Hoping one of you fellas here can help me.

Hoping one of you fellas here can help me. With tax season coming up i want to buy a new laptop since mine if barely holding it together. I need something that will be able to run fusion 360 and slic3r smoothly. My laptop strugles with 3D graphics. Im currently in the USA. What is a good laptop you guys would recommend under a $1,000 budget. Preferable closer to $500. And i would like for it to be a laptop since i dont spend much time at home.

They have reconditioned ones occasionally that run less. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dremel-Idea-Builder-3D-Printer-3D20-01/205448581

I need a laptop i already have the printer lol

@Fred_Lawhorn Did you read the post? He’s looking for a laptop.

I love my Lenovo Yoga 710. They don’t make my specific model anymore but check BestBuy for anything with an i5 or i7 processor, at least 256 GB SSD, and at least 8 GB of RAM. You can get a Yoga with an i7 and 256 GB SSD for just under $1,000. I think I was lucky to get mine at the price I did; i7 with 256 GB SSD, 12 GB RAM (4 GB dedicated to graphics processing), and a full metal frame for $900. If you’re having trouble deciding between a few options, always go with discrete graphics over integrated.

@Cristian_Martinez ​ Try checking out Lenovo outlet. Since your running fusion 360 and slc3r don’t spend money on dedicated graphics. Fusion and slic3r do not use graphics and so it won’t help you one bit. Instead spend the memory on a good oriceessor with a good amount of memory. 8gb would be the minimum at this point! Good luck!

Consider taking a look around at https://www.dellrefurbished.com/ and (as already suggested) https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/outletus/ I’ve had great luck with refurbished/overstock/etc. hardware from the big OEMs. There are almost always really good coupons/promotions floating around online for both.

Discounted/refurb machines from the better-built business line are, IMO, generally a better choice than consumer offerings in terms of bang-per-buck.

I also agree with the spec suggestions above: At least 8GB of RAM, recent-model i5 or i7 (or Ryzen, but there aren’t many offerings), integrated graphics is fine/preferable unless you plan to game on it. I’d add that, for me, a higher-resolution (NOT 1366 x 768) display is worth a considerable premium, especially for CAD.

Remember it’s sometimes cheaper to buy a laptop with less RAM than you’d like and upgrade it yourself, eg. sometimes you see machines with an otherwise-good configuration and 1x4GB stick installed but two slots that you can upgrade to 8gb for $35 and a turn of a screwdriver.

Thanx for all the help guys i really appreciate it :slight_smile: just a quick question. What do you mean fusion 360 and slic3r dont use graphics? What do they use? Im still new at all this lol

The graphics demands of Slic3r and Fusion360 are quite limited and easily served by a decent modern integrated card like Intel HD or Iris (all modern Intel and AMD parts include an integrated GPU). Fusion360 (AFIK) does all its rendering on CPU and only uses the graphics card for display, so a more powerful card doesn’t buy you much.

Dual-graphics laptops are generally appreciably more expensive and suffer in terms of driver and power management annoyances, so unless you plan to use a machine for something GPU intensive it can be undesirable to add a discrete GPU.

Ok that makes sense. Idk on my current dell i can run fusion 360 up to a point but i cant view slic3r in 3d at all. Any attempt to do so causes it to crash. Ill see what lenovo has :slight_smile:

The discrete gpu/battery life tradeoff is very true. Just be aware live-view model rotation is smoothest on a discrete gpu even in everyday fusion 360. Makes more of a difference as models get more complex. Can integrated gpu be fine? Yes. Particularly if battery life is most important.

How dramatic is the difference of battery life between integrated and discrete gpu?

For laptops, I’ve only had Dell Precisions in the last 3-6 years. I get maybe 1/3 to half the battery life of a comparable no-discrete-graphics laptop…newer ones may be better but I haven’t needed to shop for several years. (My daily CAD workstation is a desktop.)

1/3 is definitely dramatic

it is, but the difference for heavy cad work is real. I blindly trusted well meaning “you don’t need a discrete gpu” advice on my first cad pc purchase and was stuck with laggy model rotation. For some that’s fine.

Am I saying you need a discrete gpu? naw. just go into it knowing what tradeoffs come with both choices.

Discrete video laptop: 3ish hours of battery, heavy, hot, more expensive, smooth model spinning. (off lease or refurb from Dell can be a mercy to the budget here)

Integrated video laptop: 8+/- hours of battery, lighter, cooler, cheaper, chunkier model rotation. Some can be used with external video card enclosures.

Well the one i have right now doesnt struggle that much rotating objects. But then again ive never made anything complex. But when it comes to editing a previous sketch. Or just opening the program. I might as well grab some popcorn and wait lol

That sounds like hard drive speed. Try an ssd, you’ll like it!