Build for CAD and Solidworks

[3lackMamba]

Hi guys

I have a work colleague, she is in Uni and told me today that she needs to buy laptop for her uni course, she is completely clueless and her tutor has basically told her she needs a gaming laptop so she went to a a shop and the guy has recommended one which is roughly £850-900. I laughed and asked to see the specs:

Ryzen 3550H
8GB ram
256gb ssd
AMD RX 560
15”

I instantly got excited and told her I could build her one for much cheaper or the same price but much more powerful. I don’t even know what kind of specs is needed for CAD and Solidworks as I only build PC’s for gaming but I knew what she was shown is a rip off.

She already owns a monitor (small 1080p TV) so I just need to spec up a decent PC for her and I can build it no problem.

What kind of CPU’s and GPU’s do these kind of programs need? Her budget is £800 but she is a student and is wanting to save as much as she can obviously.

Thanks

 

[3lackMamba]

I asked her I’m pretty sure it’s just rendering, her course is Product Design so I can’t imagine there being much else than rendering.

I actually have an EVGA 1080 FTW, 2 year old really good condition that I was going to sell once I receive my 3080, would that be a beefy gpu for rendering? I mean in comparison to what those laptop specs were and considering her budget

 

[3lackMamba]

So you are going to build her a laptop? If this is going to be carried around and go too and from Uni with her then she's not going to want a 3Kg lump.

Maybe I should have explained more. She said she needed a laptop because her tutor told her she needed a gaming laptop to run the software. I told her if she doesn’t care about portability I could build her a PC with much better specs for the same price.

This colleague has literally just started her course and she hasn’t the first clue about CAD or computer hardware, honestly you should have seen her trying to explain what her tutor was saying about what she needed in the laptop.. “he said I need something like.. Niv-aaa-da?” I was like yes love I just spent £750 on Niv-aaa-da a few days ago lol

So I’m just trying to help her out and build her something that will help her get started, and stop her from getting ripped off from a store.

 

[3lackMamba]

@Journey yeah I asked her today and she seemed adamant that she didn’t need a laptop, but yeah that’s not a bad idea I will say to her to ask her tutor if she would ever need her own equipment on campus as I believe @orbitalwalsh is right about most classes being online now, but obviously that won’t last forever.