which laptop could i buy under £1K for archiCAD?

[Anonymous]

Hello, could sy help me which laptop could i buy (less £1K). I never used laptop before for drawing. I tried to find out it and read lots of topic, but i just dont know and am not good in technical details.

I saw two laptops in store, could sy help me if any of them could be enough for use archiCAD? Thanky you for your help.
If anyone have any idea (which laptop could I buy in the UK and where etc. that would be really helpful also.

Laptop1
CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drive I
NO
Computer Support Helpline
Free 90 day computer support
Dimensions
H29.9 x W327.5 x D250.7 mm
Ethernet Port
YES
Finish
Natural silver, glass fiber with silky soft-touch paint, aluminum cover
Graphics card
NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M, 2GB
Graphics card type
Dedicated
Hard drive I
1TB
Headphone socket
YES
Memory (RAM)
16GB
Memory Card Slot
SD Card
Model name / number
15-j004sa E6B23EA
NFC enabled
NO
Operating system
Windows 8 (64 Bit)
Ports I
4x USB 3.0, 1x HDMI
Processor
Quad-core Intel Core i7-4700MQ
Processor speed
2.4GHz to 3.4GHz with Turbo Boost
Screen finish
Gloss
Screen Resolution
1920 x 1080 pixels
Screen size
15.6"
Screen Type
Full HD BrightView LED-backlit Touch Screen
Sound
Quad speakers and Subwoofer
Touch Screen
YES
Voice Recognition
NO
Webcam (front-facing)
HP TrueVision HD Webcam
Webcam (rear-facing)
NO
Weight
2.56kg
Wireless Display
YES
Wireless networking
Wi-Fi- 802.11b/g/n

Laptop2
CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drive
CD/DVD Read & Write
Computer Support Helpline
Free 90 day computer support
Dimensions
H26 x W380 x D260 mm
Ethernet Port
YES
Finish
Black
Graphics card
AMD Radeon Graphics
Graphics card type
Shared
Hard drive
1TB + 8GB SSHD
Headphone socket
YES
Memory Card Slot
2-in-1 SD & MMC card reader
Model name / number
G505s 59383984
NFC enabled
Operating system
Windows 8 (64 Bit)
Ports
2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, 1x HDMI, 1x VGA
Processor .
Quad-core AMD A10-5750M
Processor speed
2.5GHz to 3.1GHz with Turbo Boost
Screen finish
Gloss
Screen size
15.6"
Screen Type
HD LED Glare Wedge
Touch Screen
NO
Voice Recognition
NO
Webcam (front-facing)
720p HD High-Sense webcam
Webcam (rear-facing)
NO
Weight
2.4kg
Wireless Display
Wireless networking
Wi-Fi- 802.11b/g/n

[Link]

Definitely not option 2. It has a shared graphics card, for a start.

Both are only 15.6" screens which would be a deal breaker for me.

Presumably this will be the most important tool of your trade? And you should only have to invest in it every three years or so. I wouldn't skimp on it.

Check www.graphisoft.com/support/system_requirements/ for recommended system requirements and get the very best you can afford.

Processor quality and quantity, RAM, Graphics card are the most important things to consider followed by HDD speed and size (think solid state), screen size and resolution, ports, etc.

Good luck!

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

I would suggest a laptop with at least a 15.6" inch screen and 6 GB of RAM. 64-bit would be optimal. I got my laptop for about $550, it has Windows 8 64-bit per-installed and it suits my needs. Though the CPU is a bit slow, 1.8 GHz, I'd rather have the 2.4 GHz, but it works anyways.

Whatever you buy, make sure it has a 15.6" screen or wider, I'm telling you, ArchiCAD takes a lot of screen space, the bigger the better, especially if you're going to work on a big project. Oh and LED screen is good for the eyes and power saving, check for that too.

[Eduardo Rolon]

64 Bit is required AC17 does not run in 32 Bit systems

[aahatimo]

how about an apple 15" retina macbook pro from the apple refurbished site:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE664LL/A/refurbished-macbook-pro-23ghz-quad-core-intel-i7-with-re...

[Anonymous]

Hello to all,

Hope this is the right forum. I’m seeking your advice as I’m new to resolve and have had performance trouble on the 12.5.2. Consulting BM support I’ve been advised my GPU is insufficient. My setup is:

3 year old ThinkPad W530 i5 dual core
16RAM, HDD, NVidia K2000M 2GB

I should point out I’m on a very tight budget. On the other hand, I am not an intensive user (couple hours a day), at least for now. And I don’t game…

So my only solution is external GPU (or different computer ). There are various configurations available. In order to save on costs, I’m interested in a combination of:

1. EXP GDC Beast Laptop External Independent Video Card Dock + Expresscard Cable
2. GPU
3. PSU

To my questions:
1. From what I’ve heard this dock connected thru express card to laptop should work fine when viewed thru external monitor (TV?). Anybody have or heard about experience of this solution? Any reason to doubt that?
2. Assuming this configuration does work, any limitations I should consider regarding express card connection? This relating to level of GPU I look for.
3. Furthermore, any suggestions as to what GPU models to choose from? I’ve seen comments about NVidia 10xx, from which the only one I might consider is GTX 1060, but it’s also expensive. BM recommends GTX 980 and 780, both having a market of 2nd hands available. I also heard of RX 480, which is new. Other opt. that might be cheaper and sufficient?
4. Some of these models come w GB options (3 vs. 6, 4 vs. . How significant is that in choosing?
5. Is there a need for a sound card or is this configuration sufficient?

Looking forward to your impute. And tnks for your interest
Yoni

[alemanda]

Don't go for a HDD. Buy rather a SSD
Go with 16 GB ram minimum

[Erwin Edel]

SSD makes a lot of difference, I upgraded my cheap laptop with one and with only 8GB ram and lower end mobile nvidia GPU I managed to run ArchiCAD on it. It has i7, but I don't know about the clock speed.

If you are on a tight budget, you might want to try upgrading to SSD. I found a good tutorial on youtube for my laptop, it was straight forward enough.

I did hook up the laptop to a HD monitor, giving me two screens to work with.

Are you working on large projects or small residential stuff?

While not the greatest, that K2000M is (I think) still supported by up to date drivers from NVidia, so with a SSD upgrade and Windows10, you might be able to squeeze another year or two out of that hardware if doesn't have to be cutting edge.