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    • GaieusG Offline
      Gaieus
      last edited by

      I don't know. I'm just feeling lucky now

      Gai...

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      • AnssiA Offline
        Anssi
        last edited by

        The new i7 processor has hyperthreading again. If I understand right, it can also split a demanding task among multiple cores doing something like hyperthreading in reverse...

        Anssi

        securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset

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        • C Offline
          caddict
          last edited by

          For the record, I have just had to retire my 600MHz Toshiba laptop from active service.

          With its 128MB memory and 11GB harddrive running Windows 2000 and with an on-board video chip, it bravely powered SU6 through many a client presentation. (Granted, the model would often break up into wireframe if view changes were too rapid)

          Now that I have shifted to SU7, and SU6 cannot open models made in version 6, when I tried to install SU7 on the old girl, I was met with the fatal message "Operating System not Supported".

          So there you go. Progress. Still, she had to go sometime.

          Although I am thinking that I could easily revert back to SU6 without really noticing, seeing that version 7 was hardly a quantum leap.

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          • plot-parisP Offline
            plot-paris
            last edited by

            well, at least now you have an excuse to buy a monster! (may I suggest something like the 18.1" screen
            Acer Aspire 8920, that weighs 4.8 kg and hardly deserves the title of 'laptop'?) πŸ˜„

            acer-aspire-8920.jpg

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            • C Offline
              caddict
              last edited by

              I've started saving already

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              • T Offline
                tomasz
                last edited by

                @plot-paris said:

                well, at least now you have an excuse to buy a monster! (may I suggest something like the 18.1" screen
                Acer Aspire 8920, that weighs 4.8 kg and hardly deserves the title of 'laptop'?) πŸ˜„

                [attachment=0:3anrpjzn]<!-- ia0 -->acer-aspire-8920.jpg<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:3anrpjzn]

                I am also looking for a laptop suitable for SU. You can buy cheaper and not so heavy Acer with same or probably better graphics card. It won't be 18" screen, but who wants to carry a 5kg and/or kill a flying-by bird with a swing of a screen.

                Author of [Thea Render for SketchUp](http://www.thearender.com/sketchup)

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                • plot-parisP Offline
                  plot-paris
                  last edited by

                  I do! I do!!! and as a matter of fact, I am writing this with the bespoken beast on my lap, listening to 'Air' by Johann Sebastian Bach from it's in-built 5.1 Cinematic Surround Sound speaker system (with subwoofer - in a laptop!).

                  (and, admittedly, my shoulders are still sore from carying it during my travel from London to the south of Germany two days ago πŸ˜‰ )

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                  • AnssiA Offline
                    Anssi
                    last edited by

                    Jakob,

                    Does it make much noise? I have an older 17" Acer Aspire, and i am otherwise quite fond of it, but it churns away like a bulldozer (not quite but...). I envy my daughter's IMac-it has no fans at all!

                    Anssi

                    securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset

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                    • plot-parisP Offline
                      plot-paris
                      last edited by

                      it definitely has a fan running, especially when running renders of course. but I think it is not too loud - and for it's monstrous size appropriate πŸ˜‰

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                      • EddyNLE Offline
                        EddyNL
                        last edited by

                        Guys,

                        I've got this museum piece:

                        AMD Sempron 2400+
                        1,75 Ghz, 512 MB
                        ASUS Radeon 9600 128MB

                        I'm looking to buy a new desktop because I can't run any large SU models.
                        What's the most important issue for 3d performance like SketchUp and Kerky?

                        • Dual core? RAM? Or the videocard?
                        • Any suggestions?

                        Thanks, Ward

                        viewtopic.php?f=271&t=11903 Modelling my city for Google Earth!

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                        • R Offline
                          remus
                          last edited by

                          For sketchup you want a fast clock speed (number of cores doesnt effect SU performance.) Good processors to look at are the intel core 2 duo and if your feeling up to a bit of overclocking, the intel core 2 quad. Youll also need a graphics card with decent openGL support, the quadro cards are generally pretty good for this, although a bit pricey.

                          For kerky you want lots of RAM and a processor with lots of cores, although youll need a 64 bit OS if you want to have more than 4GB of ram.

                          On balance, id say go with a core 2 quad processor and 4gb of ram. A pretty standard combination thats also pretty powerful.

                          http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                          • EddyNLE Offline
                            EddyNL
                            last edited by

                            Thanks for the quick reply Remus!

                            Would this be any good?

                            Intel E5200 Core 2 Duo
                            Geforce 9300 512mb
                            4096mb / 4GB DDR2 800Mhz
                            500GB 7200rpm

                            AMD Phenom X3 8650+
                            Geforce 8300 HDMI, DVI
                            4096mb / 4GB DDR2 800Mhz
                            750GB 7200rpm

                            viewtopic.php?f=271&t=11903 Modelling my city for Google Earth!

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                            • R Offline
                              remus
                              last edited by

                              The top setup looks good πŸ‘ Dont know enough about AMD to tell you whether the other choice of processor is a good one, though.

                              With regards to the 8300 graphics card, it seems there have been a couple of minor issues with it and SU: http://groups.google.com/group/SketchUp/web/graphics-card-feedback?hl=en Probably worth investigating, just in case.

                              http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                              • C Offline
                                chango70
                                last edited by

                                If you can wait, I'd get the i7 Core mobile CPU laptops coming out later half of this year. The multi-threading almost halves your rendering times. Worth the wait I'd say.

                                If not I recommend http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk you can build one with 512MB Nvidia 9600M GT graphics card for under Β£1000 pounds. I have one and the diffault setting makes sketchup lines look super SMOOTH! without anti-aliasing turned on! Incredable for presentations n walkthroughs.

                                I'd be honest with you PCSpecialist are not really the best quality as mine broke under a year (arguably not their fault as my GPU, the 8600M GT died and if you read internet forums this card is dying at a dispropotionate rate on all manufacturers laptops including Apple) but their service is incredable. They didn't ask any questions had it sent back and upgraded my chasis (Old Chasis had a 8600M GT which died) with new GPU all for free! Sent back to me in a week. So basically I got a free upgrade from them.

                                The 9600M GT gives amazing default display quality.


                                SU.jpg

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                                • C Offline
                                  chango70
                                  last edited by

                                  @eduardonl said:

                                  Thanks for the quick reply Remus!

                                  Would this be any good?

                                  Intel E5200 Core 2 Duo
                                  Geforce 9300 512mb
                                  4096mb / 4GB DDR2 800Mhz
                                  500GB 7200rpm

                                  AMD Phenom X3 8650+
                                  Geforce 8300 HDMI, DVI
                                  4096mb / 4GB DDR2 800Mhz
                                  750GB 7200rpm

                                  Whats your budget?

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                                  • R Offline
                                    remus
                                    last edited by

                                    Not a core i7 budget going by those specs πŸ˜›

                                    http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                                    • C Offline
                                      chango70
                                      last edited by

                                      No but getting a smaller Hardrive like 250GB and a better Graphics Card would be a good trade off. I only use 160HD on my laptop. Just dump all your work on a external HD. They are dirt cheap anyway.

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                                      • P Offline
                                        peweuk
                                        last edited by

                                        @plot-paris said:

                                        I do! I do!!! and as a matter of fact, I am writing this with the bespoken beast on my lap, listening to 'Air' by Johann Sebastian Bach from it's in-built 5.1 Cinematic Surround Sound speaker system (with subwoofer - in a laptop!).

                                        (and, admittedly, my shoulders are still sore from carying it during my travel from London to the south of Germany two days ago πŸ˜‰ )

                                        Which spec was this (ie processor and video card? - and how do you find it for performance with SU?

                                        @unknownuser said:

                                        If not I recommend http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk you can build one with 512MB Nvidia 9600M GT graphics card for under Β£1000 pounds.

                                        I couldn't see any option for choice of graphics on their laptops!!!

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                                        • C Offline
                                          chango70
                                          last edited by

                                          As a reference, my latest Unibody Mac managed 15.8 fps on the cube test. So yeah yours sounds like a beast.

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                                          • P Offline
                                            peweuk
                                            last edited by

                                            I'm waiting for my new Aspire to arrive and will test it out.

                                            I just ran the test on my desktop with the following results

                                            Scene 1 = 38.6 F/ps
                                            Scene 7 = 0.2 F/ps

                                            It'll be interesting to see the comparison.

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