Getting ready for SW 2008

Part of running a user group is being able to put on dazzling displays of Solidworks.  Up until now that's been quite easy using the old trusty Dell Inspiron 1100.  But now it seems as if 2.3MHz, 2 GB ram, and a built in video card just wont cut it any more.

If you have read my blog, you have been reading about the upcoming video card requirements for SW 2008.  I was slightly disappointed to see that my laptop wouldn't be able to utilize the new SW 2008 graphical interface to it's full potential.  I say slightly, because it being three years old, I wasn't expecting much.

So what's more fun than buying a new laptop?  Well probably lots of things, but it was fun at the moment.  So off I set bound to find me a new super machine that I could use, and would be proud of.  My first stop of course was Dell.  You simply can't beat the Dell Outlet deals.  My requirements were simple:

• SW 2008 Compatible Video Card
• Min 256mb Video Memory
• Windows Vista Ultimate
• 17" screen

Not much to ask, right?  The Dell Outlet gave me a variety of choices.  At this point, there was no other choice than the M Series Dell.  And if I was shooting for the the top, might as well go for the best and get an M90 Precision.  In the outlet, you have four choices, Refurbished, Scratch & Dent, Off Lease, and Previously Ordered.  Here is what I found:

• Dell M90 Precision Mobile Workstation
• Intel Core 2 Duo 1.66MHz
• nVidia Quadro FX 2500 512MB Video Card
• 4GB Ram
• Blue tooth Compatibility
• Built in Wireless
• 17" XVGA Screen

Final price: $1459 Retail: Over $2000 Not a bad savings for a Scratch & Dent.  I was curious to see when I got it what it would look like.  Turns out to be one small scratch in the lower left corner of the case that's about 1/8 inch long.  I was completely satisfied to say the least.  What's more about the outlet models is they normally come with extra goodies that the original person bought.  Mine came with a 3 year on-site next day service agreement, and USB mouse.  I saw many models that had additional batteries, cases, and other accessories.

So how does it look?  Well you can definitely see it in action at our next user group meeting, but if your too far away, here are a couple of pics:

 

Don't mind the cat, she gets excited anytime she gets the chance to be in a picture!  Anyhow, as you can see this thing has no problems what so ever running SW2008.  All in all a good investment, and I look forward to many years of service out of it.  I also know that I can continue to be able to have the best presentations possible for the user group meetings.  I would hate to have to present to a group of users, and not be able to give them a quality show.

So what's next?  Well at work we recently decided to remodel the conference room.  That meant that our once portable projector, now found a permanant home mounted to the ceiling.  So now I have one more investment to make, a new projector!  I will then be a self sufficient Solidworks User Group Leader.  Now all I have to do is figure out a way to convince the mucky-mucks at Solidworks that providing a licenced copy of Solidworks to each user group, has it's advantages!

Comments

[Devon Sowell]

Hi Mike-

Thanks for sharing your results.

Recently, I installed a new 7200rpm hardrive in my Dell M70, 1.66 single core cpu, FX1400 GO 256mb, 2GB RAM, 3GB switch, all data files on an additional internal 7200rpm hardrive; my rebuild time with Anna's part = 290sec

Your M90 is almost twice as fast, cool!

Devon

[Mike Puckett]

Devon,

After opening it in 2008, I was getting a rebuild time of 227 seconds. Seeing it was a file from a previous version, I rebuilt it, then saved it and closed it. I opened it again, and the rebuild time went down to 163 seconds. This is along the lines of a Core 2 Duo result.

[Devon Sowell]

Hi Mike-

Thanks for the information.

Would you consider downloading Anna Wood's "Plate" from her Blog and posting the Rebuild time?

Thanks,
Devon

[Mike Puckett]

I'm currently using Windows Vista Ultimate 32-Bit. Once SW 2008 64-bit comes out, I will be switching the O/S to 64-Bit Vista Ultimate to get the full memory advantages.

[Devon Sowell]

Is the OS windows Vista Ultimate?

Devon

[Devon Sowell]

Hi Mike-

Great post, thanks for sharing.

What Operating system are you using? XP 32 or 64?

Thanks,
Devon