But to run it, you’ll need hardware that’s up to the job, and a good quality, good size display. We’ve been looking specifically at laptops, and trying to see which ones would be best for running Solidworks apps.
After much deliberation, we were able to handpick our top 5 favorites, and we’ll be bringing you our reviews on them very shortly.
Following on from that, we then have a buying guide, which goes through, amongst other things, what the specific minimum requirements are to run Solidworks.
Best Solidworks Laptop – Reviews
1. Acer Predator Helios 300
If you’ve got the budget for it, this would be a great laptop to go for, for use with Solidworks. It has loads going for it, ticking all the boxes.
First off, it has a very speedy CPU, namely the 10th Generation Intel i7-10750H, which can go to speeds of up to 5 GHz, which is way more than the 3.3 GHz minimum requirement for Solidworks.
Being a gaming laptop, it comes with an excellent graphics card, specifically the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060. This is great for viewing your 3D images as they rotate around on the display.
And speaking of the display, it’s a nice 15.6 inches wide, and is in full high definition, with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080. Moreover it’s also an IPS display (more on that in our buying guide).
The operating system is Windows 10 Home 64 Bit, which is great, because you often jace to use your Solidworks app with Microsoft SQL and Microsoft Office.
The storage capacity is also really good, it’s all on a solid state drive (more on that in our buying guide) and there’s 512 GB to work with, which is more than double the minimum requirements for Solidworks.
There’s a 16 GB of DDR4 RAM, so the minimum requirement is met there as well.
And the internet connectivity is really good, 802.11ax.
Pros:
- Exceeds minimum requirements for Solidworks
Cons:
- Premium product at premium price
- The multicolor backlit keyboard might get on your nerves after a while
Buy Here: Amazon
- 10th Generation Intel Core i7-10750H 6-Core Processor (Up to 5.0 GHz) with Windows 10 Home 64 Bit
- Overclockable NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6 GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM
- 15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080) Widescreen LED-backlit IPS display (144Hz Refresh Rate, 3ms Overdrive Response Time, 300nit Brightness & 72% NTSC)
- 16 GB DDR4 2933MHz Dual-Channel Memory, 512GB NVMe SSD (2 x M.2 slots | 1 Slot open for easy upgrades) & 1 - Available Hard Drive Bay
- 4-Zone RGB Backlit Keyboard | Wireless: Killer Double Shot Pro Wireless-AX 1650i 802. 11ax Wi-Fi 6 | LAN: Killer Ethernet E2600 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN | DTS X: Ultra Audio | 4th Gen All-Metal AeroBlade 3D Fan
2. ASUS TUF A15 Gaming Laptop
Gaming laptops like this one are great for using Solidworks on. You get a great display of your designs, plenty of processing power and speed, a dedicated graphics card so you can rotate your 3D designs, and more.
The CPU is the AMD Ryzen 5 4600H, rather than an Intel one, but that won’t pose a problem, it works on speeds up to 4.0 GHz, which exceeds the processing speed needed for Solidworks.
The integrated graphics card meanwhile, is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which will allow you to rotate your 3D images in the Solidworks app.
It has a good size screen, at 15.6 inches, which comes complete with a full high definition display, with resolution of a nice 1920 x 1080, so all your 3D images will be crystal clear. And with it being an IPS display, you will be able to view your images from more angles.
The operating system in place is the Windows 10 Home, which is the one we recommend for use with Solidworks (more on that in our buying guide).
There’s also enough RAM to run Solidworks, specifically 8 GB.
And with regards to file storage, there’s the strongly recommended solid state drive available, and there’s 512 GB of space there, which is double the bare minimum for Solidworks.
With regards to internet connectivity, you’ve got Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac).
We were also impressed with the number and variety of different ports. And with the memory expansion options.
Pros:
- Fair and reasonable price
- Plenty of onboard and separate memory
Cons:
- The keyboard lighting may be distracting at first
Buy Here: Amazon
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB GDDR6 Graphics (Base: 1380MHz, Boost: 1515MHz, TDP: 50W)
- AMD Ryzen 5 4600H Processor (up to 4.0 GHz)
- 15.6” 144Hz FHD (1920x1080) IPS-Type display
- 512GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD | 8GB DDR4 3200MHz RAM | Windows 10 Home
- Durable MIL-STD-810H military standard construction
3. Lenovo Legion 5 Gaming Laptop
Above all else, you want a reliable laptop that will support you in your studies. We’re pleased to report that you will most certainly get that with the ASUS ZenBook. This laptop has all of the power that you need in a laptop for your computer science studies.
The specifications on this laptop are pretty good. It features a Core i5-8265U 3.4GHz Processor and 8GB RAM. It’s very lightweight, making it easy to carry from a to be, and it has a pretty large trackpad that is easy to use and navigate.
The laptop also has a FHD resolution screen so you can see everything with great clarity. With that being said, the laptop only has a short battery life so this is something you should keep in mind.
Pros
- Durable
- Large trackpad
- Great specs
Cons
- Only 8 hour battery life
Buy Here: Amazon
- Welcome to the next generation of gaming performance with the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H mobile processor, 16GB 3200MHz DDR4 memory, and 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD storage
- Enjoy fast refresh and deep colors with a 144 Hz refresh rate and outstanding clarity on a 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS display
- The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660Ti GPU is a blazing-fast supercharger for your favorite games and the newest titles
- Get maximum performance via Dual Burn Support, which pushes the CPU and GPU together for improved framerates, and Legion Coldfront 2.0 for thermal tuning
- The Legion TrueStrike keyboard with soft-landing switches delivers hair-trigger inputs
4. ASUS ROG Strix G15
With this being a gaming laptop, it has several qualities that really lend themselves well to being used to run Solidworks.
First there’s the fast CPU, the 10th generation Intel Core i7 – 10750H, with clocking speeds that go up to 5 GHz, which is way more than the 3.3 GHz minimum requirement for Solidworks.
Then there’s an excellent graphics card, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070, which is just what you’re looking for when you want to see 3D images in motion.
There’s a great screen, 15.6 inches wide, with full high definition, and a resolution of 1920 x 1080. So all your images will come through crisp and clear. And this is further boosted with IPS technology in the screen,
You also get 16 GB of RAM, which is double the minimum you need to run Solidworks, and you should be able to run a couple of other apps at the same time with those specs.
And the storage space you get is phenomenal, 1 TB, that’s 1000 GB, and it’s quadruple the minimum for Solidworks. You’ll be able to store plenty of designs, or anything else you might want to save.
It runs on the Windows 10 Home operating system, which as we discuss in our buying guide, is best for use with Solidworks.
And, to top that off, you also get ultrafast Intel Wi-Fi 6 with Gig+ (802.11ax)!
If you’re thinking of buying this laptop through the link provided, we should warn you that there are other options on the Amazon page that don’t have the same specs, so be careful to select exactly the options you want.
Pros:
- Amazing CPU speed
- 1000 GB of file storage
Cons:
- Premium product at a premium price
Buy Here: Amazon
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 8GB GDDR6 with ROG Boost (Base: 1260MHz, Boost: 1455MHz, 115W)
- Latest 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10750H Processor
- 240Hz 3ms 15.6” Full HD 1920x1080 IPS-Type Display
- 16GB DDR4 2933MHz RAM | 1TB PCIe SSD | Windows 10 Home
- ROG Intelligent Cooling thermal system with Thermal Grizzly Liquid Metal Thermal Compound
5. Acer Nitro 5
Gaming laptops such as this one are great for using Solidworks, for a number of reasons.
Gaming laptops offer fast processing, excellent graphics, and have a superb display.
With this Acer Nitro 5, for example, there’s a 9th generation Intel Core i5-9300H, which can to speeds of up to 4.1 GHz, which is way more than 3.3 GHz minimum for running Solidworks.
The integrated graphics card is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, which will come in handy when you want to see your Solidworks images in motion.
The display meanwhile is a nice 15.6 inches, and is in full definition, with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. And better yet it’s an IPS display (more on that in our buying guide later). You’ll be able to see all your designs perfectly clearly.
The operating system is Windows 10 Home, which, as we discuss in our buying guide, is the better operating system for Solidworks.
With regards to storage capacity, you get 256 GB on the solid state drive, meeting the requirements for Solidworks. And the RAM capacity also meets the minimum requirements, at 8 GB.
There’s a great internet connection, Wi-Fi 6, 802. 11ax.
There are some other great features too, Alexa is already built in, and there’s loads of different types of ports for when you need to hook up some accessories or devices.
Pros:
- Excellent value for money
- Comes with Alexa built in
Cons:
- Only just meets some of the minimum requirements for Solidworks, and falls short of the ideal specs
Buy Here: Amazon
- 9th Generation Intel Core i5-9300H Processor (Up to 4.1 GHz)
- 15" Full HD Widescreen IPS LED-backlit display | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Graphics with 4 GB of dedicated GDDR5 VRAM
- 8GB DDR4 2666MHz Memory | 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD (2 x PCIe M.2 slots - 1 slot open for easy upgrades) & 1 - Available hard drive bay
- LAN: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port) | Wireless: Intel Wireless Wi-Fi 6 AX200 802.11ax
- Backlit keyboard | Acer CoolBoost technology with twin fans and dual exhaust ports
Best Solidworks Laptop: A Buyer’s Guide
Here, we’re going to give you a thorough breakdown of the minimum and the recommended requirements for running Solidworks.
Operating Systems
Solidworks 2020 can run on both Windows and Mac operating systems, specifically Windows 10 64-bit, Windows 7 SPI 64-bit, macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, and macOS High Sierra.
But because Microsoft SQL and Microsoft Office can also come into play when working with Solidworks, we would argue that the Windows operating system is more likely to run more smoothly with the Solidworks app than on any Mac operating system.
CPU
The CPU, the computer’s central processing unit, needs to be very fast, able to work at speeds of 3.3 GHz or more, which means it will have to be multi-core.
So, in terms of what processor you need, if you’re going for an Intel processor, you’re looking at the 9th generation Intel Core i5 at a minimum. However, ideally the 10th generation Intel Core i7, or anything newer, would work much better.
Other brands of processor are fine, so long as they can reach the 3.3 GHz processing speed.
RAM
The laptop’s RAM is an indication of how much the laptop is able to process at any one time. The more RAM you have the more apps you can have running simultaneously.
For Solidworks 2019 or newer, you will need your laptop to have 8 GB of RAM at an absolute minimum, but 16 GB is far more preferable.
Storage
These days cloud storage is proving particularly popular and is still growing in momentum. However it is nice to be able to access your designs and accompanying work when you find yourself with no internet connection.
This is why we recommend that you get yourself a laptop that has on board storage. And for the files you will be saving on Solidworks you will need a solid state drive rather than the old hard disk drives.
You will need a minimum of 256 GB of SSD storage (which is quite significant) but more is recommended, say 1 TB (which is 1000 GB).
Display
We would argue that when it comes to the laptop’s display this is at least as important as the other requirements, if not more so, when it comes to using Solidworks, or indeed any CAD software.
These days a 15.6 inch full high definition screen has more or less become the going standard in laptop size and resolution. So you should set this as your minimum. Incidentally a full high definition screen usually has a resolution of 1920 x 1080.
However, if your budget allows for it, we would argue that a larger screen and an even clearer resolution would be better.
The other thing to consider is an IPS display, which is also something we recommend. It makes it easier to view your designs from different angles, provides better contrast than its counterparts, and gives far better color accuracy and screen consistency.
GPU
A GPU, or graphics card, as they’re often called is a necessity for Solidworks. Ideally you should go for the 2GB+ NVIDIA Quadro or 4GB+ NVIDIA RTX, but you could get away with the 2GB NVIDIA GeForce MX150.
Battery
As to the importance of the laptop’s battery, that’s kinda down to you. Only you can decide how often and how long for you will be in a position where you want to use the laptop (for Solidowrks or anything else) where you won’t be able to plug the laptop in to a wall socket.
from Linux Hint https://ift.tt/390qCMk
0 Comments