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Our designers have been using Dell mobile workstations for the past few years. They have given us more problems than I would like so we are going to try out Lenovo. As I spec out the laptop, I have a few questions that I would like to pose to the community for some help with.

The laptop is the W530 15" mobile workstation. Our designers will be using AutoCAD and a furniture rendering software called Visual Impressions. My goal is to hit the value sweet spot - as fast as possible without paying excessive amounts.

  1. It comes standard with the Nvidia Quadro K1000M (2GB DDR3) or I can upgrade to the Nvidia Quadro K2000M (also 2GB DDR3) for $250. The difference seems to be that the K2000M has twice as many CUDA cores. Worth it?

  2. It comes standard with 8GB ram and upgrading to 16GB costs $140. For that price I can get 32GB of comparable RAM off Newegg. AutoCAD is a memory hog and ram is dirt cheap these days so that is the route I’m leaning towards. Any reason why I shouldn’t do this? (besides that the memory may not be compatible, in which case I’ll just RMA)

  3. It comes standard with a 320GB HDD. Upgrading to SSD through Lenovo is more expensive than it should be so I will buy my own SSD. 128GB isn’t enough for us and the W530 will support 2 drives with an optical drive bay adapter. My question - Buy a 128GB SSD and use the included 320GB HDD as well, or just spend an extra $100 for a 256GB SSD?

@HP @Dell_Technologies

5 Spice ups
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my 2 cents.

  1. only worth upgrading if your software performance will be significantly improved by the boosted graphics power. i have not used autocad so may be all wet, but i don’t think it is worth paying $250 more for an upgraded Quadro.

  2. i always buy the minimum RAM from the manufacturer and then buy RAM upgrades via datamem.com or newegg.com

  3. option 3, buy a 256GB SSD and use the 320GB HDD as well. ?? more is better. :slight_smile:

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Upgrade to the 2000 only if you are doing 3D modeling. It does make a difference.

16GB for 2D modeling should be fine. I have HP CAD stations and even 16GB is fine for C3D

Running main system with SSD plus using 2 drive for files is a win

2 Spice ups
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We are doing 3D modeling, but not a ton of it. for $250, I’d like to feel that the K2000M will make a significant, noticable difference.

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It does cut down on the spinning circle. Add that up over a couple of years and it might be worth it.

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For myself, and your situation will vary, if i were doing 3d modeling and at $250 upgrade saved me 20 minutes a day, x5 days a week, x50 weeks a year, it would be well worth it.

but…5 minutes off a 4 hour render once a day, maybe not; or 10 minutes off a 2 hour render, but only once a month, not worth it, for me.

that will be a call you have to evaluate and make.

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Ok, I think I’ll go with the upgraded K2000M. Thanks for your help!