I have an eight-year-old laptop that needs replacing and I’m paralyzed. What are the most reliable ones now? Do I need a desktop for CAD? Pros and cons of operating systems (and where do I find them?) Browsers ditto? Where do I find answers that aren’t just product marketing?
Desktop vs laptop doesn’t matter much for any given CAD software. Just make sure you hit the recommend specs of whatever software you’re looking to use.
The bigger thing will be if whatever CAD software that is is Windows exclusive or not. I’d check that before deciding to go the Linux route (which most people on here are going to try to steer you towards.)
Good point!
I’ll say as a cad professional, the linux space was abandoned by the largest companies a while ago. Unless you go browser based (onshape) your software will either be less mature (Freecad, solvespace) or straightup script based (openscad).
Or you will have to use a dedicated VM but IMHO it’s not worth it when you can just dual-boot.
There’s truth in this, but also caveats. I work with a bunch of mechanical engineers. In the warmer months, while working on really complex drawings, they need to take frequent breaks.
It’s because laptops are designed to be compact, by sacrificing airflow. So when they run anything heavy, the CPU would heat up and start throttling itself.
On a desktop, easily solved by slapping on a semi-decent cheap cooler. On laptops, well, you take frequent breaks.
you could get round this a bit by going for laptops that are designed to be used under load for extended periods of time… like gaming laptops.
Despite the good specs i wouldn’t want to be doing much heavy computing on a thin and light
Nah nah nah nah just make em all draw in the walk in.
If the CAD package can leverage GPU computing, then an eGPU is a good compromise. That way you can have plenty of power and airflow at the desk for intensive tasks, but you don’t need to lug all the hardware to the floor for interfacing with plc’s or to meetings. Although systems with good eGPU support are often expensive enough that keeping a separate desktop workstation and a lightweight laptop is competitive.
High single core cpu clock speeds and lots of ram should be the first priority for cad. Solidworks, for example, does not handle running out of ram gracefully at all.