In the market for a laptop

[champshire]

Hi guys. Just like the title says I am in the market for a laptop. This will be used on the floor beside the machine. I want to be able to make a change to a file and repost as needed. We do some full 4th work (unified now days, but think morph, parallel and along curve). I routinely use opti-rough and area rest rough for roughing. I use raster and waterline a lot for finishing. We don't do any CAV as of now, or 5 axis, but hard to say what the future holds. Also do some mill/turn (not in the mill turn module) and 2 axis lathe stuff.

Looking to spend about 2k. Would like something with a 17" screen, 64 gb ram, 11th gen processor (7 or 9 but not opposed to amd at all), 500 gig hard drive is fine, and am thinking 6gb min for video card. I get lost on the trade names for the video cards and the processors.

Am I delusional in what I think I need for the cost? I don't want to over spend, I would like this to do the job for the next 3 years or so. I was on newegg looking around and see some that are about that price but don't know much about the video cards. I know not all video cards and processors are created equal so I need some advice there.

Here's some links to the ones I found:
https://www.newegg.com/p/1TS-0016-02RU4
https://www.newegg.com/blue-msi-ge-series-ge76-raider-11ue-046-gaming/p/2WC-000C-08CA9?quicklink=true
https://www.newegg.com/black-msi-pulse-gl76-12ugk-256-gaming-entertainment/p/2WC-000C-07RZ5

Would these suffice? Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

[JParis]

Maybe I am just getting to darn old and grumpy...honestly, I wouldn't touch any of them and if that's the best they can do, I'd be looking to relocate myself.

We had a similar discussion on the other forum last week with a user who is having issues with an older, way under spec'd pooter...

My current laptop was double+ of what you've been given to spend...

I don't understand companies that want to use a 1998 budget number on a 2022 computer...

[neurosis]

Hi guys. Just like the title says I am in the market for a laptop.

Is this going to be your main programming PC, or something for convenience? 

[Jeff]

The 3rd one in your list is a nice one and will work just fine.
MSI makes some really good laptops.

[gcode]

The gaming card vrs Quadro card debate is endless.
Personally I would never buy a machine for Mastercam without a Quadro video card.

You budget is very low for today's market.
I think you will have trouble if you stick to it

Your best bet at that price point is Dell Business Refurb or perhaps
a lease return from NewEgg or maybe something like this
New 2020 Dell from New Egg

[Jeff]

The gaming card vrs Quadro card is endless.

This is true.
However, I had a higher end gaming card for the longest time (GTX980) and it was perfect.
It was only until I started working on large files and large assemblies when I noticed the gaming card was lacking, then I got the Quadro P4000.
But then again, these newer gaming cards like the 3080 are insane. Leaps and bounds better than the 980 was.
Even better than my 1080Ti that I have at home.

[CNCAppsJames]

$2k is DEFINITELY a little light in the budget today. You need to get them to up the budget.

NEVER get a "minimum reccommendation" spec computer because you WILL get minimum spec results such as long processing times. Time is money.

The rig I'm driving was a touch over $4,500 IIRC.
Dell Precision 7750
Intel i9-10885H CPU @ 2.40GHz
64GB Ram
NVidia Quadro RTX4000
1TB Samsung EVO Pro SSD

[champshire]

Thanks for the feedback guys. What is a realistic budget then? Is ram not a big thing anymore? The video card is more important than ram it seems? What should I be looking at for a video card if I can't get them to swing a quadro?

It's funny, the specs I used are very similar to what is in my desktop now....

[champshire]

Is this going to be your main programming PC, or something for convenience? 

Convenience, but what I specked out is really close to my desktop. My desktop has a I7 (9th gen) 64 gb of ram, 5gb video card. It runs mcam pretty good. Could it be faster? Absolutely. Is it a deal breaker? No, not really. The longest I have to wait on something is about a min and a half.

[neurosis]

The video card is more important than ram it seems? What should I be looking at for a video card if I can't get them to swing a quadro?

It really depends on what you're doing.  I work for one of those companies that don't dump a bunch of money in to their programming PC's. I spend more on my home PC's    At one point I was programing on a Dell Vostro and that was miserable.  I talked the boss in to letting me build my own PC and the one thing I had to sacrifice on to stick within the budget was the video card.

I'm running a GTX 1060 and while it chokes a little on large assemblies, or even smaller assemblies when I have translucency turned on, it's not been a deal breaker.  The funny thing is, on other Cam systems, the video card performs much better than it does in MC. I'm not sure why that is. Would I like something better. Sure. But it doesn't prevent me from doing my job. 

If the laptop is more of a convenience thing and you can't get a larger budget, I think that you would be fine. I wouldn't sacrifice ram for the video card. 

[Jeff]

Thanks for the feedback guys. What is a realistic budget then? Is ram not a big thing anymore? The video card is more important than ram it seems? What should I be looking at for a video card if I can't get them to swing a quadro?

It's funny, the specs I used are very similar to what is in my desktop now....

It's not quite that simple of an explanation.
Yes you want as much RAM as you can get AND get the fastest you can! And make sure the BIOS is set to run it at those speeds and not the default speeds.
A Quadro card is a different animal, it's designed for cad work, and the specs won't compare to a high end gaming card at all, they'll look much lower. It's all in the drivers. Back in the day you used to be able to turn any gaming card into a Quadro by changing the drivers. Nvidia didn't like that.
If you have files that are large assemblies and whatnot, then you want a Quadro.
If your file is just a solid model or wireframe then a higher end gaming card will be fine.

Bottom line = Do not skimp on RAM or CPU speed.

[CNCAppsJames]

The funny thing is, on other Cam systems, the video card performs much better than it does in MC. I'm not sure why that is.

Usually lack of OpenGL support is the leading reason hence the reason we tend to push the NVidia cards with the Quadro chipsets. That's one of the main differentiators between gaming cards and CAD/CAM/CAE Workstation graphgics cards. Games tend use DirectX and other graphics engines whereas CAD/CAM/CAE applications tend to use use OpenGL graphics engines.

[neurosis]

Usually lack of OpenGL support is the leading reason hence the reason we tend to push the NVidia cards with the Quadro chipsets. That's one of the main differentiators between gaming cards and CAD/CAM/CAE Workstation graphgics cards. Games tend use DirectX and other graphics engines whereas CAD/CAM/CAE applications tend to use use OpenGL graphics engines.

That I understand more or less. What I was talking about, is I can spin an identical assembly around in TS and still get great frame rates, while MC will choke on it like it's having a stroke.   This is with the GTX 1060

I noticed the same in Solidworks but not quite as much.

Not a dig at MC necessarily, just an observation. My last PC had a 'lower' end Quadro card it in and you could definitely tell the difference between it and the gaming card in Mastercam. 

[champshire]

So is a 4gb quadro superior to a 8 gb rtx or similar? I am getting what you guys are saying. Get a video card for the work we do...not gaming.

[mega]

Hi guys. Just like the title says I am in the market for a laptop. This will be used on the floor beside the machine. I want to be able to make a change to a file and repost as needed. We do some full 4th work (unified now days, but think morph, parallel and along curve). I routinely use opti-rough and area rest rough for roughing. I use raster and waterline a lot for finishing. We don't do any CAV as of now, or 5 axis, but hard to say what the future holds. Also do some mill/turn (not in the mill turn module) and 2 axis lathe stuff.

Looking to spend about 2k. Would like something with a 17" screen, 64 gb ram, 11th gen processor (7 or 9 but not opposed to amd at all), 500 gig hard drive is fine, and am thinking 6gb min for video card. I get lost on the trade names for the video cards and the processors.

Am I delusional in what I think I need for the cost? I don't want to over spend, I would like this to do the job for the next 3 years or so. I was on newegg looking around and see some that are about that price but don't know much about the video cards. I know not all video cards and processors are created equal so I need some advice there.

Here's some links to the ones I found:
https://www.newegg.com/p/1TS-0016-02RU4
https://www.newegg.com/blue-msi-ge-series-ge76-raider-11ue-046-gaming/p/2WC-000C-08CA9?quicklink=true
https://www.newegg.com/black-msi-pulse-gl76-12ugk-256-gaming-entertainment/p/2WC-000C-07RZ5

Would these suffice? Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I use an M.S.I. those specs look okay