So I’m starting a new job doing CAD drafting and the company lets me have a home copy of Siemens Solid Edge and I also have a full student suite of Autodesk products that will end up installed on whatever I get. Mostly modeling and large assemblies with the occasional render that can run as long as it needs to.
My question comes down to if building a PC right now with decent specs is a bad idea vs. just buying a good laptop since I found the PowerSpec 1510 has essentially all the features I’m looking for. I will need a laptop for work, battery life isn’t really an issue since I’m a terrible person and leave my current laptop plugged in all the time. I’m looking at a budget between $800-$1300, my current laptop is around 6-7 years old with a Samsung Evo SSD being the only thing that keeps it halfway functional now. First time poster so if this is in the wrong section, please move it.
With the price of RAM and GPUs being what they are, a prebuilt system can be a more cost effective option than building. I would spec the same parts, or equivelent, to the prebuilt and see how it comes out.
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Depending on the work it may be beneficial to go with a desktop over a laptop. Unless if your work strictly wants you working on a laptop.
One could go for the
6 cores 12 threads about $200 over your budget ( although its on sale right now and for the next 16 hours ). This seems to be the cheapest 8th gen intel cpu right now around your budget on newegg.
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Well the local Microcenter had an open box unit in the store and they cut a little over $100 off the price to get it sold. Got home and so far in 2 hours of messing with the thing, here’s a list of things that are missing or not working since there’s very little info on these computers other than they look great on paper:
-Multitouch and trackpad gestures not recognized and no Synaptics settings page existed.
-The RGB keyboard with customization has no way to adjust.
-The function key combos that normally change brightness and pull up a control panel don’t work at all.
-The program that controls color profiles, brightness, etc is not even installed on the computer and it’s not available for download.
-The swipe finger print sensor installed on the laptop is not recognized by Windows hello. In fact Windows 10 says the laptop isn’t compatible with the hello system.
-The biggest issue is that any manufacturer specific driver sets or programs like for the keyboard or touch sensor can’t be downloaded because small Chinese company with no support.
Going to return this thing today because I made a mistake and I’ll just save up and pay the name brand premium for a supported unit.
Was it a clean wiped HDD with windows or the OEM install?
You can head to the website and enter the model number usually on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop.
It will show you what drivers and utilities are available.