Best Laptop for 2D/3D CAD Softwares and Gaming

[JericCobacha]

Hi, I want to know if there's a Laptop that can run 2D/3D CAD Software (e.g. Autocad or 3ds Max) and that can run games in high graphics. My budget would be $1000
- 1500.

On the Graphics Side, I did some research that the best graphics card to run CAD Softwares is the NVDIA Quadro. So I'm thinking if the NVIDIA Quadro will be able to run games in high graphics settings or are there any graphics card that can both run CAD Sofware and games in high graphics settings.

 

[Gingerbread]

With that budget the best quadro you can get is a 1100m which is pretty much equal to a 940m, which is not a great gaming GPU and laptops for that price usually come with a 970 or 980m. So if you go for a quadro you won't get high graphics.

 

[JericCobacha]

With that budget the best quadro you can get is a 1100m which is pretty much equal to a 940m, which is not a great gaming GPU and laptops for that price usually come with a 970 or 980m. So if you go for a quadro you won't get high graphics.

Thanks for the reply Gingerbread. Okay I see, so basically workstation graphic cards are really intended only for CAD softwares. Oh well, I think I might buy two laptops then haha, one for CAD Software use and one for gaming.

 

[James Mason]

The problem is the Workstation graphics card are all pretty extremely overpriced for what they are. And their only benefit is custom drivers for software like CAD. Unless you're getting paid the big bucks to do work that requires a workstation card, don't get one. (But you will eventually if you actually get a job doing professional CAD work)

Your budget really doesn't fit a laptop with a graphics chip powerful enough to do, you'd need to drop 3000-4000 for a laptop with a gtx 980 (no M) in it, and that'd be good for games and CAD work. You could drop the same on a desktop though and actually get a those high end workstation cards.

But your budget doesn't go that high, and you can only afford the cheaper 3GB versions of 970m latops.

This is my recommendation for the best you can get in your budget: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/VenomX_GIGABYTE_P35WV4_Gaming_Laptop

 

[JericCobacha]

The problem is the Workstation graphics card are all pretty extremely overpriced for what they are. And their only benefit is custom drivers for software like CAD. Unless you're getting paid the big bucks to do work that requires a workstation card, don't get one. (But you will eventually if you actually get a job doing professional CAD work)

Your budget really doesn't fit a laptop with a graphics chip powerful enough to do, you'd need to drop 3000-4000 for a laptop with a gtx 980 (no M) in it, and that'd be good for games and CAD work. You could drop the same on a desktop though and actually get a those high end workstation cards.

But your budget doesn't go that high, and you can only afford the cheaper 3GB versions of 970m latops.

This is my recommendation for the best you can get in your budget: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/VenomX_GIGABYTE_P35WV4_Gaming_Laptop

Thanks for the recommendation James Mason. Based on the replies I received, well In order to get the best performance and quality, I will need a big budget and get a decent job with a good pay. Oh well, I guess I really need to study hard and to work hard for it.

 

[Gingerbread]

Not a CAD master but won't a normal GPU do the job as well, just a tad bit slower?

 

[James Mason]

Not a CAD master but won't a normal GPU do the job as well, just a tad bit slower?

ehh, it will work, but the Workstation cards can have like 5x the performance and accuracy required for like, actually designing skyscrapers and dams.
The mobile gpus are usually comparable to 2 grades below their desktop counterparts.
Like a 960m is equal to a 750ti. so a 970m is about equal to a 950. That's pretty far below what you'd use for CAD.
Radeon cards with their high VRAM count are actually pretty good for entry level CAD work, but they'd run too hot in a laptop.

 

[JericCobacha]

Not a CAD master but won't a normal GPU do the job as well, just a tad bit slower?

Your right it would still do the job but from my experience using AutoCAD on my laptop, when I put too much information in, It starts to get a bit laggy.
Here's the specs. of my current laptop that I'm using to play games and use AutoCAD as well.:
Laptop - Lenovo G50
CPU - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4510U CPU @ 2.00GHz 2.60GHz
RAM - 6.00 GB
System Type - 64-bit
GPU - AMD Radeon HD 8500M

I know my laptop is not that good, my fault too for not knowing how to read the specs. first before buying haha.