salt, I dont buy or look at laptops AT ALL!
My wife runs laptops all the time, we have had HP, ASUS, DELL, Lenovo, Acer, and MSI
and the MSI has been the best, but we have only owned one so far.

This laptop is $2500, but it has what would be a $2000 video card(Nvidia Quadro A5000) in it.

The tech in this laptop is 2+ years old.

But to me @ $2500 for a workstation, Window 10 Pro over 11
ram 64 is good
16 Gig of video ram, nice!
Nvidia Pro 5000 series card, sweet!
1tb NVME plenty and fast
17.5" IPS 144 1080p, I need the biggest screen possible!!

MSI Mobile Workstation CAD/CAM specific.
MSI WE Info

So without digging around all over.

But if you want to dig for yourself.
Intel i7 or i9 CPU Gen 11 or higher.
or Intel XEON
Nvidia professional video, Quadro or RTX, model 2000 or above
RAM 32Gig minimum
screen size, what ever floats your boat, I don't buy anything under 17" anymore.

 

[Houdini]

I think this is my other workstations new future rebuild rig.

What you don't notice in the comparisons that's misleading is that the i9 actually only has 8 P-Cores, the other 16 are E-Cores
and with Windows 10 being older it doesn't get along with this as well so they suggest disabling E-Cores, yuk.

Windows 11 who knows the stability for CAD CAM

On the Xeon-W all 12 cores are what would be P-Cores.

Also base clock is higher without overclock, So if you wanted more out of that overclock your not driving as hard to get a higher output.(less heat and more stability/reliability)

All that and it doesn't factor the cherry picked dies, and the reliability/stability aspect of the die.

Xeon W CPU
spec. compare Xeon W vs i9 same year.

Just a reference as what I think I'm doin on my next build.

 

[triumph406]

i literally just spit my drink out, surely you jest?

Nope he doesn't

I have an older 8740, it can run Solidworks FEA in the background, complex 3d toolpaths in surfcam in the background, while running NX without any hint of slowing down.

The money you guys waste thinking these expensive modern laptops is only justified for small periods of time when your 'rig' is faster then mine. For 99% of the time, for what you and I do, an old HP 87xx is more then adequate.

 

[empower]

Nope he doesn't

I have an older 8740, it can run Solidworks FEA in the background, complex 3d toolpaths in surfcam in the background, while running NX without any hint of slowing down.

The money you guys waste thinking these expensive modern laptops is only justified for small periods of time when your 'rig' is faster then mine. For 99% of the time, for what you and I do, an old HP 87xx is more then adequate.

i dont do cam on laptops, havent in a long time, so i dont waste money on them
desktop>laptop any and every day of the week

 

[Mtndew]

Nope he doesn't

I have an older 8740, it can run Solidworks FEA in the background, complex 3d toolpaths in surfcam in the background, while running NX without any hint of slowing down.

The money you guys waste thinking these expensive modern laptops is only justified for small periods of time when your 'rig' is faster then mine. For 99% of the time, for what you and I do, an old HP 87xx is more then adequate.

The HP8740 has a core i5/core i7 cpu and is 14 years old.
What do you interpret as "complex 3D toolpaths"?
Do you have large assemblies on the screen and are you able to rotate them without it being a slide show?
Some people need as much power as they can muster. I'm not one of them but I do need a beefy computer often.

Compare that CPU to a modern i9 and there's no contest lol.
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i9-13900K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-M-520/4129vsm812

 

[Houdini]

Nope he doesn't

I have an older 8740, it can run Solidworks FEA in the background, complex 3d toolpaths in surfcam in the background, while running NX without any hint of slowing down.

The money you guys waste thinking these expensive modern laptops is only justified for small periods of time when your 'rig' is faster then mine. For 99% of the time, for what you and I do, an old HP 87xx is more then adequate.

Wait a sec.
Yes that was an awesome laptop, and its processing power would definitely still be usable, no doubt!, the numbers are the numbers and the tech. is legit.

But the thing is that is an old discontinued laptop, same as my old discontinued tower.
they still get the job done great!
but that laptop was expensive high end at the time, it wasn't cheap at all! neither was my obsolete tower workstation.
that's why they can still be used over a decade later.

So you cant really nock that people need or want to buy a high end piece of expensive equipment to last over decade, when that is what you did.
The prices on those, on some sites has not been removed, but doesn't matter if you know hardware you know that laptop was expensive when it was released.
Was $2,000-$3,000 when new

So not trying to say your being hypocritical but, you bought an expensive laptop then, and these guys want an expensive laptop now.
for the same reasons, So their applicable and usable for longer.

 

[jaguar36]

desktop>laptop any and every day of the week

Except when you have to take the computer home.

Had to leave early today, grabbed my laptop got home and was able to keep working. I’ll take the price hit for that ability anyday. If you don’t need to move the computer obviously a desktop is better.

 

[Houdini]

Except when you have to take the computer home.

Had to leave early today, grabbed my laptop got home and was able to keep working. I’ll take the price hit for that ability anyday. If you don’t need to move the computer obviously a desktop is better.

truth!
I'm glad I don't need mobility, it would suck, but if you need it you need it.
I hate the idea of paying more for less, just to be able to walk around with it.
Luckily I have 2 rigs at home I can do work on, Sure they are gaming rigs, wicked fast, but not as optimal.

 

[empower]

Except when you have to take the computer home.

Had to leave early today, grabbed my laptop got home and was able to keep working. I’ll take the price hit for that ability anyday. If you don’t need to move the computer obviously a desktop is better.

i have a computer at home with the same software i have/use at work, files are stored on our company cloud, or take a usb if i need to work on something super sensitive. fuck laptops