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Laptop recommendation for programming Mastercam/AutoCAD

Nickvivona

Plastic
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Hello my name is Nick I'm from Miami,FL I'm looking for a good laptop for programming Mastercam and do some drafting with AutoCAD.
I know a laptop is not the best for this situation. I don't know if theres a post about this , if so please let me know.
I do have a budget so if we can start with something cheap and then go with the expensive ones that would be great!
Thank you to all this people in the forum
 
You need to specify your budget, is cheap like in the sub $1000 range? I'd personally take a look at the Dell Precision series.
 
$1000 is my max , would like something cheaper? around $500/600+-

You aren't going to find anything great in that price range. If that is a firm budget I would be looking at used or open box machines. I would agree that $1k is probably an entry price for a programming/design computer.
 
I have just got a Dell Precision 7720 and it kicks butt, cost was around $3000, might be a little out of your price range. I am very happy with it. Running Autodesk and Mastercam on it

Tom
 
Yeah, my notebooks and desktops are all Dell Precision. The best thing is their US-based tech support, it's why I keep buying Dell. Just got a replacement hard drive for my desktop with OS, at no charge. And it was my own mistake that made the original unusable.

So if you buy new, get ProSupport, it's worth it.
 
Newegg has a Lenovo IdeaPad Y700 on sale today. Lenovo IdeaPad Y7 8NVQ9US Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 67HQ 16 GB Memory 1 TB HDD 256 GB PCIE SSD GeForce GTX 96M 4 GB 15.6" FHD Windows 1 Home 64-Bit - Newegg.com

Otherwise I'd suggest a Thinkpad W541 or newer, with Quadro K2100m graphics. K3100m is available in Dell Precision with the same Gen 4 cpu. I wouldn't want to work with anything older than those.

The gaming laptop I linked is a good deal, just be aware Lenovo non-Thinkpad branded computers are run of the mill for reliability and serviceability. Also note the 1920x1080 resolution. Not unusable but 2560 would be preferable.

edit: also try reddit.com/r/suggestalaptop
 
I've never had good luck with laptops and demanding CAM software. I use a HP Zbook now that was around $2800, and it does well, but multitasking and simulations do take their toll.
 
Newegg has a Lenovo IdeaPad Y700 on sale today. Lenovo IdeaPad Y7 8NVQ9US Gaming Laptop Intel Core i7 67HQ 16 GB Memory 1 TB HDD 256 GB PCIE SSD GeForce GTX 96M 4 GB 15.6" FHD Windows 1 Home 64-Bit - Newegg.com

Otherwise I'd suggest a Thinkpad W541 or newer, with Quadro K2100m graphics. K3100m is available in Dell Precision with the same Gen 4 cpu. I wouldn't want to work with anything older than those.

The gaming laptop I linked is a good deal, just be aware Lenovo non-Thinkpad branded computers are run of the mill for reliability and serviceability. Also note the 1920x1080 resolution. Not unusable but 2560 would be preferable.

edit: also try reddit.com/r/suggestalaptop

Yeah, if you want spyware pre installed on your computer, by all means, buy a lenovo.
 
Get a gaming laptop, they already have good video cards and high memory. That link above looks like a really good deal!
 
Nick,

If you aren't going to spend top-dollar on a top-of-the-line laptop then consider getting a desktop. We originally did all of our CAM programming and modeling on a ~$1,000 laptop. It just wasn't enough machine for what we needed.

It was originally suggested to us that we should get a laptop because we would occasionally need to edit programs on the shop floor/make changes to the CAM program. Well, we realized that our shop is small enough that we would prefer to sit down at our own workstation that is 30 steps from the shop...we ditched the laptop for a much more powerful desktop that cost less anyways.

Just my $.02

Garrett
 
I bought a couple Laptops (refurbished Lenovo Thinkpads) from Overstock.com and they were like new.
They have a lot to choose from. I recommend ones with SSD drive and at least 8gb of ram, and quad core CPU. (although the ones I bought were dual core)

Here is what I bought, which I found to be much faster than my older I7(QUAD CORE), spinning hard drive,);
https://www.overstock.com/Electroni...refinement=condition:Refurbished|brand:Lenovo

This laptop is Thinkpad T430, 2.6 GHZ, I5 dual core, 16 GB ram, 256GB SSD, Win 10. Refurb done by Joy Systems, a large and reputable outfit.
 
Hello guys ,thank you so much for taking your time and helping me with this. I do understand that you get what you paid off but at the end of the day we are all machinists and in my case i can't afford a $3000 laptop. We have examples like refurbished lenovo for $500 and dell precision for $4000 so its hard to decide to be honest. Like i said i have a budget witch i can extend a little more. I can't have a desktop because i need it to take it to work or when i do some courses (auto cad/mastercam).Please let me know if I'm wrong but all of you own $3000 laptops? I'm an employee not the owner of the machine shop. I wish my shop could provided me with this but guess what? they don't! so I'm putting my own money to make my job
 








 
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