Which Laptop?

[SYNACK]

Go latest generation (the sandybridge) as it is way more power efficient, can use turbo boost on all cores, more eficient instruction set etc. the irony is that it is not all about closk speed (AMD's message from years back).

 

Go with either the 4 real core i5 or an i7 of the latest range. Both have decent horsepower and more cores is better. Rendering software is usually multithreaded and even if it is not then there are way more things than a single app running all the time (services etc.). Even without multithreading unless the app is affinity locked the instructions can be split over multiple CPUs up to the top speed of one core to spread the heat load.

 

The HD screen is also a good idea unless you are also thinking of an external moniter as this current trend of OPDs (Old People Dispalys) with giant pixels is really stupid when coupled with massive CPU power. It's like a 9L v16 on bike wheels. An external screen for use at the dorm/accomodation is a good plan anyway as two screens are better. If she has a fatscreen TV of her own she may be able to use that.

 

From the looks of the solidworks GPU drivers page Graphics Card Drivers | SolidWorks it looks like it may prefer/use workstation grade GPUs like the Quadro or FirePro cards which will also make it more expencive.

 

For cost dropping the big things are cores and CPU generation along with the GPU. The other things can be easily upgraded or mitigated later incrementally if required.

[m25man]

If you are still looking then take a look a this - Dell XPS 17 i7-2360QM FREE UPGRADES - 6GB RAM - 3GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M Graphics Card - 1TB Serial ATA Dual HDD - 9 cell battery!!! £664 !!! delivered plus possible Quidco!!! (EPP/ Student) - HotUKDeals

 

Dell XPS 17 i7-2360QM 6GB RAM 3GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M Graphics Card - 1TB Serial ATA Dual HDD - 9 cell battery £664.00 delivered

 

Thats not a Laptop it's BattleStar Flight Controller!

[jerryeight]

If you are still looking then take a look a this - Dell XPS 17 i7-2360QM FREE UPGRADES - 6GB RAM - 3GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M Graphics Card - 1TB Serial ATA Dual HDD - 9 cell battery!!! £664 !!! delivered plus possible Quidco!!! (EPP/ Student) - HotUKDeals

 

Dell XPS 17 i7-2360QM 6GB RAM 3GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 555M Graphics Card - 1TB Serial ATA Dual HDD - 9 cell battery £664.00 delivered

 

 

 

that is fricking awesome

[witch]

Sorry, when I follow the link I cant get to a laptop at that price? It says you have to be an employee of someone or other and not students. Can anyone else help?

The offer looks great though

Edited August 3, 2011 by witch

[Steve21]

Sorry, when I follow the link I cant get to a laptop at that price?

 

Seems it includes quidco refund and discount code, it's explained on the hotdeals comment part

 

Steve

[witch]

S'ok - think I got it now!!

Cant get to it through quidco though,or hotdeals

[witch]

Done it, got it and THANKS VERY MUCH!!!!!!!XXXXXXXXXX. Only a bit over budget and WAAAAAAAY better than any other spec we have found.

We are very very grateful :)